Speed dating with House Republicans part 2, Senate Democrats "hate Netanyahu," Congress loves Karoline Leavitt's first briefing, and more!
In our latest edition, House Republicans discuss immigration, Star Wars, and more, Senate Democrats’ anti-Israel vote is a liability, Congress raves about Karoline Leavitt’s first briefing, and more!
January 30, 2025
In this edition
Interview: Speed dating with eleven House Republicans on immigration, agriculture, Joe Biden’s legacy, Star Wars, and more!
Heard on the Hill
Senate Democrats’ first major anti-Israel vote is a political liability for 2026: “Senate Democrats hate Netanyahu”
Democrats' attacks on Tulsi Gabbard undermine Barack Obama's legacy
Congress praises Karoline Leavitt’s first day on the job: “she was aggressive and pushed back on the press corps with confidence”
Rep. Andy Barr rolls out legislation to sanction Chinese fentanyl manufacturers and Communist Party officials
Op-Eds: Matt McDaniel on eating rattlesnakes with Doug Burgum, Brett Palmer on how Kelly Loeffler can be a champion for small businesses, Brian Chau on how American tech policy can adapt to DeepSeek, and Chris Barnard on how President Donald Trump can build a legacy on American energy dominance
What we’re reading
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In our latest edition, House Republicans discuss everything from immigration to Star Wars, Senate Democrats’ anti-Israel vote becomes a liability, Congress raves about Karoline Leavitt’s first briefing, and much more!
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Interview: Speed dating with eleven House Republicans on immigration, agriculture, Joe Biden’s legacy, Star Wars, and more!
by Matthew Foldi
The Washington Reporter spoke with eleven House Republicans during a Rep. Lisa McClain-organized (R., Mich.) media row after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. In this issue, House Republicans discuss everything from President Joe Biden’s legacy to immigration to agriculture to how Jar Jar Binks would fit in the U.S. Congress.
Rep. Burgess Owens (R., Utah) sees a major opportunity for Republicans to work together because of their small majority and Rep. John Rose (R., Tenn.), who has been in the majority and minority, sees the next few months as an opportunity to take a “second bite at the apple, a new lease on life, and I am excited to see the president hit the ground running.”
Lawmakers are interested in issues such as immigration and unleashing American energy. Some, like Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R., Texas), said that “the left is currently losing its mind” as Republicans figure out their agenda.
Others, like Rep. Russell Fry (R., S.C.) expect the left to reorganize fairly quickly. “Democrats are having internal squabbles and fights amongst themselves, but there is no doubt that they will get organized again, and that they will be challenging the president again,” he said. “They are already filing lawsuits to try and stop some of these executive orders. I expect more of the same.”
For more on what House Republicans expect on reconciliation, foreign policy, and this weekend’s Super Bowl, read our Monday edition with those questions and more.
Below are transcripts of our interviews with House GOP lawmakers, lightly edited for clarity.
Agriculture:
Rep. John Rose (R., Tenn.): The Biden administration’s regulatory regime has strangled American farmers. They’ve cut them off from many of the inputs, they’ve elevated many of the costs of those inputs, they put in regulations that restrict access to labor and that make it difficult for farmers to grow the crops that they need. This is true not just with farmers but across the entire landscape.
Rep. Tracey Mann (R., Kansas): When it comes to the Farm Bill, one of my top priorities is crop insurance, which is the most cost-effective way to guarantee a robust safe, steady, food supply. Another is oversight. We’ve got to make sure we have oversight of these programs and we’ve got to make sure that we're opening up other markets for our ag products. There's an understanding that the American farmer feeds the world. President Trump repeatedly talked about how much he loves and appreciates farmers on the campaign trail, whereas we never heard that a single time from Joe Biden.
Heard on the Hill
New CFPB Director incoming? We reported this week that top Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee want Rohit Chopra, the Elizabeth Warren acolyte who is helming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), to be fired; Breitbart reports that “may soon be rectified.”
Loeffler’s charity move: Kelly Loeffler, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Small Business Administration, will donate her federal salary to charity, she said in advance of her hearing.
Big moves: Dan Conston, the longtime head of the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC, alongside former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Jeff Miller, Arthur Schwartz, and Cliff Sims, launched Watchtower Strategy with Conston as the CEO and McCarthy as the chair of the public affairs firm. Read our interview with Conston about the 2024 election and the sendoff given to him by House Republicans here and here.
Fire alert: Hunterbrook Media reported on the electric battery fire in California: “While the company professes no reason for concern, residents near the Moss Landing $VST facility report burning eyes, headaches, and nosebleeds. Our OSINT investigation and on-the-ground reporting reveals a bleak picture.” One Democratic Party lawmaker in California called for the end of an electric battery plant in her state.
RFK vs. PBMs: During Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hearing, he emphasized his support for reforming pharmacy benefit managers; at one point, Sen Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) told him that “I’ve been working to hold pharmacy benefit managers accountable in order to lower prescription drug costs. I expect you to work with us to hold PBMs accountable and ask for your support for legislation that’s before Congress.” Kennedy agreed.
