Tim Walberg’s committee plans, top CIA staff shared sensitive but unclassified messages on Signal, GOP governors back Trump on budget, and more!
Rep. Tim Walberg’s committee agenda; DOJ greenlights Discover acquisition; Heard on the Hill; and more!
April 8, 2025
Let’s dive in.
INTERVIEW: Rep. Tim Walberg lays out agenda as new Education and Workforce Committee chair: "We're not giving up on this"
Heard on the Hill
EXCLUSIVE: Top Republicans want OMB to streamline America's cyber security
EXCLUSIVE: Career staff at Department of Justice gave go ahead on Discover acquisition
EXCLUSIVE: Democrats silent on Avril Haines’s Signalgate scandal
SCOOP: Why twenty-two GOP governors back Trump on the budget: "we need to extend the Trump tax cuts and immigration enforcement"
EXCLUSIVE: Politico fractures relationship with White House, Senate Republicans over “total bullshit” fake news story
EXCLUSIVE: State Department slams PBS News report as “deliberate leak narrative"
K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: New leadership can reset the FDA and tobacco policies
OPINIONATED: Rep. Ryan Costello on the depoliticization of the FTC and SEC.
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INTERVIEW: Rep. Tim Walberg lays out agenda as new Education and Workforce Committee chair: "We're not giving up on this."
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) is the new chair of the House’s Education and Workforce Committee, but the Michigan lawmaker has spent years on what he wants to ensure is an “A committee” under his watch.
When asked about how the schools are chosen for probing, Walberg said that “we go to those colleges and universities that are the highest profile and that are making the biggest problems.”
PDE’s Nicki Neily, who joined in the conversation with Walberg, noted that she’s seen sea changes in how universities have acted since President Donald Trump’s reelection.
While Walberg would love to see the department abolished and its functions returned to states and localities, he is busy thinking about ways to “depower” it in the meantime.
Rep. Tim Walberg (R., Mich.) is the new chair of the House’s Education and Workforce Committee, but the Michigan lawmaker has spent years on what he wants to ensure is an “A committee” under his watch, he told the Washington Reporter.
And, now that he’s at the helm, he wants to build off of the viral successes led by then-Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.).
“This is not just for good TV, radio, and newsprint,” Walberg said during an interview with the Reporter at a public event sponsored by advocacy group Parents Defending Education (PDE). “It's actually to accomplish something. Chairwoman Foxx, in her efforts last term, did yeoman’s effort to achieve that to the point that three college presidents left their offices and other schools began to do significant changes.”
Walberg’s committee featured the highest-profile hearings in congressional history last Congress. The blockbuster hearings led to multiple university presidents leaving in disgrace after hundreds of millions of people tuned into clips of the leadership of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology embarrassing themselves under oath.
When asked about how the schools are chosen for probing, Walberg said that “we go to those colleges and universities that are the highest profile and that are making the biggest problems.” Now, university presidents know that he’s in charge — and thus far, he hasn’t been caught napping. In one case, he caught a school red-handed in its attempts to hide its DEI programming.
“I've been receiving calls from college presidents, university presidents who are staying in close contact with me and saying, ‘this is what I've just done. What do you think?’ And I remember recently I texted back to the… president of a major university and said, ‘Well done. This is what we want to see.’ Then my staff walked in and handed me a press clipping about that same university just about three minutes later, that said that the DEI program was not actually abolished. I quickly copied off that press clipping and texted it back to this president I’d just given kudos to, and immediately, within less than two minutes, a text came back: ‘I didn't know about that. Will be checking into it now.’ I think that president will be, but that's what we have to keep doing.”
HEARD ON THE HILL
ANOTHER CLOCK PUN: The TikTok bidding war continues. CEOs of Oracle, Walmart, AppLovin, and Amazon are all ramping up their efforts to purchase the popular app. Vice President JD Vance’s office is running the auction house for the Trump administration. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, which is tied closely to the Chinese Communist Party, is also heavily involved.
LET THEM PLAY ANGRY BIRDS: App developers are pushing House and Senate Leadership to introduce the Open App Markets Act (OAMA), which would rein in smartphone application store practices. Google and Apple, the owners of the largest app stores on the market, oppose such measures. There is an added backdrop of fears that European Union fines could anger President Trump.
MAD FOR PLAID: Plaid, the fintech company, received an investment of $50 million from the powerful 1789 Capital Fund which is managed by Donald Trump, Jr. and Omeed Malik.
DIMON HANDS: Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorganChase, discussed the importance of renewing President Trump’s tax cuts in his latest annual letter to shareholders. Dimon said that, although “there is certainly room for improvement, overall, the changes made by the TCJA recognize that reducing and rationalizing taxes on business income are critical to spurring economic growth and producing more ‘bang for the buck’ than cutting taxes on individual income.”
