January 8th, 2026
In this edition
| [1] | INTERVIEW: Rep. Rick Crawford on Venezuela: "Cuba will be fairly closely following" | | [2] | Heard on the Hill | | [3] | EXCLUSIVE: How Tulsi Gabbard reformed the ODNI in 2025 | | [4] | EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Bill Cassidy scores major pro-life endorsement | | [5] | SCOOP: Inside Doug Burgum's 2025 effort to unleash American energy | | [6] | SCOOP: Sen. Tom Cotton sets historic pace on confirmations with latest Trump IC pick | | [7] | SCOOP: Sean Duffy marks first year with wins on infrastructure, cheaper vehicles, and safety | | [8] | SCOOP: Donald Trump, Tim Scott kick 2026 off focusing on affordability and lower housing costs | | [9] | SCOOP: Rep. Vince Fong wants "fiscal responsibility" for California's high-speed rail project after state drops lawsuit over federal funding | | [10] | OPINIONATED: Rep. Andy Harris on how Democrats cost Maryland millions of dollars in rural health care by politicizing SNAP |
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| [1] | INTERVIEW: Rep. Rick Crawford on Venezuela: "Cuba will be fairly closely following"
By: Matthew Foldi
It's been a good week for Rep. Rick Crawford (R., Ark.), who for years has sought to prioritize the Western Hemisphere in American foreign policy, given the recent arrest and extradition of Venezuela's socialist leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Now, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee told the Washington Reporter in an exclusive interview, he hopes reforms in Cuba are next.
"To me, this is all music to my ears," Crawford told the Reporter. "I am thrilled to see that the president has made this a priority. As chairman of the Intel Committee, when I came in a year ago, I said that this is going to be my priority. And I was very delighted to see that the president shared that view. We have stood up a Western Hemisphere action cell on the Intel Committee that is focused on keeping our eyes on this problem set in the Western Hemisphere."
"It's important that we show not only our allies in the hemisphere but countries around the world that we are going to be present and that we're going to do everything we can to support our allies in whatever way that is necessary," Crawford, an Army veteran, added. "And the president supported that; we got a favorable outcome in terms of what you're seeing politically taking place in the hemisphere right now is a strong rebuke of communism….We're seeing exactly how they feel about communism, because it's being roundly rebuked, from Peru to Chile to Argentina to Honduras most recently. I expect we'll see the same thing in Colombia, and we're seeing it in Venezuela."
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[2] |
Heard on the Hill
- PRESIDENT TRUMP'S HOUSING ANNOUNCEMENT: President Donald Trump's announcement of a pending ban on "institutional ownership" of single family homes made a splash on the Hill and on Wall Street. The two biggest firms impacted by the move, Invitation Homes and Blackstone, saw a decline in their stock price. Congress responded quickly, with Rep. Steven Horsford (D., Nev.), calling to pass his Housing Oversight and Mitigation Exploitation (HOME) Act. Reps. Erin Houchin (R., Ind.) and Mike Flood (R., Neb.) have legislation, the Affordable Housing Opportunities Made Easier through Simplification (Affordable HOMES) Act that will hit the floor this week.
- TO INFINITY, AND BEYOND: 2025 was a huge year for NASA, and Bethany Stevens, its press secretary, laid out some of the agency's major wins to the Washington Reporter. "In 2025, we kept the space economy booming, advanced science from the Sun to distant stars — and much more," she said. "We rounded out the year with President Trump's nominee for NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman's, confirmation. This year, under his leadership, our Artemis II astronauts will fly around the Moon, preparing for lunar landings and paving the way to Mars."
- HISTORY MADE AT DHS: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is celebrating its wins from 2025. Harry Fones, DHS's Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, laid them out to the Washington Reporter. "2025 was a historic year for the Department of Homeland Security," Fones said. "Thanks to the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem we had the most secure border in American history, record shattering recruitment across multiple agencies including a 120% manpower increase at ICE, got the worst of the worst out of American communities, and we saved the taxpayer over $13 billion in waste. We are only going to continue to ramp up our work and successes in 2026."
