Washington Reporter Eric Schmitt backs Tulsi Gabbard, HUD hones in on
affordability, and more!

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January 14th, 2026

In this edition


[1] INTERVIEW: Sen. Bill Cassidy says PBM reform will get done this year, lays
out HELP Committee agenda
[2] Heard on the Hill
[3] EXCLUSIVE: Litigation finance debate continues on Capitol Hill with Chubb
flier campaign
[4] SCOOP: Rep. French Hill supports President Trump's executive order on
proxy advisors
[5] SCOOP: House Judiciary Committee holding markup on litigation finance
[6] SCOOP: HUD looks to build on affordability successes in 2026
[7] SCOOP: Sen. Eric Schmitt joins White House, Vice President Vance in backing
DNI Gabbard
[8] SCOOP: Winning for Women rolls out historic 2025 fundraising successes
[9] SCOOP: Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer touts agenda of putting American
workers first in 2025
[10] OPINIONATED: Michael Fragoso on Congress's role in the Venezuela raid, and
John Bachman on how President Trump's moves in Venezuela directly echo
President Ronald Reagan's success against Grenada
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[1] INTERVIEW: Sen. Bill Cassidy says PBM reform will get done this year, lays
out HELP Committee agenda
By: Matthew Foldi

As chair of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP)
Committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) — has ambitious plans for 2026, which
includes tackling everything from pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform to
lowering the costs of prescription drugs, all while investigating reports of
federal childcare programs across the country.

Cassidy, who told the Reporter that he and President Donald Trump are
"totally in sync" on a litany of health care policies, said that that remains
the case, especially when it comes to "a potential deal for the exchanges."

"The president wants the money to go to the patient, not the profit to the
hospital," Cassidy said. "Those are my words, but I think he would use them if
he wanted to, and we are trying to come up with a plan that does that. As
regards what we plan for the coming year, we're going to have the hearing on
misoprostol coming up. We'll also try and do something on pharmacy benefit
managers; the president is all about lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
We had a bill that almost passed last year. We'll try and bring it up again
this year, which would lower premiums for people both in Medicare and in
commercial insurance and as well as on the exchanges. It's something across the
board to benefit patients. The president's going to be about that I know for
sure, because he's all about lowering the cost of prescription drugs."

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[2]
Heard on the Hill

* CREDIT CARD CRUNCH: It's safe to say President Donald Trump's entry into
the credit card policy fight caused a major splash on Capitol Hill. On Friday,
the president supported a 10 percent cap on rates and early this morning, the
president endorsed the Durbin-Marshall Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA).
Republican leaders quickly dismissed the rate cap proposal, although less was
said publicly about CCCA. TheWashington Reporter will be covering this closely
and surveying House and Senate Republicans to see where they stand on CCCA and
on the prospects of the legislation getting a vote. More to come.
* SCOTUS SHOWDOWN: The Washington Reporter was on-site at the Supreme Court
today, where activists on both sides of the issue of men in girls' sports made
their cases in front of an at-times rowdy crowd. We spoke with Sen. Tommy
Tuberville (R., Ala.), Rep. Mike Simpson (R., Idaho), and more — stay tuned for
our coverage of the landmark cases.
* CASSIDY ANGLE: This week's Supreme Court cases are brought to you in part
by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.). As chair of the Senate's HELP Committee,
Cassidy launched an investigation into states that violated President Donald
Trump's executive order that ensured fairness for women and girls.
* HALLIGAN NOT HOLDING BACK: Lindsey Halligan, Pam Bondi, and Todd Blanche
are accusing a Trump-appointed judge of a "gross abuse of power" in his move to
disqualify her as a U.S. Attorney. One source close to Halligan's side told the
Washington Reporter that "Halligan's motion is powerful pushback against
egregiously political maneuvers by Judge Novak, who has no constitutional
standing for deciding who is and who isn't the sitting US Attorney. US Attorney
Halligan should be allowed to proceed with her prosecutions unobstructed by
judges inserting their politics into our justice system."
* JUSTICE HAS ARRIVED: Sebastian Gorka, the Senior Director for Counter
Terrorism National Security Council, announced that the Trump administration
"has designated three Muslim Brotherhood organizations today, including the
original and most important Egyptian one." Gorka noted that "this action should
have occurred decades ago. But we needed a Commander-in-Chief who understood
the existential threat posed by Salafi Jihadism." One foreign policy veteran
explained the event's significance to the Washington Reporter, saying that
"President Trump's message to Iran and its proxies has never been clearer:
WWFY&WWKY [we will find you and we will kill you]."
* HELP IS ON THE WAY: President Donald Trump's message to the Iranian people
that America has their back was immediately echoed by the first
Persian-American congresswoman. "After 47 years of living under an oppressive
regime, the Iranian people are taking to the streets in mass, risking their
lives for one thing: freedom," Rep. Stephanie Bice (R., Okla.) said. "I
recently joined my colleagues in introducing a resolution that honors their
brave efforts and recognizes that the United States Congress stands with the
Iranian people. The people of Iran deserve the right to dignity, democracy, and
self-determination."
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[3] EXCLUSIVE: Litigation finance debate continues on Capitol Hill with Chubb
flier campaign
By: Matthew Foldi