RINGING OFF THE HOOK: There’s been a scramble to call Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on tariffs. Bessent has spoken with a number of CEOs and foreign leaders about the economic plan.
GET BROWN: With former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu officially out, Senate Republicans expect former Sen. Scott Brown to be the Republican nominee for New Hampshire’s open senate seat. Brown has been spotted having meetings on Capitol Hill and has been publishing op-eds in the Washington Reporter.
MANSION SHOPPING: Rep. John James (R., Mich.) announced that he will run for governor next year, giving the GOP a credible candidate to flip the open seat. A poll from OnMessage Inc. shows James clearing the GOP field with well over 50 percent, regardless of who he tested against.
PEACH STATE RUMBLE: If Georgia’s popular Republican governor, Brian Kemp, doesn’t pull the trigger on a Senate bid next year, the field for Republicans is wide open to take on Sen. Jon Ossoff (D., Ga.). A new poll from Advanced Targeting Research shows that Rep. Mike Collins (R., Ga.) and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger would lead the field with 10 percent each. 35 percent of Republican primary voters would be undecided. The Washington Reporter previously covered Collins’s nationwide campaign trek for House Republican candidates.
DEM OR DUMB?: The Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) launched a new ad hitting Democrats for insulting Americans ahead of the 2026 midterms after losing handily to President Trump and the GOP in 2024.
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Medicaid helps provide security to our friends and neighbors, providing high-quality care for more than 72 million Americans, including children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.
Congress should vote against efforts to reduce Medicaid funding and instead focus on policies that strengthen access to 24/7 care.
EXCLUSIVE: Top Republicans want OMB to streamline America's cyber security
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Top Republicans in Congress are eager to see the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) roll back Biden-era regulations that leaders in the private sector have said are both duplicative and counterproductive, the Washington Reporter can reveal.
The Reporter exclusively obtained a letter from House Homeland Security and Oversight Committees chairmen Mark Green and James Comer calling on OMB Director Russ Vought to “address the burdensome and conflicting cyber regulatory landscape.”
Reps. Clay Higgins (R., La.), Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), and Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) joined the chairmen on the letter.
According to President Donald Trump’s 10-to-1 deregulation initiative, OMB “must not issue any new cyber regulations without repealing at least ten existing rules and ensuring the net total cost of new and repealed regulation are less than zero.”
Top Republicans in Congress are eager to see the Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) roll back Biden-era regulations that leaders in the private sector have said are both duplicative and counterproductive, the Washington Reporter can reveal.
In a letter exclusively obtained by the Reporter, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R., Tenn.) and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R., Ky.) wrote to OMB Director Russ Vought urging his agency to “address the burdensome and conflicting cyber regulatory landscape.” Reps. Clay Higgins (R., La.), Nancy Mace (R., S.C.), and Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) joined the chairmen on the letter.
“As nation-state and criminal actors increasingly target U.S. networks and critical infrastructure in cyberspace, we can no longer allow compliance burdens to hinder the agility of U.S.-based companies to respond to threats in a timely manner,” they wrote, adding that the dichotomy between spending on security and compliance is an “unnecessary tradeoff.”
“The U.S. cyber regulatory regime should facilitate valuable and actionable information sharing that reinforces the security measures companies undertake to defend against, and respond to, cyber incidents,” the lawmakers wrote.
The lawmakers wrote that there “is ample evidence that cybersecurity regulatory compliance is unnecessarily sprawling and resource-intensive,” and that the “Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) estimates there are more than three dozen federal requirements for cyber incident reporting alone — a number that does not capture specific state, local, Tribal, territorial, or international requirements.”
EXCLUSIVE: Career staff at Department of Justice gave go ahead on Discover acquisition
by the Washington Reporter
THE LOWDOWN:
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved Capital One Bank’s acquisition of credit card giant Discover last week.
In February 2024, the two banks announced a $35 billion dollar deal. The Biden administration’s DOJ had scrutinized this deal, however it was approved last week by President Donald Trump’s appointment to run the Antitrust Division, Gail Slater — a former top policy adviser to Vice President JD Vance, who has been praised as an antitrust hawk on competition policy.
A source close to Trump told the Washington Reporter that “Slater is one of his best picks. She is pro-innovation, pro-competition, and pro-enforcement.”
Three sources familiar with the merger told the Reporter that it was ultimately the career staff of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division that approved this deal, given they were working on the review for over a year.
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved Capital One Bank’s acquisition of credit card giant Discover last week.