- CHEERS! Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, exposed how the Biden administration worked with anti-alcohol activists to subvert the Dietary Guidelines process when it comes to alcoholic beverages. "The Committee's investigation uncovered evidence that the Biden Administration's [Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking Alcohol Intake & Health Study] study was conducted in a manner inconsistent with federal law and was wastefully duplicative, raising outcome bias concerns. Comer's report also found that Biden-era "HHS documents provided to the Committee show that the ICCPUD AIH study was deliberately biased by 1) recruiting anti-alcohol advocates who wanted to promote that no amount of alcohol consumption is safe by building upon previous research in their 2023 ‘Canadian model' study and 2) hiding relevant AIH study information from FOIA requestors and Congress."
- MAJOR QUARTER: Joe Mitchell, a former state legislator running to succeed Rep. Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa) in a tossup district, raised almost $700,000 in 2025, his campaign told the Washington Reporter. Mitchell heads into the election year with almost $600,000 cash on hand in the red-leaning district.
- HILL TAKEOVER: Consumers Research plastered the Hill with fliers for a new site it is backing that targets the insurance company Chubb, which it calls the "wokest insurance company." The campaign, which is complemented by a mobile billboard driving around D.C., is targeting Chubb in part due to Chubb being "at the tip of the spear in the fight to eliminate litigation finance, which is one of the few tools that lets everyday Americans and small businesses stand up to woke corporate giants," Consumers Research's Will Hild said to the Washington Reporter. "By attacking litigation finance, Chubb is openly siding with entrenched corporate power over consumer protection and working to rig the legal system in its own favor," Hild added. "At the same time, Greenberg has cultivated cozy relationships with Communist China, publicly arguing for a softer line on Beijing while Chubb has invested billions linked to the Chinese market and treated Xi Jinping as a partner rather than an adversary." Robert O'Brien, a China hawk who served as National Security Advisor during President Donald Trump's first term, pushed back on the criticisms of Chubb's ties to China, saying that he's "worked with Evan Greenberg for several years now on American relations with China. In my dealings with Evan, he has been a proponent of U.S. interests in the region. Through its operations in China, his company has contributed to shrinking the U.S. trade deficit."
- MAHA BACKUP: The Trump administration's rollout of a new food pyramid won quick praise from experts in the industry, with one industry CEO calling the reforms a "significant step toward recognizing that healthy, nutrient-dense foods are key to addressing our nation's epidemic of diet-related chronic disease and obesity." Lauren Driscoll, the founder and CEO of NourishedRx, said that her "team is grateful to President Trump, HHS Secretary RFK Jr., Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, CMS Administrator Dr. Oz, and Special Advisor Calley Means for their leadership and commitment to use healthy food and nutrition to make America healthy again…The Trump Administration's new dietary guidelines reinforce what we know to be true: when people have access to nutritious food, clear information, and the right tools, meaningful and lasting improvements in health are possible."
- SETTING THE MAP: The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), led by Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.), scored a series of recruitment coups as the GOP looks to expand its majority in 2026. Top recruits include Mike Rogers in Michigan, John Sununu in New Hampshire, Ashley Hinson in Iowa, and Michael Whatley in North Carolina. The GOP is also eager to watch messy Democratic primaries play out in states like Michigan, Maine, Minnesota, Texas, and Iowa. The committee also raised $80 million, which is almost $12 million more than it raised in the same period during the 2024 cycle — 99 percent of its donations are less than $200.
| | | [3] | EXCLUSIVE: How Tulsi Gabbard reformed the ODNI in 2025
By: Matthew Foldi
It was a "bad year for the Deep State" in 2025, and a good one for the Director of National Intelligence's (DNI) efforts to bolster department-wide transparency, counterterrorism, the effort to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and more, a DNI spokesperson told the Washington Reporter.
The Reporter broke multiple stories about the DNI's work in 2025 — including Director Tulsi Gabbard's declassification of the Obama administration's role in surveilling Trump's 2016 campaign and prompting the Russia collusion investigation, Gabbard's vision for ODNI 2.0, the addition of counternarcotics to the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)'s portfolio, and more.