Party crasher: Rep. Dave Min (D., Calif.), who was labeled “DUI Dave Min” during his campaign due to his questionable driving record, wasn’t a fan of Karoline Leavitt’s first week as Press Secretary. Fortunately for Leavitt, she had many backers in Congress, as we reported.
Pelosi endorsement: Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) endorsed Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Ben Wikler for DNC chair. We just reported that Wikler praised BLM riots and claimed that “white silence equals violence.”
Are we still doing phrasing? Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said that he hasn’t “seen people so aroused in a very, very long time.”
Spotted: On Newsmax, Chris Plante’s “The Right Squad” featured the op-ed Rep. Tim Moore (R., N.C.) published with us about President Donald Trump’s visit to the parts of North Carolina devastated by hurricanes. Watch here.
Senate Democrats’ first major anti-Israel vote is a political liability for 2026: “Senate Democrats hate Netanyahu”
by Matthew Foldi
Senate Democrats tanked a bipartisan bill to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week, the latest move to signify the Democratic party’s dramatic break with America’s closest ally. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) was the only Senate Democrat who voted to advance the measure that would punish the ICC for issuing an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Republicans have slammed Democrats who quashed the bill, and predict that the vote will be politically painful for Democrats come 2026. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.) is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and her first major move in that role was to “collect[] Democrats against a pro-Israel bill,” a Republican strategist noted to the Washington Reporter.
Democrats, who controlled the Senate until earlier this month, could have revised and forced a vote on the ICC sanctions bill last year. They “could have gutted the whole thing using amendments in [the Foreign Relations Committee] but they were too scared and wouldn’t let us do anything,” one GOP staffer familiar with the bill told the Reporter.
Former Sen. Scott Brown, who Republicans are courting as Shaheen’s top challenger, told the Reporter that “it’s just another vote that shows how out of touch our New Hampshire delegation is and how out of touch the Democrats are as a whole.”
Brown, a decorated Army veteran who served as an ambassador during President Donald Trump’s first term, said that “Senator Fetterman has turned out to be the real leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate and he recognizes that Israel is a strong ally that needs our support and to compare the response by Israel to the brutality of Hamas shows how out of touch they are and once again shows the true anti-Israel colors of the Democratic Party. Time for change.”
Republicans at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) echoed Brown’s remarks.
“New Hampshire deserves a leader in the U.S. Senate who stands with our allies and Jewish Americans across the country,” NRSC Regional Press Secretary Nick Puglia told the Reporter. “Instead, Jeanne Shaheen has aligned herself with antisemitic terrorist sympathizers at the corrupt ICC.”
Democrats' attacks on Tulsi Gabbard undermine Barack Obama's legacy
by Matthew Foldi
Democrats’ leading argument against Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) pick, is that she is sympathetic to Syria’s now-deposed dictator, Bashar al-Assad, in part because she questioned whether he had used chemical weapons against his own people.
However, many in the Obama administration did just that, including his then-DNI, James Clapper. In 2016, Politico reported that “Director of National Intelligence James Clapper interrupted the president's daily briefing to tell him that the intelligence on Syria's use of sarin gas was “not a slam dunk.’”
A message from our sponsor.
Both sides agree: NOW is the time to pass real PBM reform.
Rein in the middlemen pharmacy benefit managers and require them to increase transparency, share discounts with seniors, and delink PBM profits from the cost of medicines in Medicare.
Pass S. 2973 and S. 3430 today. Help America's seniors.
Congress praises Karoline Leavitt’s first day on the job: “she was aggressive and pushed back on the press corps with confidence”
by Matthew Foldi
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ‘s first week on the job has impressed viewers in the media and in the halls of Congress. Leavitt’s wit and candor offer a marked change from the communication media and the public received from the Biden administration, Republican sources said.
Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), who previously introduced a bill to lower Leavitt’s predecessor’s salary to $1, told the Washington Reporter that Leavitt doesn’t deserve such a salary slashing. It was an “impressive performance on Karoline’s first day,” Tenney said. “She was sharp and on top of every issue with no binder or notes. She was aggressive and pushed back on the press corps with confidence. In her first seconds on the job, she more than earned every penny of the $1 salary I wanted KJP to have.”
Rep. Bill Huizenga (R., Mich.) added to the Reporter that Leavitt’s performance was a “breath of fresh air,” praising Leavitt as “someone who isn’t tied to a notebook to tell her what to say. Competency has such a great ring to it.”
Rep. Andy Barr rolls out legislation to sanction Chinese fentanyl manufacturers and Communist Party officials
by Matthew Foldi
Rep. Andy Barr (R., Ky.) is rolling out legislation to hold Chinese fentanyl manufacturers accountable, “allowing Chinese entities to be sanctioned as foreign opioid traffickers if they are involved in the production, sale, financing, or transportation of synthetic opioids or their precursors but do not take sufficient actions to prevent opioid trafficking,” his office revealed exclusively to the Washington Reporter.
“The Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act is a critical step in our fight against the opioid epidemic,” Barr told the Reporter. Barr sits on both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Select Committee on the CCP. “By holding Chinese manufacturers and officials accountable, we are sending a clear message that the United States will not tolerate the production and distribution of synthetic opioids that devastate our communities.”