In February 2024, the two banks announced a $35 billion dollar deal. The Biden administration’s DOJ had scrutinized this deal, however it was approved last week by President Donald Trump’s appointment to run the Antitrust Division, Gail Slater — a former top policy adviser to Vice President JD Vance, who has been praised as an antitrust hawk on competition policy. A source close to Trump told the Washington Reporter that “Slater is one of his best picks. She is pro-innovation, pro-competition, and pro-enforcement.”
Three sources familiar with the merger told the Reporter that it was ultimately the career staff of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division that approved this deal, given they were working on the review for over a year. In a DOJ letter obtained by the Reporter it was made clear that the Comptroller of the Currency was made aware of the situation and did not push back.
The letter, addressed to Acting Comptroller of Currency and Chairman of the Federal Reserve, states: “at the request of your agencies, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice submits the following report on the potential competitive effects of the Capital One Financial Corporation’s proposed $35 billion acquisition of Discover Financial Services.”
Slater, who signed the letter, was not part of the initial review, as it preceded her by over a year. Instead, career staff in the division reviewed and made the recommendation to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve that it would be hard to challenge the merger on antitrust grounds. The Department of Justice, Federal Reserve, and Comptroller of Currency declined to comment.
EXCLUSIVE: Democrats silent on Avril Haines’s Signalgate scandal
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
The loudest voices in the Democratic Party in condemning the Trump administration over so-called Signalgate have remained silent on former Biden Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines’ own use of Signal.
Top-level Democrats have seized on the news story from weeks ago but, in classic fashion, have found themselves with egg on their faces.
“Wait, Dems being hypocritical? No way,” Alexa Henning, the deputy chief of staff for Tulsi Gabbard, Haines’s successor, noted.
While the Democrats’ anti-Signal voices fell silent in response to requests for the Reporter, Republicans in Congress were easy to leverage Haines’s hypocrisy in order to turn the page on Signalgate, which President Donald Trump himself has indicated he does not care about.
The loudest voices in the Democratic Party in condemning the Trump administration over so-called Signalgate, in which top national security staffers used Signal in advance of President Donald Trump’s successful air strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen have been strikingly silent in the wake of the Washington Reporter’s report that one of President Joe Biden’s top national security aides used Signal “all the time and on her personal phone.”
Sens. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), Mark Warner (D., Va.), Chris Murphy (D., Ct.) and Tim Kaine (D., Va.), along with Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) have seized on Signalgate to thrust themselves into the media limelight, but none of these Democrats responded to requests for comment from the Reporter about allegations that Haines was a frequent Signal user herself when serving as Biden’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
“Wait, Dems being hypocritical? No way,” Alexa Henning, the deputy chief of staff for Tulsi Gabbard, Haines’s successor, noted.
Garrett Exner, a board member of Veterans on Duty, remarked that Haines, “one of the most unimpressive ‘experts’ of the Obama-Biden NatSec era, can now add prolific Signal user to her list of accomplishments.” Exner chronicled Haines’s career highlights, which include “dropp[ing] out of her PhD program to buy a bar, which became a book store,” “host[ing] erotic readings’ at her book store,” “over[seeing] CIA hacking of Senate staff laptops,” and telling “Congress there were no indications of a Taliban takeover of AFG prior to US withdrawal.”
SCOOP: Why twenty-two GOP governors back Trump on the budget: "we need to extend the Trump tax cuts and immigration enforcement"
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN
President Donald Trump and Republican leadership in Washington are getting reinforcements from twenty-two Republican governors.
North Dakota Republican Governor Kelly Armstrong told the Washington Reporter that he signed onto the letter “because we need to extend the Trump tax cuts and immigration enforcement.”
Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt told the Reporter that “Congress has a tough job, but it is time to have serious conversations about our spending and our debt.”
Top congressional Republicans told the Reporter that they’re on board with the governors and White House on the need to pass the Senate’s amendment to the House-passed budget resolution as it was sent back.
President Donald Trump and Republican leadership in Washington are getting reinforcements from twenty-two Republican governors, who wrote to Trump expressing their “gratitude” for Trump’s “support of the Senate’s amendment to the House Budget Resolution.”
The signees, who include governors ranging from veterans like Gov. Kevin Stitt (R., Okla.) to newcomers like Gov. Kelly Armstrong (R., N.D.), noted that the bill “is a preliminary step to unlocking a reconciliation bill that delivers on all of the promises every Republican made to the American people.”
Armstrong told the Washington Reporter that he signed onto the letter “because we need to extend the Trump tax cuts and immigration enforcement. This process can’t finish until it starts. This is essentially a procedural vote that unlocks a path to move forward. The final product is what matters to North Dakotans.”
