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December 9th, 2025
Let’s dive in.
INTERVIEW: Inside Hollywood’s embrace of Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center Honors
Heard on the Hill
EXCLUSIVE: Washington Reporter announces Christmas Party with Americans for Tax Reform
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Sen. Tim Scott’s event with the Electronic Payments Coalition and the Washington Reporter
EXCLUSIVE: Elise Stefanik’s primary opponent’s lengthy history of endorsing and working for Democrats complicates his new “vanity run”
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tom Cotton, NAM, and API slam European climate law: “disastrous economic model”
SCOOP: Why Sen. Deb Fischer backs Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system
SCOOP: How New York’s comptroller could escalate nationwide “ESG wars” by pushing State Street investment
SCOOP: How President Trump and Ric Grenell “saved the Kennedy Center”
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INTERVIEW: Inside Hollywood’s embrace of Donald Trump at the Kennedy Center Honors
by Matthew Foldi
For years, Hollywood shunned President Donald Trump and the broader Republican Party. But at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors — the first to be hosted by the sitting president — Hollywood’s brightest stars came to Washington, D.C.
KISS, Gloria Gaynor, George Strait, and Michael Crawford — the event’s honorees — were joined by stars across the eras of Hollywood. Vince Gill, Kurt Russell, Brooks & Dunn, Montana Tucker, Neal McDonough, and more walked the red carpet and roamed around the Kennedy Center, before honoring their friends for their lifetime achievements.
The Washington Reporter was on site for the evening’s red carpet, and interviewed the celebrities and cabinet members as they joined the evening’s festivities.
Red carpet VIPs discussed their favorite performers but also had warnings for Democratic lawmakers like Gov. Tim Walz (D., Minn.). Dr. Oz, who predicted the awards show would see its highest-ever ratings, told the Reporter that Minnesotans need to be on high alert in the wake of the Medicaid welfare scandal roiling the state.
Heard on the Hill
NDAA DELAY?: Congressional sources tell us that the NDAA is going to come down to the wire, with the final horse trading potentially pushing passage back to early 2026. Our view is to bet that Congress gets it done. There’s a reason the NDAA is called the “must-pass” bill.
KOSA FOR A MORATORIUM? A bipartisan group of senators is working on a package that includes the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) along with a partial moratorium against state laws regulating AI, tech and Hill sources told the Washington Reporter. Our take: good in theory, but the path to floor time and 60 Senate votes in an election year is unlikely, to say the least. If support, or opposition, towards AI starts popping up in midterm ads in the next few months, the chance of bipartisan legislation on this topic declines to zero.
FACTS FIRST: A purported “civic freedoms report” that pans a “rapid authoritarian shift” in America under President Donald Trump isn’t exactly all it’s cracked up to be. Alexa Henning, the Deputy Chief of Staff of Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, noted that “the ‘civics freedoms report’ referred to here is actually South African-based CIVICUS that is funded by a group of George Soros NGOs.”
HAMADEH ON ISRAEL: Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R., Ariz.) penned an op-ed [ [link removed] ] in the Jerusalem Post about why the “relationship [between America and Israel] is not only strategic or ideological, but it is also deeply personal.”
HEALTH CARE ROLL OUT: Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas) and Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) are releasing the More Affordable Care Act as Republicans grapple with what comes next on the health care front. Their legislation, Pfluger’s Republican Study Committee (RSC) explains, “give[s] individuals control over their health care dollars. Instead of funneling billions of taxpayer dollars to large insurance companies, this bill creates Trump Health Freedom Accounts, where federal subsidies are deposited straight into accounts that individuals manage.” Scott, a longtime healthcare executive, said that “we don’t have to replace Obamacare, we keep exchanges, we keep protections for preexisting conditions — but we can add options for families, allowing them to shop across state lines, increasing transparency in health care, and giving any financial support to them directly through HSA-style Trump Health Freedom Accounts so families can choose the care that fits their needs.”
WIOA WORK: The Departments of Labor and Education announced a joint plan to integrate the federal government’s workforce development portfolio. The two departments, helmed by Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Linda McMahon, respectively, announced that they will transition the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) state plan portal to the Labor Department to streamline federal workforce development programs.