One of Gabbard's first reforms was to dismantle a DEI apparatus that a spokesman said had overtaken many of the agency's priorities. Reforms Gabbard took as part of ODNI 2.0 will save taxpayers almost $1 billion a year.
"In just eleven months under President Trump's and DNI Gabbard's leadership, we've shattered the status quo, begun to restore trust in the Intelligence Community, unveiled historic transformations with ODNI 2.0, deployed the U.S. counterterrorism enterprise against terrorist gangs and cartels, exposed bombshell evidence of the Russia Hoax, declassified half a million documents in the public interest, and much more," a DNI spokesman told the Reporter. "Thanks to President Trump, DNI Gabbard, and their commitment to putting the American people first, we're working around the clock to end weaponized intelligence and hold those who politicized it accountable."
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[4] |
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Bill Cassidy scores major pro-life endorsement
By: Matthew Foldi
One of America's leading pro-life organizations has announced its endorsement of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) in his 2026 reelection bid, the Washington Reporter can exclusively confirm.
"Senator Bill Cassidy's leadership on life is indispensable in Washington," the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Candidate Fund said.
"Cassidy has led the fight for accountability on dangerous mail-order abortion drugs that are endangering women, driving abortions higher and undermining the laws of pro-life states like Louisiana," Marjorie Dannenfelser, SBA Pro-Life America's president, said in her endorsement. "He has worked to advance a health care alternative to Obamacare that stops the travesty of taxpayers being forced to subsidize abortions. And when a whistleblower exposed public school staff allegedly coercing students into abortions on taxpayers' dime, as chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, he launched a federal investigation."
Cassidy is also backed by leading Republicans like Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.), and he has been tying himself closely to President Donald Trump; Cassidy previously told the Reporter that he and the president are "totally in sync" on health care.
| | | [5] | SCOOP: Inside Doug Burgum's 2025 effort to unleash American energy
By: Matthew Foldi
Secretary Doug Burgum's Department of Interior's busy agenda in 2025 included efforts to complement the Trump administration's energy independence executive orders, and to reconfigure pricing at America's National Parks to comport with President Donald Trump's America First priorities.
"This past year, the Department of the Interior has fought each day to secure big wins for the American people by unleashing American energy dominance, ensuring our federal lands stay open for everyone to enjoy, and ending Biden's bureaucratic red tape agenda that has been holding back our communities," Charlotte Taylor, the department's Deputy Communications Director, told the Washington Reporter. "Secretary Burgum and the Interior team will never stop delivering for hardworking American families and above all, we'll keep putting America First."
The Interior Department is also announcing new oil and gas leases in the Gulf of America; the department played a role in implementing Trump's executive order that renamed the body of water at America's southern border as well as reversing the Obama-era name change of Alaska's Mount McKinley.
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A message from our sponsor.
Why does a calculator app need your child's age?
The App Store "Accountability" Act mandates sharing children's sensitive information too broadly.
Americans need digital safety that respects parental rights and data privacy.
Tell Congress: Keep PARENTS in charge of how your child's data is handled.
Learn more at netchoice.org/keepappstoressafe |
| [6] | SCOOP: Sen. Tom Cotton sets historic pace on confirmations with latest Trump IC pick
By: Matthew Foldi
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.)'s latest confirmation of Joshua Simmons to serve as the CIA's general counsel continues his track record of quickly facilitating the confirmation of top officials who will serve in President Donald Trump's intelligence community (IC). The Senate Intelligence Committee, which Cotton chairs, has confirmed all of Trump's selected nominees, even amid efforts from committee Democrats to delay and oppose the nominations. Cotton commends "President Trump for nominating a strong slate of individuals to these important national security roles," he told the Washington Reporter. "The world is a dangerous place, and our adversaries have shown that they will not stand by while the President's full national security team is put in place," Cotton added. "I'm thankful for the hard work of my colleagues on the committee for getting these nominees confirmed, and I look forward to continuing to refocus our intelligence community on its core mission: stealing secrets to protect Americans."
| | | | [7] | SCOOP: Sean Duffy marks first year with wins on infrastructure, cheaper vehicles, and safety
By: Matthew Foldi
Secretary Sean Duffy's Department of Transportation (DOT) tackled everything from wasteful spending to blue states handing out commercial drivers licenses to illegal immigrants in 2025, all while securing Christmas bonuses for thousands of Amtrak union employees.