Armstrong, a former top House Republican, added that he will be at the Republican Study Committee (RSC) tomorrow as well.
EXCLUSIVE: Politico fractures relationship with White House, Senate Republicans over “total bullshit” fake news story
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Politico’s already tenuous relationship with the White House — and with Republicans on the Hill — plummeted even further in the wake of what one senior Trump administration source called “total bullshit.”
According to multiple sources in the room, and the White House, the story is bogus. Miller was invited, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told the Washington Reporter that “Politico has turned into a dumping ground for cowards in Washington who seek to anonymously spew lies and gossip — and the reporters who write these fake stories don’t even realize they are being used.”
Robertson added that “Politico’s characterization of him ‘crashing’ and innuendo about his attendance being adversarial is total bunk.”
A second Senate GOP chief of staff who was in the room added to the Reporter that “Stephen Miller showed up and laid out a strong rationale for the agenda. Permanent Washington squealed.”
Politico’s already tenuous relationship with the White House — and with Republicans on the Hill — plummeted even further in the wake of what one senior Trump administration source called “total bullshit.”
According to Politico, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller “crashed a lunch for Senate of chiefs of staff yesterday to defend Trump’s tariffs.”
According to multiple sources in the room, and the White House, the story is bogus. Miller was invited, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who told the Washington Reporter that “Politico has turned into a dumping ground for cowards in Washington who seek to anonymously spew lies and gossip — and the reporters who write these fake stories don’t even realize they are being used.”
“Sad!” Leavitt added.
Unfortunately for Politico, the event’s organizer told the Reporter that its story is fake news. Brent Robertson, Sen. Roger Marshall’s (R., Kansas) chief of staff, who runs the Thursday lunches for GOP chiefs, told the Reporter that Miller “was an invited guest weeks in advance, and yesterday was really well attended because he was there.
Robertson added that “Politico’s characterization of him ‘crashing’ and innuendo about his attendance being adversarial is total bunk.”
Robertson’s perspective was seconded by a GOP aide who was in the room, who told the Reporter that “it’s truly pathetic that Senate leadership aides would run to Politico to attack one of the president’s top advisers after he agreed to take time out of his day to meet with them.”
EXCLUSIVE: State Department slams PBS News report as “deliberate leak narrative"
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
A recent viral report that “the 3-person disaster assessment team sent to Myanmar [in the wake of an earthquake] for the U.S. received termination notices while staying/sleeping outside” is fake news, a State Department spokesperson exclusively told the Washington Reporter.
“No one was fired,” a senior State Department official told the Reporter.
Another senior State Department official continued, responding to the specifics of the PBS report, that “USAID does not comment on the employment status of specific employees or contractors.”
The earthquake that struck Burma has reportedly killed hundreds of people — and the State Department has been on the scene providing millions of dollars, the official said.
A recent viral report that “the 3-person disaster assessment team sent to Myanmar [in the wake of an earthquake] for the U.S. received termination notices while staying/sleeping outside” is fake news, a State Department spokesperson exclusively told the Washington Reporter.
“No one was fired,” a senior State Department official told the Reporter.
The claim, by PBS News’s Lisa Desjardins, has gone viral — but the reality, according to a senior State Department official, is that “our team leads on the ground in Burma have reported back that the response is going well and they are able to execute their assignment.”
“Per the notice sent out last week,” the official continued. “All USAID personnel were either given a 1-July or 2-September termination date.”
“There have been no changes to that plan. Any assertion otherwise was likely based on a deliberate leak by someone trying to spread a fake narrative for their own political agenda.”
Another senior State Department official continued, responding to the specifics of the PBS report, that “USAID does not comment on the employment status of specific employees or contractors.”
“The USAID team responding to the earthquake in Burma spent one night outdoors and is now housed at an indoor facility. Our disaster teams are prepared for these situations which are not unusual in disaster zones,” the official said.
“All overseas United States Personal Service Contractors personnel who received separation notices will receive a USAID-funded return or Permanent Change of Stations (PCS),” the official added, directly rejecting the PBS report.
K-STREET, 10,000 FEET:
New leadership can reset the FDA and tobacco policies
by the Washington Reporter
THE LOWDOWN:
The Trump administration’s ushering of new leadership at the FDA and CTP can help to reset the current U.S. tobacco policies.
Experts and commentators muse that Kennedy, Makary, and a new team committed to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement will correct the failings of the Biden administration’s FDA and CTP.
King’s leadership and misguided policies might have had consequences with the 2024 election. “Nicotine politics” were found to have made an impact as the politics around the menthol ban has been called a “sleeper issue” in the swing state of North Carolina.