APT IS WATCHING: Americans for Public Trust (APT), a watchdog group, just filed a complaint in Florida against both Energy Foundation China and the U.S. Energy Foundation for violating Florida’s Solicitation of Contributions Act. APT alleges that both organizations accepted prohibited contributions or other things of value from a “foreign source of concern,” in this case the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
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EXCLUSIVE: Washington Reporter announces Christmas Party with Americans for Tax Reform
by Matthew Foldi
The Washington Reporter will host a Christmas party with the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) on December 16, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at ATR’s Washington, D.C. office.
Both ATR and the Reporter are wrapping up successful years; Brian Colas, the Reporter’s CEO, told the Reporter that his outlet is “delighted to partner again with Americans for Tax Reform for this year’s Christmas party. ATR had a banner 2025, helping secure permanence for President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, ending taxes on tips and overtime, and getting rid of the IRS Direct File scheme.”
“Join us on December 16 to celebrate a great year,” Colas said.
Grover Norquist, ATR’s president, told the Reporter that he is excited “to celebrate a year that saw the One Big Beautiful Bill make the 2017 tax cuts permanent.”
“No more disappearing tax cuts,” Norquist said. “These are forever tax cuts opposed by every single Democrat and supported by all Republicans. How much clearer could the political landscape be?”
ATR and the Reporter have developed a close working relationship in the relatively short lifespan of the Reporter. Norquist and his colleagues frequently appear in the pages of the Reporter in interviews and in op-eds, and the two organizations hosted [ [link removed] ] “the best election night rager” of 2024.
EXCLUSIVE: Inside Sen. Tim Scott’s event with the Electronic Payments Coalition and the Washington Reporter
by Matthew Foldi
New York Times bestselling author Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), who chairs both the Senate’s Banking Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), joined the Washington Reporter and the Electronic Payments Coalition (EPC) on Wednesday night to discuss his latest book, the importance of faith in American politics, the lessons he learned from running for president, and more.
Scott’s latest book, One Nation Always Under God: Profiles in Christian Courage, has a through line: having “faith doesn’t mean that you won’t have trials and tribulations,” he said. In a talk moderated by EPC’s chairman Richard Hunt, Scott described how each chapter in the book profiles an American whose Christian faith helped them change the world in big and small ways; Scott said he wanted to pick stories that Americans had either never heard of or knew little about.
“Faith in America is the only future we have, and without it we have no future,” Scott said, in between reciting Bible verses off the cuff.
EXCLUSIVE: Elise Stefanik’s primary opponent’s lengthy history of endorsing and working for Democrats complicates his new “vanity run”
by Matthew Foldi
Republicans have been clearing the way for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) to be the next governor of New York State for months, as President Donald Trump endorses multiple Republicans weighing statewide bids for reelection.
Although most cleared the way for Stefanik, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who has lost multiple primaries and general elections for statewide office in New York, recently entered the GOP primary against Stefanik.
However, Blakeman faces both daunting odds and questions about his lengthy track record of working with and for Democrats on Long Island. In one example, a 2017 letter unearthed by the Washington Reporter shows that Blakeman’s home county GOP chair expressed his disappointment with Blakeman’s “betrayal” of the party.
In the letter sent out from the Nassau County Republican Committee, chairman Joseph Mondello wrote that he is “disappointed in any elected official from our party who would let personal feelings take priority over Republican principles, especially someone who has been given so much support by the party.”
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Tom Cotton, NAM, and API slam European climate law: “disastrous economic model”
by Matthew Foldi
The European Union is moving ahead with its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), a far-reaching climate and supply chain mandate that could drive up costs for Americans by making energy bills more expensive.
The Washington Reporter previously covered the risks of the directive in an interview [ [link removed] ] with Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum and in an editorial [ [link removed] ] on the downside of its overreach.