The fight over litigation finance is expanding on Capitol Hill, with
Consumers' Research (CR) launching its latest campaign, obtained exclusively by
the Washington Reporter, against what it calls the "wokest insurance company."
The Reporter will be running a series of articles on the campaign as well as
the prospects of litigation finance reform passing Congress or being
implemented by executive action this year.

Consumers Research's latest move includes placing fliers around the Hill with
a mock newspaper, called The Daily Chubb, which targets the insurance giant
Chubb over policies that Consumers Research calls "woke".

"These fliers are legitimately everywhere," a Capitol Hill veteran told the
Reporter, "especially outside the Pelosi Caucus Room."

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[4]
SCOOP: Rep. French Hill supports President Trump's executive order on proxy
advisors
By: Matthew Foldi

Rep. French Hill (R., Ark.) is backing up President Donald Trump's executive
order cracking down on "foreign-owned and politically-motivated proxy advisors"
from leveraging their power to advance back door Environmental, Social, and
Governance (ESG) policies.

Hill told the Washington Reporter that Trump's executive order "empower
shareholders and provide them with a voice in company oversight." Trump's EO
singles out both Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) and Glass, Lewis
& Co., LLC for how they "play a significant role in shaping the policies and
priorities of America's largest companies through the shareholder voting
process" in a manner "unbeknownst to most Americans."

"These firms," the Trump administration said, "which control more than 90
percent of the proxy advisor market, advise their clients about how to vote the
enormous numbers of shares their clients hold and manage on behalf of millions
of Americans in mutual funds and exchange traded funds. Their clients' holdings
often constitute a significant ownership stake in the United States' largest
publicly traded companies, and their clients often follow the proxy advisors'
advice."

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[5] SCOOP: House Judiciary Committee holding markup on litigation finance
By: Matthew Foldi

A battle over litigation finance will be addressed by the House Judiciary
Committee this week in a markup that has flown under the radar, multiple
corporations involved in the fight told theWashington Reporter.

One bill, the Protecting Third Party Litigation Funding From Abuse Act, has a
scheduled markup following the rollout of a previous bill, the Litigation
Transparency Act of 2025. The legislation's proponents and opponents don't fall
along neat ideological lines. Its proponents argue that addressing risks from
foreign and domestic third-party litigation funding (TPLF), the bill can
protect Americans' privacy and free speech rights while ending abusive lawsuits
that drive up costs for consumers, a source familiar with the matter told the
Reporter.

The bill has a provision that would require litigants in civil actions to
disclose entities that are not a named party to the litigation, but which have
a right to receive payment contingent on the litigation.

The bill includes privacy protections and forbids donor disclosure; it also
requires in camera review prior to the production of any litigation funding
documents, while requiring courts to allow for redactions that protect
individual privacy, a source familiar with the bill said.

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A message from our sponsor.

<[link removed]>
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
<[link removed]>


[6] SCOOP: HUD looks to build on affordability successes in 2026
By: Matthew Foldi

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spent 2025 laying the
groundwork the Trump administration can build off of as it hones in on
affordability issues in 2026.

Under Secretary Scott Turner, HUD launched an Innovative Housing Showcase on
the National Mall, which spotlighted dozens of American businesses that bring
low-cost homes to Americans across the country, announced its headquarters
relocation to Gov. Glenn Youngkin's (R., Va.) Virginia, and reformed its
grant-making process so that funds from the department go only to American
citizens.

"President Trump is advancing the American Dream of homeownership, and under
his leadership HUD made huge steps to fulfill that noble mission in 2025,"
Turner told theWashington Reporter. "We've slashed red tape, championed common
sense policies like Opportunity Zones, and ensured HUD funds go to American
citizens, not illegals."

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[7] SCOOP: Sen. Eric Schmitt joins White House, Vice President Vance in
backing DNI Gabbard
By: Matthew Foldi

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard is scoring some backup
from one of her top congressional allies, who told theWashington Reporter that
she "has been doing an incredible job not only keeping the American people
safe, but also executing President Trump's peace through strength foreign
policy agenda."