It is important to note that in the first week of his presidency, President Trump stopped the ban on menthol cigarettes via Executive Order.
As FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary was officially sworn into the role by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, layoffs of bureaucrats across the FDA, including in the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), were conducted to right-size the sprawling, and — according to industry watchers — ineffective bureaucracy.
Experts and commentators predicted to the Washington Reporter that Kennedy, Makary, and a new team committed to the “Make America Healthy Again” movement will correct the failings of the Biden administration’s FDA and CTP.
Under the Biden-Harris administration, Dr. Brian King led the CTP for two and a half years. King, according to whistleblowers interviewed for the Reagan-Udall Foundation report, “prioritized politics over public health.”
During Dr. King’s tenure, the CTP only authorized a handful of alternative nicotine products that have been found to be less harmful than cigarettes. This lack of products for adults who choose to smoke to switch to other products led to a boom in the illicit market of Chinese vapes that infiltrated our country and put our national security at risk.
According to a Townhall report by Stacy Washington, “China's growing military gets a major share of its funding from the country's state-run tobacco monopoly, which has quietly — and illegally — grabbed half the United States vaping market in recent years, providing the People’s Republic with a whopping 7 percent of its annual government revenue. By itself, that covers the country’s entire military budget.”
Instead of taking the growing threat from illicit Chinese vapes seriously, King utilized strongly worded letters to those breaking the law. In a last-ditch effort to share the blame, King hastily put together a “Joint Task Force” that had minimal success, only seizing $78 million in illicit vapor products from China, a drop in the bucket of a multi-billion dollar industry.
During King’s tenure, the Biden-Harris administration pursued prohibitionist policies such as banning menthol cigarettes and an “11th-hour plan to effectively ban cigarettes.” A bipartisan coalition of members of Congress pushed back against the Biden administration for these product bans. The lawmakers cited the unintended consequences of economic loss with bans, the impact on American farmers, and an increase in illicit market activities.
King’s leadership and misguided policies might have had consequences with the 2024 election. “Nicotine politics” were found to have made an impact as the politics around the menthol ban has been called a “sleeper issue” in the swing state of North Carolina. The Biden-Harris administration ultimately withdrew King’s plans to ban menthol cigarettes, stating that banning menthol cigarettes “posed political risks.”
In the first week of his presidency, President Donald Trump stopped the ban on menthol cigarettes via Executive Order. While Biden’s “11th-hour plan” to ban cigarettes remains out there, the Trump administration could withdraw the ban that is currently in the early stages of the rule-making process which would also pause the ban for four years.
OPINIONATED
Op-Ed: Rep. Ryan Costello: President Trump's depoliticization of the FTC and SEC is welcome news
by Rep. Ryan Costello
Looking back in the last four years of the Biden administration, one thing is clear: executive authority wasn’t employed to advance the American people, but to advance a partisan agenda with regulatory overreach. During my time in Washington, I watched federal agencies, tasked with objective governance, transform into political weapons — obstructing legitimate businesses, impeding competition, and using regulations as tools for activism.
Fortunately, President Donald Trump is taking action to undo this damage, and his Executive Order 14147, “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” captures his resolve to fix our government. Depoliticizing federal agencies is necessary to restoring trust in our government and getting these institutions working for the people, not for political elites.
For instance, take a look at President Joe Biden's gross abuse of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to block the proposed merger between U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel. He utilized this obscure bureaucracy to gift a political win for the union leadership in Pennsylvania while leaving the steelworkers behind. This interference in a private commercial transaction was taken even after the Department of Defense stated no clear national security concerns, which is the only reason why CFIUS reviews exist. This clearly prioritized political agendas as President Biden was leaving office. When the government picks winners and losers based on political convenience rather than on market principles, it sets a dangerous precedent — one that the previous administration has exploited at every turn.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is another agency that was perverted under Biden’s watch. Startups, particularly those looking to exit through acquisitions, have faced mounting hurdles due to the administration’s overreach. The Biden administration’s broadening of Hart-Scott-Rodino Act’s merger notice requirements imposed on small businesses the costs and unnecessary bureaucracy of jumping through hoops. The FTC estimated that an extra 107 hours per filing totaling $350 million in additional labor costs would be necessary to comply with the new rules.
This can have devastating impacts on entrepreneurship and innovation. Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, correctly blasted this as an overextension of the FTC's powers as an affront to the very principle of separation of powers.
Under the previous chair Lina Khan, the FTC used meritless lawsuits based on weak theories of law, not to maintain equity in the marketplace, but as a means of asserting uncontrolled authority.
