Dear Friend,

I’ve got some good news this week. Because of our work to unleash American energy, gas prices are now at their lowest levels in nearly five years and are continuing to trend downward. Here in Wisconsin, we are averaging under $2.60 a gallon.

Compare that to just a few years ago when gas topped $5 a gallon under Joe Biden, even after his administration recklessly drained our strategic reserves to hide the damage of their own failed policies.

Thankfully, those days are over. 

This week in Congress, we also passed legislation to strengthen energy reliability and secure America’s supply chains. 

While we are moving forward nationally under President Trump, Wisconsin is moving backward. Since 2019, under Governor Evers’ “green fantasy,” utility rates have increased by more than $2 billion, yet our in-state power generation hasn’t increased. Families are paying more and getting nothing in return, except warnings of rolling blackouts because reliable power plants are being shut down.

That’s why we passed the State Planning for Reliability and Affordability Act. This bill lowers costs and increases grid reliability by requiring states to plan for baseload power that can keep running for 30 straight days, not just when the sun shines.

It’s commonsense, it’s long overdue, and it strengthens America’s energy future. You can read more about it here.

We also passed legislation this week to strengthen our national security by codifying 15 of President Trump’s executive orders, ending woke ideology at the Pentagon, and giving enlisted service members a 4% pay raise.

Telegram readers may remember when the Biden administration pushed race-based quotas onto our military, tried to electrify tactical vehicles, and even fired service members who refused the COVID vaccine. None of that made America safer.

The military has one job: protect the American people from our enemies. This year’s National Defense Authorization Act gets us back to that mission.

Wisconsin families want affordability, reliability, and security. With President Trump leading Washington in the right direction, it’s time for Wisconsin to do the same.

Thanks again for starting off your weekend with us! We hope you enjoy this week’s edition of the Tiffany Telegram.

Sincerely,





Tom Tiffany
Member of Congress

Click here or on the image above to watch my interview on Fox Business discussing lower energy prices.

Fighting for rural Wisconsinites

This week, the House voted to extend an essential lifeline to rural Wisconsin communities. The Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act passed out of the House with bipartisan support and will extend the Secure Rural Schools program through fiscal year 2026. Programs like Secure Rural Schools (SRS) were designed to provide counties with large amounts of tax-exempt federal land with funding when timber revenues fall short. These payments allow counties to keep their schools open, roads maintained, and emergency services up and running. Currently, Wisconsin has over 1.5 million acres in federal lands, primarily within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. By reauthorizing SRS, we are ensuring that students and families aren’t left behind simply because of where they live, including the 11 counties in Wisconsin that currently benefit from the program. This bill will now head to the President’s desk for his signature.

Protecting service members

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, affects thousands of service members each year, nearly 20,000 diagnosed last year and more than 500,000 diagnosed since 2000. While both the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense fund brain-related research to better understand the physiological effects of blast overpressure, these efforts remain inadequately aligned with clinical and operational realities. Blast overpressure comes from repeated exposure to shockwaves during breaching, artillery fire, and heavy weapons training. Current programs focus on treating TBI after it occurs, but they do not address the early pressure exposure that can contribute to long-term health problems. That is why I cosponsored the Blast Overpressure Research and Mitigation Task Force Act. This bill creates a joint VA-DoD task force to coordinate research, align priorities, and set baselines for tracking brain and physical performance. You can read more about this important bill to research the impacts of these exposures and improve health here.

Ending foreign “birth tourism”

Regular Telegram readers know I’ve been sounding the alarm on so-called “birth tourism” for a long time. For those of you who have never heard this term, it’s when foreigners travel to the United States posing as vacationers when their real aim is to give birth on American soil – and secure U.S. citizenship for their child. In some cases, these foreign nationals don’t even have a visa – and it even happens in places far from the U.S. mainland that some Americans have never heard of. One of those places is a remote Pacific archipelago known as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). Older folks might know it as “Saipan,” the site of a pitched battle between American forces and Imperial Japan during World War II. These days, though, it’s better known as a place where pregnant women from Communist China go to have babies. This is happening thanks to a dangerous loophole that was opened up during the Obama administration – and blown open even wider near the end of the Biden administration. And I’m sure you can guess the results: A huge surge in births by Chinese visitors to the CNMI. So many, in fact, that they have exceeded the number of births to actual U.S. residents on the islands in recent years. It’s a loophole I’ve been working hard to close. And this week, I got some help from President Trump when his administration announced that U.S. consular officers will begin denying visas to foreigners whose primary travel purpose is “birth tourism.” This is great news, because U.S. citizenship is valuable – not something foreign holidaymakers should be picking up like a hotel gift shop souvenir. You can learn more about the issue here.