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) told the Reporter that Gabbard's work is
indispensable at a time when the DNI is under fire for reports that the Trump
administration undertook much of the planning to capture Venezuela's
illegitimate dictator, Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

Schmitt is the latest high-ranking Republican to reiterate support for
Gabbard; allies in the broader Trump orbit have joined Schmitt in rallying
behind her.

Vice President JD Vance clarified that reports that both he and Gabbard were
intentionally excluded from Trump's planning to capture Maduro are fake news.


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[8]
SCOOP: Winning for Women rolls out historic 2025 fundraising successes
By: Matthew Foldi

A GOP group dedicated to expanding the number of women in the House and
Senate raised a record-breaking fundraising haul ahead of the 2026 midterm
elections, theWashington Reporter can exclusively report.

Winning for Women Action Fund (WFW AF) and its affiliated groups raised $4
million, including over $1.5 million in hard dollars, which the groups plan to
use to re-elect incumbent GOP women in Congress and to grow their ranks in
Congress. WFW AF, which is the primary super PAC dedicated to electing GOP
women, has already spent $20 million over the past several cycles, backing GOP
women.

WFW Action Fund (WFW AF), the first super PAC dedicated to electing
Republican women, has invested $20 million to advance candidates through
competitive primaries and general elections. Winning For Women (WFW) is its
aligned 501(c)(4), which primarily leads targeted advocacy campaigns, hosts
policy briefings with partner organizations and runs mentorship programs to
support GOP women leaders.

Those groups have combined to raise or direct almost $50 million to GOP
women, and the groups already have their first picks for 2026, including
several in hotly-contested primaries in Texas that kick off in March.

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[9] SCOOP: Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer touts agenda of putting
American workers first in 2025
By: Matthew Foldi

Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer spent 2025 traveling to 36 of 50
states on a whirlwind nationwide tour to learn from American workers and to
take President Donald Trump's message on the road.

"Under President Trump's leadership, the Department of Labor moved quickly to
put the American Worker First in 2025 by expanding apprenticeships, cutting
burdensome red tape, and enforcing the law to protect hardworking Americans,"
Chavez-DeRemer told the Washington Reporter. "From adding nearly 300,000 new
apprentices to cracking down on unemployment insurance fraud and H-1B visa
abuse, we're restoring fairness to the labor market and making the American
Worker the cornerstone of our nation's economic comeback."

"One of the things the president asked when I was nominated," the
Chavez-DeRemer told the Reporter in an earlier interview, "was to bring labor
and business together, and I promised him that with my background of having the
trades support me, being the daughter of a Teamster, that I could bring that
voice to the table and help him grow this economy so that everybody can have a
piece of the pie. And the American Dream is alive."

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[10]
OPINIONATED


Op-Ed: Michael Fragoso: Congress wasn't needed for Maduro
By: Michael Fragoso

In the wake of President Trump's "snatch" operation against Nicolas Maduro
and his wife, the question has been raised by Democrats and the media as to
what kind of congressional authorization was needed for the strike. It's a
question Sen. Mike Lee posed when news of the operation broke, only for him to
confirm later to his satisfaction that it was a legitimate law-enforcement
action and not military. But as Sen. Tom Cotton observed on Face the Nation,
however you slice it, this was a valid exercise of the president's inherent
authority as commander-in-chief, and complaints about congressional
authorization are misplaced. Sen. Cotton is right.

The fact that Maduro is a fugitive drug trafficker should end the matter in
and of itself. In early 2020 a Manhattan grand jury issued a scathing
indictment against Maduro for his activities in the international drug trade
and he now awaits arraignment in the Southern District of New York. At its
heart, then, this was a law-enforcement exercise and General Dan Caine was sure
to mention that law-enforcement officers accompanied our forces on the snatch
operation.

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Op-Ed: John Bachman: Before Operation Absolute Resolve, there was Urgent Fury
By: John Bachman

For more than two centuries, the United States has understood a simple truth
about its own security: instability in the Western Hemisphere never stays
local. From the earliest days of the Republic, American leaders recognized that
hostile powers establishing a foothold close to home was not merely a
diplomatic inconvenience — it was a strategic threat.

That understanding gave rise to the Monroe Doctrine, articulated by President
James Monroe in 1823. It was not a call for conquest, but a declaration of
strategic boundaries. The Western Hemisphere, Monroe made clear, was not open
terrain for European powers seeking to recolonize, dominate, or project force
against the United States.

The doctrine lay mostly dormant until President Theodore Roosevelt made it
actionable through the Roosevelt Corollary, asserting that chronic instability
in the Americas could justify decisive U.S. intervention and enforcement in
defense of regional order.

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