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December 19th, 2025
Let’s dive in.
INTERVIEW: Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s vision for GOP healthcare reforms: “Put patients in the driver’s seat”
Heard on the Hill
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Marsha Blackburn on PBMs, CVS, and healthcare costs
EXCLUSIVE: Senate Majority Leader John Thune celebrates wins of 2025
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Marsha Blackburn praises Ford’s move to make gas-powered affordable trucks
SCOOP: Rep. Darrell Issa on “unfair” European Union regulations: “We won’t stop until we win”
SCOOP: Sen. Katie Britt kicks off launch of Trump Accounts alongside Secretary Bessent, Speaker Johnson, and more
SCOOP: Rep. Ronny Jackson on NCTC Director Joe Kent’s leadership
OPINIONATED: Op-Ed: Jeremy Harrell, Drew Bond, and Zach Graves on how to unleash American energy dominance financing to win on energy and AI
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A message from our sponsor.
Congress: Keep Parents in Control of Their Child’s Data
In America, parents are in charge of their families.
But the App Store “Accountability” Act takes away power from parents.
Parents should get to decide if their child’s age is shared with an app.
Tell Congress to protect your family’s privacy and give parents that choice.
Learn more at netchoice.org/keepappstoressafe [ [link removed] ]
INTERVIEW: Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s vision for GOP healthcare reforms: “Put patients in the driver’s seat”
by Matthew Foldi
A former physician, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R., Iowa) has recently become one of the House GOP’s go-to messengers and policymakers on health care.
Miller-Meeks told the Washington Reporter in an interview that House leadership tapped her for the role, likely because she discussed publicly “the COVID enhanced premium tax credits, the premium tax credits, and the fact that the premium tax credits aren’t going away and that no one was addressing the vast majority of people’s health care costs which are outside of the ACA.”
“You have 20 odd million people in the ACA, about 7 percent of that, you have about 1.6 to 1.7 million, on the enhanced premium tax credits,” she said. “The enhanced premium tax credits were done to hide the fact and shield people from the fact that the Unaffordable Care Act was a failure, and it has never brought down health care costs.”
Her role in the federal healthcare debate is informed by what her constituents are experiencing firsthand.
“There are people whose health care premiums are going up just like mine are going up,” she said. “I’m on the exchange, and like everybody else, my premiums for an individual person are close to $1,000, and they are going up.”
Heard on the Hill
KEEP IT LOCAL: A Senate source flagged that a new organization, Keep it Local Media, flooded the Hill with placards objecting to the Nexstar-Tegna merger. The fliers went out right before FCC Chairman Brendan Carr testified before the Sen. Ted Cruz-helmed (R., Texas) Commerce Committee. The coalition is leaning on a powerful ally: Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, whose warning that President Donald Trump would not have won if these policies had been in place ten years ago features prominently in its messaging. The Washington Reporter has interviewed Chairman Carr on multiple occasions; read one of our latest interviews with the chairman here [ [link removed] ].
RECONCILIATION 2.0? Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R., La.) comments that the House should pass another reconciliation bill raised eyebrows in government affairs circles, as the conventional wisdom had been that the Republican majorities are too tenuous to pass another reconciliation bill. The Washington Reporter hopes that Speaker Johnson — who is always underestimated — is right and that the conventional wisdom is wrong.
PADILLA VS. MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS: Sen. Alex Padilla (D, Calif.) objected to a measure from Sen. Jim Justice (R., W.Va [ [link removed] ].) that would back a monument on the National Mall for Medal of Honor Recipients. Justice’s bill, which passed the House by unanimous consent, is already paid for — but Padilla objected, as Justice’s communications director Will O’Grady explained, because he “wanted [two] new Smithsonian museums: One for Hispanic service members. One for female service members. Justice’s memorial was paid for in full. These new museums proposed by Padilla would be millions of dollars. The whole objection by Padilla was patently absurd.”
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Marsha Blackburn on PBMs, CVS, and healthcare costs
by Matthew Foldi
CVS is the “largest, most vertically integrated company in healthcare,” and the federal government “has quickly become CVS’s largest funder,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) said in a letter [ [link removed] ] to CVS earlier this week, criticizing the company’s role in the prescription drug market and the PBM industry as a whole.
“CVS Health, the fifth largest company in the United States by revenue, owns the second-largest pharmacy benefit manager (Caremark), the largest retail pharmacy chain (CVS), and the third-largest health insurer (Aetna), as well as other subsidiaries that extend into drug manufacturing and rebate aggregation,” Blackburn said.
Today, Blackburn gave the Washington Reporter more context on her work to increase transparency in the prescription drug market.
“The federal government has quickly become CVS’ biggest funder, and CVS has forced Americans to foot the bill for higher health insurance premiums, fraud, overbilling, unsafe practices, and regulatory violations,” she told the Reporter.
A message from our sponsor.
Congress: Keep Parents in Control of Their Child’s Data
In America, parents are in charge of their families.
But the App Store “Accountability” Act takes away power from parents.
Parents should get to decide if their child’s age is shared with an app.
Tell Congress to protect your family’s privacy and give parents that choice.
Learn more at netchoice.org/keepappstoressafe [ [link removed] ]
EXCLUSIVE: Senate Majority Leader John Thune celebrates wins of 2025
by Matthew Foldi
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.)’s list of 2025 accomplishments, which he shared with the Washington Reporter, includes major bipartisan wins on issues like illegal immigration to fentanyl to cryptocurrency.
Republicans also passed much of President Donald Trump’s agenda in the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB) under the stewardship of both Thune and of Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.).