For much of 2025, Duffy was the head of DOT and NASA's acting administrator. Following Jared Isaacman's bipartisan confirmation as NASA administrator, Duffy was able to resume his sole focus on running DOT, where, his team says, he's saved taxpayers billions of dollars, including almost $10 billion in just his first 100 days on the job.
One of Duffy's high-profile moves was a blow to hopeful presidential nominee Gov. Gavin Newsom (D., Calif); Duffy investigated "California's train to nowhere," a proposed high-speed rail system whose costs have ballooned and that critics argue will never be completed. The DOT has simultaneously revitalized moribund train stations across the country, including Union Station and Penn Station.
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[8] |
SCOOP: Donald Trump, Tim Scott kick 2026 off focusing on affordability and lower housing costs
By: Matthew Foldi
President Donald Trump and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Sen. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) kicked 2026 off by honing in on affordability issues, specifically housing policy.
"People live in homes, not corporations," Trump said while announcing his plans to restrict the ability of institutional investors to buy single-family homes. Scott, who has led the Senate GOP's efforts to lower the cost of housing by backing bipartisan legislation like the ROAD to Housing Act, commended Trump's latest move.
"2026 must be the year we get housing affordability right for working families," Scott said. "I welcome President Trump's desire to look for ways to create more homeowners, especially first-time homeowners." | | | | [9] | SCOOP: Rep. Vince Fong wants "fiscal responsibility" for California's high-speed rail project after state drops lawsuit over federal funding
By: Matthew Foldi
California Democratic Attorney General, Rob Bonta, withdrew the state's lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's effort to cut billions of dollars of grants to the state's high-speed rail project — a move that is welcome news for taxpayers, Rep. Vince Fong (R., Calif.), a Californian who serves on the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, told the Washington Reporter.
"California's decision to withdraw its lawsuit over its high-speed rail failure confirms what taxpayers have known for years: the project's mismanagement is indefensible," Fong said. "What voters approved in 2008 bears no resemblance to the original vision — a $33 billion rail system completed by 2020 has ballooned to more than $128 billion, with no viable funding plan, no realistic completion date, and no accountability."
Republicans have for years argued that the rail proposal, promoted by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.), is an example of administrative failure. "After billions wasted, repeated delays, and wildly unrealistic ridership projections, the California High-Speed Rail Authority and Governor Newsom could not defend their failures," Fong said. "It's time to shut down this boondoggle and reinvest in real infrastructure and critical priorities that actually deliver for Californians."
With leadership in Washington, D.C., including the Trump administration's Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy who has been a longtime opponent of the high-speed rail, Fong is excited to see "fiscal responsibility" prioritized.
"I thank President Trump and Secretary Duffy for stepping in to protect taxpayers and restore fiscal responsibility," he said.
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[10] |
OPINIONATED
Op-Ed: Rep. Andy Harris: Maryland lost millions for rural healthcare by putting SNAP politics over policy
By: Rep. Andy Harris
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's (D) administration missed an opportunity to help bring healthcare resources to rural Marylanders by failing to prioritize Maryland's application for a piece of the $50 billion funding under the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Our rural communities stand to lose millions in federal funding as a result.
Created as part of the 2025 Working Families Tax Cuts Act, the RHTP is a $50 billion federal grant program to be awarded to states to address the access to healthcare and infrastructure crisis occurring in rural communities across the U.S. This grant program equally distributes $25 billion to all states, but also authorizes states to submit applications for a portion of the remaining $25 billion to pay for specific health and nutrition needs of rural communities.
The Trump administration has made a major commitment to strengthening rural health care by delivering $168,180,838 to Maryland through the RHTP. This funding will improve access to care and strengthen rural health care where Marylanders need it most. However, Maryland's rural communities won't see the full benefit they should. | |
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