Op-Ed: Matt McDaniel: I ate rattlesnake with Doug Burgum; he’s the right man for the Interior Department
by Matt McDaniel
A little over a year ago, under the scorching sun at the Iowa State Fair, a little-known governor from a small state had a big dream. North Dakota’s Doug Burgum was running for President of the United States. As part of our goal on the Ruthless Podcast (of which I’m a co-Founder), we endeavored to have every candidate for president on the show. So, we sought out Governor Burgum, who had already criss-crossed the paved, near-100 degree Fair several times that day.
We met the governor at a pitch-perfect food vendor, the “Pioneer Wagon”, where the Gov ordered a round of rattlesnake nachos (with “venom sauce”). As we chit-chatted before getting the governor ready to film with the Ruthless hosts, he casually mentioned the best way to kill rattlesnakes (“you stomp on the head and yank the back!”). As someone who grew up in suburban Maryland, the type of “frontier” knowledge that is rote for Doug Burgum caught me entirely by surprise.
It was at that moment that I knew Governor Burgum was going to make a national splash. While he didn’t become the President of the United States, he still went to the first GOP debate and stood the whole time on a busted Achilles tendon (that he suffered the night before the debate playing basketball with his staff).
In an era where politics often feels stale and disconnected, Doug Burgum emerges as a refreshingly relatable figure, embodying the spirit of a modern American cowboy. While Twitter has decided that Governor Burgum is George Washington reincarnated, with a background as a software entrepreneur in North Dakota, Governor Burgum better exemplifies a type of pioneer spirit for the 21st century. He’s the absolute right choice for Interior Secretary.
Op-Ed: Brett Palmer: How Kelly Loeffler can be a small business champion
by Brett Palmer
Small business owners started out 2025 with a surge of confidence in the economy and a renewed faith in their ability to grow and create jobs. The latest National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Small Business Optimism Index reached its highest level in six years and found small business owners are eager to expand their operations.
Former U.S. Senator, business owner, and the likely new leader of the Small Business Administration (SBA), Kelly Loeffler, has an immediate opportunity to help small business owners turn their hopes into action by fully using one of the most successful and least known SBA tools, the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program.
The SBIC program is the epitome of an America First policy. SBICs are private investment funds licensed and regulated by the SBA that invest exclusively in U.S. Main Street businesses. One hundred percent American, one hundred percent small business, with billions of dollars of private capital ready to deploy — these small business investors are designed to renew the American dream. They succeed when the small businesses grow and succeed — a real market-driven partnership.
SBICs are vital in channeling much-needed investment to all of America, especially the rural and underserved areas outside of major private equity and venture capital hubs like New York City and San Francisco.
Op-Ed: Brian Chau: How American policy must adapt to DeepSeek
by Brian Chau
DeepSeek, a leading Chinese AI company, went viral this week after releasing its R1 model. R1 is a competitor to OpenAI o1, demonstrating the Chinese firm’s ability to rival the best American companies in answering advanced scientific questions. In the words of the Economist, “China’s AI industry has almost caught up to America’s.”
The biggest implication for American policy is clear: if American companies fail to continue improving, Chinese companies will surpass them. Regardless of the barriers we place on Chinese companies, Chinese AI will continue to improve. Consequently, any American AI strategy must include accelerating American AI progress.
To this end, President Donald Trump repealed the Biden AI Executive Order and signed another Executive Order to reverse the Biden administration’s agency rulemaking on AI. Using this authority, President Trump’s appointees can go further in promoting AI innovation by revoking partnerships with foreign regulators, reconstructing procurement guidelines to be focused on efficiency over ideology, and freezing grants to activists groups supporting state AI regulation.
Op-Ed: Chris Barnard: How President Donald Trump can build a legacy on American energy dominance
by Chris Barnard
On his first day in office, President Donald Trump wasted no time in setting his energy agenda. With a slew of executive orders aimed at streamlining permitting processes, unleashing American natural gas, and even declaring an “energy emergency,” it's clear that energy is top of mind for the president.
There's no doubt that President Trump has a mandate from the American people to lower energy prices and assert leadership on the world stage. He must lead our nation to achieve reliable, affordable, and clean American energy.
What we’re reading
The Spectator: Tulsi Gabbard will bring sunlight to a rotten system, by Meghan McCain.
Semafor: Crypto exchange Coinbase hires Sinema, LaCivita, by Burgess Everett.
Town Hall: R.I.P. UNRWA, by Jonathan Feldstein.
Washington Free Beacon: Al Jazeera Journo Produced Hamas Propaganda Videos Documenting Terror Group's Release of Israeli Hostages: Report, by Adam Kredo.
National Review: Why Can’t We Deport More White Criminal Aliens? by Rich Lowry.
Daily Wire: Trump Takes A Wrecking Ball To The Federal Government, by Ben Shapiro.
Jewish Insider: Jewish organizations urge pediatricians to retract letter of support for Hamas doctor, by Gabby Deutch.