You can watch me explain how Communist China has exploited the “birth tourism” loophole by clicking here.

Committee Update

Judiciary

Unlike Santa, the FBI should get a warrant

While Saint Nicolas does not need a warrant to watch over us this Christmas season, I sure do hope that we can force the federal government to get one. The House Judiciary Committee this week held a vital hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which gives the federal intelligence agencies the ability to gather and collect national security information on foreign actors. Sadly, this mechanism meant to protect us against enemies has been weaponized and misused to instead target Americans – often without a warrant. Using FISA, the FBI has skirted the Fourth Amendment and used backdoor, warrantless searches purported to be carried out for foreign intelligence reasons when they were actually just a way to gather information on U.S. citizens. These violative searches reached over 200,000 queries on Americans in 2022, and were weaponized by the FBI to spy on advisors of President Trump’s first campaign. Next year, FISA will be up for reauthorization, and I will work to include a wide variety of provisions that will protect against these violations of our civil liberties, while still giving intelligence agencies the capabilities they need to protect our nation.

Natural Resources

Protecting Taxpayers from NGO Abuse

This week, the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee had a hearing titled “Abuse of the Equal Access to Justice Act by Environmental NGOs.” The Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) was created to award attorney fees to certain individuals, small businesses, and other entities who prevail against the federal government in civil actions and certain adversary adjudications. While originally intended for those suing the federal government for unjust harm due to regulations or unpaid disbursements from agencies like the Veterans Administration or for Social Security, well-funded environmental lobby organizations have taken advantage of this statute. In their scheme, these groups sue the federal government and then turn around to recoup their attorney’s fees through this taxpayer-funded provision. These radical environmental NGOs have carved out a solid business model, suing the federal government, fundraising off those lawsuits, and when they occasionally win, they get paid by you, the taxpayers, through EAJA. Some of these organizations have revenue in the tens of millions and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars, yet the taxpayer can be on the hook for their expensive attorneys. That’s not right! Our expert witnesses highlighted in detail how these NGOs abuse the statute and provided solutions that Congress could enact to bring EAJA back to its original intent. You can view my questioning here.

District Update

A lifeline for farmers

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced this week that it will provide $12 billion in bridge payments to eligible farmers who have been negatively impacted by market disruptions and increased production costs. It’s no secret that after suffering through four years of an administration that resulted in record-high input prices and zero new trade deals, the Trump administration had a long road ahead of them to pick up the pieces. The Farm Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program will provide relief to U.S. row crop farmers who produce barley, chickpea, corn, cotton, lentils, oats, peanuts, peas, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame, and sunflower. Those who qualify for the FBA Program can expect payments to be released by February 28, 2026. Eligible farmers should ensure their 2025 acreage reporting is factual and accurate by 5pm ET on December 19, 2025. Commodity-specific payment rates will be released by the end of the month. Click here for more information.

Photo of the week

Snow is falling in Wisconsin, and we would love to see photos of the winter wonderland. If you have a photo of Wisconsin or any of the snow we received, send it to [email protected] with your name and location. Your photo could be featured in next week’s Telegram!

“Frosty Sunday Morning” – Submitted by Ann of Harshaw

Resources

Vacation is meant to be relaxing, so don’t let renewing or applying for your passport stress you out. The current processing time is 4 to 6 weeks, so we recommend getting this done as soon as possible. For more information, click here.

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As always, you are welcome to visit my website or to contact my offices in Washington, DC or Wisconsin, which remain open for service, if you have any questions or need assistance. 

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