Situation Report for January 16, 2025. Rep. Crenshaw breaks down the week’s top stories from the U.S. and around the world. Your one stop shop for real news and clear analysis of the latest congressional legislation and how it impacts your life.

• Pete Hegseth has his Senate confirmation hearing
• The House passes the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act
• The Los Angeles wildfires
• The Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal
• Biden Administration removes Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list
• TikTok’s clock is winding to zero. But here comes Red Note.
•  Why Congress needs a Select Committee on the Cartels. Read my latest oped for Fox News here

American Petroleum Institute’s Mike Sommers returns to Hold These Truths to survey the past four years of the Biden-Harris Administration’s most devastating anti-fossil fuel energy policies and how the incoming Trump Administration might reverse them. They look at what the future of energy looks like for Texas and the rest of America. And they fact check the tv series Landman’s portrayal of the oil and gas industry.  

Mike Sommers is the President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest trade association representing all aspects of America's oil and natural gas industry. Follow him on X at @mj_sommers.   How realistic is Taylor Sheridan’s Landman?

  “100 million barrels of oil a day”

  Biden’s latest offshore lease restrictions

  American natural gas, a clear win for the environment. 

  “It’s better to get ahead of the regulators.”

  The argument for exporting natural gas

  Bitcoin mining in west Texas

  The EPA’s twin tail pipe rules – Biden’s war on internal combustion engines

  The real costs of electric vehicles

  At what point do you have too much wind power?

  The future of the Texas grid

  First steps for Trump’s EPA

On the latest SITREP (Situation Report), Congressman Crenshaw explains how the Republican House strategy at the start of the 119th Congress and gives us the Civics 101 on how the legislative process works. He covers the possibility of overturning Biden’s sweeping ban on offshore oil and gas leases, U.S. investors making a bid for TikTok, and the possibility of turning Greenland into a U.S. territory. And he examines the shifting political dynamics in Syria and Lebanon as Iran’s influence in the Middle East wanes.   The House passes the Laken Riley Act (LRA)

  Addressing the Democrats “anti-immigrant” charges

  Leader Thune’s strategy to pass LRA in the Senate

  What you need to know about House rules and the legislative process

  Parliamentary Procedure 101

  Biden’s sweeping offshore oil and gas leasing ban

  Why reversing Biden’s ban will be difficult

  Kevin O’Leary makes a bid for TikTok

  Make Greenland Great Again!

  Gulf of AMERICA

  Iran’s diminishing influence in the Middle East

  A cautious step forward in U.S. – Syria relations

For episode 3 of the SITREP (Situation Report), Rep. Crenshaw gives his insights into the most important news that happened over the holidays. 

·      Speaker Johnson wins on the first ballot

·      What we know about the NOLA and Las Vegas attacks

·      The Debate Over H1B Visas

·      The Nippon Steel Deal

·      Latest on the TikTok Chinese Ownership Ban

·      Caution and Optimism in Syria 

·      South Korean Constitutional Drama

Entrepreneur, rocket engineer, and nuclear expert Doug Bernauer joined Rep. Crenshaw to discuss the future of portable nuclear energy, colonies on Mars, and the bureaucratic inertia standing in their way. A fascinating conversation with lots of insights into the science and the regulatory environment of space exploration and nuclear power.

Doug Bernauer is the CEO of Radiant Nuclear, a startup developing mass produced portable nuclear reactors. Before that, Doug spent 12 years working on a variety of research and development projects for SpaceX. Follow him on X at @DougBernauer.

•    Learning from SpaceX’s culture of innovation

•    Overcoming the physical limitations of living on Mars

•    Nuclear-powered rockets

•    Small modular reactors and micro-reactors

•    Bringing nuclear power to overseas military bases

•    Risk analysis of nuclear power

•    Uranium Fuel 101

•    What stalled the 1960s nuclear power boom?

•    Regulatory reforms to kickstart nuclear again

•    Bringing the SpaceX model to nuclear

•    Deploying clean, cheap energy to remote regions

•    A Russian nuclear power station on the moon?

Rep. Erin Houchin and Rep. Mike Flood join the show to discuss crypto policy in Congress and under the next Trump Administration. They give Rep. Crenshaw the 101 on how crypto works and how U.S. dollar-backed stable coins could change the financial system. And they look at the implications of Web 3.0 on censorship, content creators, financial fraud, and China’s global power moves. 

·      The beginning of the crypto movement

·      NFTs: the beanie babies of the internet

·      The Canadian Trucker Strike

·      Gary Gensler – “a fountain of bad ideas at the SEC”

·      Regulatory authority in crypto markets

·      Stablecoins 101

·      Geopolitical implications of stablecoins

·      Disconnecting from the banks

·      President Trump’s Crypto Czar

·      Evolution of internet regulation

·      Web 3.0

·      Facebook’s stranglehold on content creators and local news

·      The Hawk Tuah Coin Scam

·      Cabbage Patch dolls!

·      FIT 21 – the House’s answer to crypto regulation

·      Explaining blockchain technology

·      Will quantum computers break crypto?