Many Republicans in Congress have described the CSDDD as a scheme to drive up costs for Americans. House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R., Ark.), along with Reps. Ann Wagner (R., Mo.) and Andy Barr (R., Ky.) and Sens. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) and Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), sent [ [link removed] ] a letter to the Treasury Department and National Economic Council warning that the directive threatens U.S. competitiveness and could impose European standards on American companies.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) told the Reporter that “the EU is trying to export their disastrous economic model to Arkansas by forcing American companies to comply with supply chain and climate rules that their representatives have firmly rejected. I have deep concerns about this infringement on American sovereignty.”
SCOOP: Why Sen. Deb Fischer backs Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system
by Matthew Foldi
President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense system is a key strategy of deterrence, Sen. Deb Fischer (R., Neb.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), said. The Nebraska lawmaker took her missile defense message to the west coast, telling an audience at the 12th annual Reagan National Defense Forum (RNDF) about why she backs the Trump proposal.
“This transfers to providing for a safer world, to be able to serve our allies, our partners, the world as a whole,” Fischer, the chair of SASC’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said. “And it is a deterrent. It is a deterrent. People, our adversaries, need to think twice before ever taking any action against this country.”
Trump’s Golden Dome, Fischer explained, has “kept our country safe. It’s like our nuclear triad. It’s kept our country safe. How do you measure the safety of this nation, and what kind of price tag do you put on it?... We have bright, qualified people that are working on this to be able to have a system in place to identify, to discriminate incoming [threats] for the United States of America. That’s a deterrent in itself to our adversaries. It protects the American people, and I think, equally important, it gives the President of the United States time to be able to make decisions in how to respond if you have a missile defense system that works in that way.”
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The App Store “Freedom” Act compromises digital freedom and safety for every American family.
It forces app stores to dismantle safety tools, creating vulnerabilities and exposing users to cyberattacks. It also allows a flood of obscene content and breaks parental controls on app approvals.
Tell Congress to reject it.
netchoice.org/keepyourphonesecure [ [link removed] ]
SCOOP: How New York’s comptroller could escalate nationwide “ESG wars” by pushing State Street investment
by the Washington Reporter
​​New York City’s outgoing [ [link removed] ] comptroller Brad Lander, who is reportedly planning to primary Rep. Dan Goldman (D., N.Y.) from the left, is using one of his final acts in office to reshape how the city’s $270 billion pension system treats environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, highlighting State Street [ [link removed] ] as a preferred partner of New York’s liberal values.
Lander’s moves, which could endear him to a progressive voter base that he would need to oust the wealthy Goldman, could simultaneously spark a nationwide “ESG war,” his critics told the Washington Reporter.
Conservatives told the Reporter that it is a mistake for State Street to go all in on liberal policies, instead of providing returns to its investors.
According to ESG today [ [link removed] ], Lander urged the New York pension fund to “rebid” its holdings to stop investing in companies that are insufficiently committed to fighting global warming. He recommended instead moving that money to State Street — the bank that Lander believes is fully committed to progressive activism.
A Republican Senate source told the Reporter that “if New York City tries to pull funds away from firms that are depoliticizing to only put money in woke firms like State Street, that will be a drastic escalation of the ESG wars at a time when the left is out of power.”
SCOOP: How President Trump and Ric Grenell “saved the Kennedy Center”
by Matthew Foldi
The President of the United States hosted the Kennedy Center Honors for the first time over the weekend. Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, the legendary arts center received a much-needed infusion of $250 million from congressional Republicans, and Trump and Ambassador Ric Grenell raised “almost $23 million” in advance of the honors.
This year, the Kennedy Center’s prestigious honors went to KISS, “the pretty legendary rock band,” George Strait, “the legendary Michael Crawford,” Gloria Gaynor, and Sylvester Stallone — a group that Trump said will be difficult for future honors to top. “They are great honorees,” he said.
Several of the awardees were among Trump’s favorites of their genres — ahead of the dinner, Trump told Crawford that “I don’t want to say how many times I’ve seen you in Phantom [of the Opera].”
The Washington Reporter was on site at the State Department’s opulent dining room with Trump, Ambassador Richard Grenell, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chief of Protocol of the United States Monica Crowley, and the honorees.

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