The legislative wins in the OBBB that Thune is particularly proud of include the creation of Trump Accounts “to build future financial security, and enhanced child care tax credits,” new access to health savings accounts that Republicans want to use to lower health care costs for millions of Americans, the permanent extension of the small business tax deduction and permanent full expensing for domestic R&D, new capital investments, interest deductibility for new domestic investments, increased domestic energy production, expanded agriculture markets, and a strengthened farm safety net.
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Marsha Blackburn praises Ford’s move to make gas-powered affordable trucks
by Holly Spear
Ford Motor Company announced [ [link removed] ] a major strategic pivot this week, redirecting away from large electric vehicle (EV) programs toward gas-powered trucks, hybrids, and domestic manufacturing, a move that reflects a broader pullback from EV mandates amid changing regulatory and market conditions.
The automaker said [ [link removed] ] it will repurpose its Tennessee EV facility into a truck production hub and hire thousands of workers in the U.S. in coming years, while expanding production of gas and hybrid models that continue to dominate consumer demand.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) praised the move and Ford, telling the Washington Reporter that Ford’s decision is a win for jobs and for affordable vehicles.
SCOOP: Rep. Darrell Issa on foreign regulations: “The relevant market in antitrust is now the world.”
by Matthew Foldi
American businesses need a “level playing field and fair competition” when it comes to global regulations on tech companies — which in many places is not the case, Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) told the Washington Reporter.
“America’s businesses and innovators don’t need or want an unfair regulatory advantage around the world — only a level playing field and fair competition,” Issa said. “In too many places that’s not happening — so we are on the case, in the fight, and won’t stop until we win.”
Issa’s remarks followed a Judiciary Committee hearing in which the California lawmaker criticized allies like South Korea and the European Union (EU) for targeting American businesses and workers with regulations, and for circumventing American labor laws..
SCOOP: Sen. Katie Britt kicks off launch of Trump Accounts alongside Secretary Bessent, Speaker Johnson, and more
by Matthew Foldi
Trump Accounts, a central component of the Republican Party’s reconciliation bill and implemented by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, offer a “historic and innovative” opportunity for Americans, Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.) told the Washington Reporter.
Trump accounts create an “opportunity for our nation to invest in the next generation, furthering the president’s and the Republican Party’s longstanding commitment to being the party of hardworking parents and families,” Britt, who helped shepherd the accounts into law during the GOP’s crafting of the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB), told the Reporter.
“There are four ways Trump Accounts will be funded,” Bessent explained. “First, through an initial $1,000 seed from the government; second, through the donations of parents, friends, and employers; third, through the generous donations of wealthy Americans and philanthropic organizations; and fourth, through donations from state governments.”
“Under Trump Accounts, Wall Street’s success becomes Main Street’s success and vice versa,” he added.
A message from our sponsor.
Congress: Keep Parents in Control of Their Child’s Data
In America, parents are in charge of their families.
But the App Store “Accountability” Act takes away power from parents.
Parents should get to decide if their child’s age is shared with an app.
Tell Congress to protect your family’s privacy and give parents that choice.
Learn more at netchoice.org/keepappstoressafe [ [link removed] ]
SCOOP: Rep. Ronny Jackson praises NCTC Director Joe Kent’s leadership amidst global terrorism
by Matthew Foldi
The uptick in radical Islamic terrorist attacks and close calls from around the world is shining a renewed spotlight on an already high profile congressional hearing from just last week.
During a hearing held by the House Homeland Security Committee, Joe Kent — the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) — cautioned that America has not fully grappled with the consequences of either failed Afghanistan withdrawal or the open border presided over by President Joe Biden.
“We’re working right now hand in hand with DHS and with the FBI to run down this 2,000, the Afghans who came here under Allies Welcome who have ties to terrorist organizations, and additionally the other 16,000 individuals of ties to terrorist organizations that Biden let into our country,” Kent told Congress. “That is probably the top terrorist threat that we face right now, and that doesn’t include the individuals who came here illegally through the open border. That number alarmingly remains unknown at this time. We’re trying to figure out who those individuals are as well.”
OPINIONATED
Op-Ed: Jeremy Harrell, Drew Bond, and Zach Graves: How to unleash American energy dominance financing to win on Energy and AI
by Jeremy Harrell, Drew Bond, and Zach Graves
American leadership in reliable, affordable and abundant energy is non-negotiable for our national security, economic growth and global competitiveness. Today, this leadership is at risk. While domestic energy demand surges, our adversaries — led by China, the world’s dominant energy financier [ [link removed] ] — are outpacing us [ [link removed] ] in investments in innovative R&D and critical infrastructure. To win this competition, the federal government must enable the U.S. energy sector to compete in technology areas where the financial risk is too high for the private sector to bear alone. One of the U.S. government’s more powerful tools is loan guarantees.
History shows this approach works. Federally sponsored partnerships with industry have sparked major technology advancements that are foundational to our defense and economy. In fact, a study from Commonweal Ventures found that, between 2003 and 2023, government expenditures catalyzed nearly a quarter of all venture-backed companies that ultimately achieved a valuation of $1 billion or more [ [link removed] ]. This strategic public investment is why key programs, such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing [ [link removed] ] (EDF), are necessary: they bridge the critical “bankability gap” that impedes the deployment of transformational technologies.
That is why we applaud the Trump administration for establishing a new Energy Dominance Financing Program [ [link removed] ] within EDF via the Working Families Tax Cut package [ [link removed] ]. Enacted in July, this law authorizes DOE to guarantee up to $250 billion in loans to U.S. companies that expand energy generation or transmission capacity, and support grid reliability and power supply through 2028 [ [link removed] ]. This revised approach to loan guarantees focuses DOE’s work on fiscally responsible, strategic investments that de-risk essential, large-scale energy and critical minerals projects by attracting private capital and strengthening America’s workforce.

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