·      Stablecoins and financial fraud

·      China’s move to control the global stablecoin

Congresswoman Erin Houchin represents the 9th District of Indiana. She currently serves on the House Financial Services Committee, the House Rules Committee, and the House Education and Workforce Committee. And she was recently appointed to serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the 119th Congress. Follow her on X at @RepHouchin.

Congressman Mike Flood represents the 1st District of Nebraska. He currently serves on the Financial Services Committee as well as the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee and the Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion Subcommittee. Follow him on X at @USRepMikeFlood.

Listen to Rep. Crenshaw’s past episodes on Bitcoin with Rep. Patrick McHenry and Peter McCormack.

On episode 2 of the SITREP (Situation Report), Rep. Crenshaw drops the facts – not the Influencer Industrial Complex spin - on the Continuing Resolution that passed the House late Friday evening. He explains what was in the original CR that failed earlier this week and why it was so controversial. And he walks us through the reality of how budgets are negotiated in Congress.  

·      Explanation of what a Continuing Resolution (CR) is

·      The federal budget process: appropriations vs. authorizations

·      Challenges of bipartisan compromise in budget negotiations

·      The role of the Senate in passing appropriations bills

·      The impact of a government shutdown and why CRs are common

·      Details about the latest CR negotiations, including:

·      Pharmacy Benefit Manager Price Transparency Act

·      Disaster aid and farm bill extensions

·      Restrictions on outbound investments to China

·      Expiring healthcare programs, such as traumatic brain injury research and the SUPPORT Act

·      Political misinformation about the CR (e.g., Ukraine aid, congressional pay raises)

·      The argument for and against a debt ceiling

·      The consequences of government shutdowns on families and national finances

·      Internal disagreements within Congress on legislative priorities

·      Explanation of suspension votes and their significance

·      Discussion on splitting legislation into smaller bills for voting

·      Updates on ongoing negotiations and possible outcomes

We’re trying something new here on Hold These Truths: a weekly SITREP (Situation Report) on news of the day with real time insights into what’s happening in Congress, the country, and the world. This will now be your one stop shop for real news.

• Matt Gaetz ethics report
• AOC loses ranking member of Oversight Committee
• The Continuing Resolution
• Rethinking the budget process
• Unknowns in Syria
• Corruption in China’s military
• Assassinations in Moscow
• Salt Typhoon (not a James Bond movie)
• DOE’s ban on gas exports
• Trans activists lose their institutional support

John Spencer is the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point. He joined Rep. Crenshaw to explore the historical evolution of urban combat and analyze modern strategies for conquering and defending cities. John discusses how urban warfare is playing out in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, and Ukraine. And he envisions the most likely scenarios for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, along with potential U.S.-Mexico counterinsurgency efforts against the cartels.

•    The evolution of urban warfare •    Regime change and chaos in Syria •    Why willpower often trumps raw numbers •    Hezbollah’s decimation and its implications •    Israeli airstrikes in post-Assad Syria •    “The way you take a city is psychologically.” •    Russia’s miscalculation in Kiev and Ukraine’s resistance •    How Gaza’s conflict was unlike any other •    Why banning missiles could result in more civilian casualties •    Debunking the “Zero Dark Thirty” Fallacy •    “Is that Batman??” •    Why the pager operation wouldn’t have worked in Gaza •    More common misconceptions: The Abacus, Vampire, and Peace Table Fallacies •    Taiwan’s defenses and civilian preparation for invasion •    U.S.-Mexico counterinsurgency strategies to combat cartels

John Spencer currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. He also serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum, a New York based think-tank. He is a founding member of the International Working Group on Subterranean Warfare.

He is the author of three books: Understanding Urban Warfare, (Howgate Publishing, 2022), Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connections in Modern War (Potomac Books, 2022; Winner of the 2023 Gold Medal Award, Best Military History Memoir, Military Writers Society of America), The Mini-Manual for the Urban Defender (John Spencer, 2022).

Follow him on X at @SpencerGuard.

American Foreign Policy Council’s Ilan Berman gives us the 101 on the past, present, and possible future of the Iranian regime, Middle East geopolitics, and the potential for Starlink as a tool to topple authoritarian regimes.

·      What do the Iranian dissidents want from the United States?

·      Is the Iranian regime at a tipping point?

·      The changing demographics in Iran

·      How 1979 changed everything

·      The CIA boogeyman

·      Recapping U.S. – Iran historical relations

·      “They’ve had a gun to Israel’s head for a while.”

·      What’s the Iranian regime thinking now?

·      The cold-hearted rationality of Middle East politics

·      Why Iran might fast-track development of a nuclear bomb

·      Three scenarios for a post-ayatollah Iran

·      Why the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps isn’t going away

·      How Elon Musk’s Starlink could transform geopolitics

·      China’s race to dominate space-based digital connectivity

·      Africa’s population boom

Ilan Berman is Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as well as the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, and has also provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices. Follow him on X at @ilanberman.