D.C. DIGEST

Look into my eyes ... : Politicians with unpopular ideas always complain about their party's messaging. Democrats did after the 2024 election, and now it's Republicans turn as the New Year begins with a big spike in health insurance premiums for many Americans.

That's why last year's "One Big Beautiful Bill" is now the "Working Families Tax Cut."

While Democrats try to keep voters' attention focused on health care, Republicans are reminding them of the new tax cuts and the old temporary ones made permanent by the bill.

"We've had this discussion a couple of times now in leadership meetings about, how do we lead the story?" 1st District Congressman Kevin Hern told NOTUS.

"It's always a challenge up here, right? It's who can win the messaging war, and, quite frankly, the press doesn't help us a lot of times," Hern said.

"The press does a great job of leading with the story that Republicans are destroying health care, that they've destroyed the underlying health care issues, and it wasn't Republicans who destroyed it. It was the Democrats, but we've been not good at calling them out. We need to do a better job on that."

The Republican narrative is that the Affordable Care Act is to blame for most of the soaring cost of health care. Health care experts disagree to various extents, but virtually no one — except maybe Democrat lawmakers — says the ACA framework can't be improved.

Calls for long-term reform might be valid, but the problem in the here and now is that health insurance has suddenly become unaffordable for millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Oklahomans.

All signs indicate most of those people blame the Republican Congress for allowing premium subsidies to expire instead of including an extension in the OBBB/WFTC.

"There's a lot of other wonderful stuff in (OBBB/WFTC), but it's very hard to explain," Sen. Markwayne Mullin told Punchbowl News.

Along those lines: Mullin and U.S. Sen. James Lankford trumpeted the potential benefits of the state's $223 million rural health care transformation grant.

They did not say much about the billions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements rural Oklahoma providers expect to lose because of OBBB/WFTC provisions.

It should be said the $223 million is intended help the health care system adapt to the Medicaid cuts, not replace them.

"Nearly a quarter-billion dollars will flow to Oklahoma's rural hospitals in 2026 thanks to the Working Families Tax Cut Act," Lankford said in an X post. "This historic investment is a true game-changer for rural communities across our state."

"It will help with the (health care) workforce," Mullin told Newsmax. "It will help with telemedicine, which is vitally important."

Mullin said rural facilities are usually "a life-stabilizing hospital that will allow this person to be transported to a larger hospital with more resources."

Staff changes: Hern started the new year with several staff changes, including the elevation of Madison Johnston to district director.

Johnston replaces Robert Aery, who according to a press release "will transition to the role of senior advisor and counsel as he explores part-time professional opportunities outside the office."

Aery has been with Hern since his first election in 2018. Johnston has been with Hern since 2022 as a field representative and constituent services and outreach director. She previously worked for Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas.

Jefferson Willis will move from legislative director to deputy chief of staff, Meg Maykoski becomes senior legislative assistant and Chase Gurey becomes a legislative aide.

Appropriate behavior: Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told Punchbowl News there's a reason besides the obvious for wanting to avoid another government shutdown.

"It's a very important cycle for the Appropriations Committee, as a committee, on both sides of the aisle to remain relevant," Cole said. "If we end up with a bunch of CRs, then why have an Appropriations Committee?"

At least three House and four Senate appropriators are not seeking re-election, and several others could retire or lose elections complicated by redistricting in California and possibly elsewhere. Two House appropriators, Democrats Jim Clyburn and Steny Hoyer, are in their mid-80s.

The government is now running on a continuing resolution that expires Jan. 30.

Joshin' around: Second District Congressman Josh Brecheen, like a lot of people in politics, is not beyond saying some pretty harsh things.

In a New Year's Day message to constituents, however, Brecheen wrote, "Remember: bitterness toward those we disagree with serves no purpose in our lives and acts as nothing more than acid, harming its container more than the surface on which it is poured."

Book club: Cole's most recent recommendation is Churchill's Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm, by Katherine Carter.

Dots 'n dashes: Mullin told Fox Business that Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro might be "taken out from internally" by gangsters upset by the Trump administration's attacks on boats it says carry drugs bound for the United States. … Third District Congressman Frank Lucas' official portrait as past chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee was unveiled.

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