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Join us as we tackle the pressing issues of modern society and policymaking. Special guest Mary Hassan examines the declining state of free speech across Europe, while Congressman Glenn Grothman exposes alarming federal waste and inefficiencies, sparking a conversation on fiscal responsibility. Amid these discussions, the episode also highlights the influential Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, which aims to rejuvenate Western values and prompt moral and civic rejuvenation among nations. Don’t miss this enlightening and engaging episode of Washington Watch.
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from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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Good evening and welcome to Washington Watch. It’s Tuesday, February the 18th. Thanks for tuning in.
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I came away today convinced that they are willing to begin to engage in a serious process to determine how and how quickly and through what mechanism can an end be brought to this war. Whether we can ultimately reach that outcome will obviously depend on every side in this conflict’s willingness to agree to certain things.
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That was Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia today. The big question, can the U.S. and Russia negotiate a peace plan for Eastern Europe if Ukraine and the rest of Europe remains on the sidelines? We’ll get insights from Ohio Congressman Warren Davidson, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Next, Vice President Vance’s remarks at last week’s Munich Security Conference are still causing quite a stir.
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In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat. And in the interest of comedy, my friends, but also in the interest of truth, I will admit that sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country.
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Why is the left so afraid of free speech? Well, we’re going to talk about that with Mary Hassan from the Ethics and Public Policy Center. And how inefficient is the federal government?
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There are a lot of unanswered questions, but that’s exactly why these Social Security employees, I may add, are digging into the books and going line by line. For far too long, we’ve had a bureaucracy that has been running these agencies. And look at what it—look at what has resulted in, tens of billions of dollars in waste, fraud and abuse every single year that we know of.
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That was White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt on Fox News. We’ll discuss federal mismanagement with Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman, a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, a little bit later. And finally, conservatives from across the globe are gathered in London for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship’s second Global Arc Conference.
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that it’s not enough that a civilization or a generation comes across a defining moment. It is that when that happens, you know what you’re fighting for. It is that you know you’re fighting for your faith, for your family, for your people, for your tradition, for your way of life, and very much more.
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That was bestselling author Douglas Murray. FRC’s own Travis Weber is there as well, and he’ll join us later to share some encouraging news from across the pond. All of that and a bit more on this Tuesday edition of Washington Watch. Let me encourage you, if you’ve not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, go to the App Store and get Stand Firm. It’s the app, the mobile app, that will bring Washington Watch to you no matter where you are. You’ll also have access to news and commentary from a biblical perspective via the Washington Stand, as well as our daily Bible commentary and devotional. You can find that at the App Store, Stand Firm. All right, today, senior officials from the U.S. and Russia met in Saudi Arabia to start talks on possibly ending the long war in Ukraine. The two sides agreed to restore embassy staffing and will appoint teams focused on negotiating an end to the war. Now, both sides claim a feeling of progress on ending the conflict, but… What about Ukraine and the rest of Europe being involved in the conversation? Joining me now to discuss this, Congressman Warren Davidson. He is a member of both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Financial Services Committee. He serves Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. Congressman Davidson, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you. It’s always an honor. Thank you, Tony. All right. So. So, Warren, let me ask you this. You’ve got the Ukrainian president saying, hey, we can’t agree to anything that we’re not a part of. Is this just the first phase? Are we going do you think we’re going to see Ukraine and other European leaders engaged in this conversation?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I think the United States and Russia will work out the framework, and that’s a long time, really, post-Cold War through the entire Cold War. A lot of the top-level negotiations were U.S., Russia, U.S.-Soviet Union negotiations. And I think President Trump believes he can deal with the main combatant. I mean, remember, there was a state of peace before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. So the real bad actor here is Russia. And I could understand why Zelensky would say, well, I’m not going to commit to be bound by whatever these two parties do. I’m going to represent my own country. But I think he also recognizes the context in which it occurs is the pipeline of as much as it takes, as long as it takes, is cut off.
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Right. I mean, I do think America has a larger share of the conversation here because without the United States funding and armaments, Ukraine wouldn’t still be in this war.
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Right. I mean, and Zelensky certainly knows that. I mean, the Europeans might lament it and they want the United States to do whatever. And I think it’s brilliant how Donald Trump has positioned it in the last few weeks to say, we’re looking at a framework where European forces occupy Ukraine to keep the peace. And they’re all quickly going, well, I don’t know about that. I don’t know about European obligations. They want the United States to keep running things with the open checkbook. And I think J.D. Vance delivered a great message to say, yeah, the idea that we’re just going to keep pouring cash into things without saying, what exactly are we defending, are over.
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And I think that’s the appropriate position to take. I do want to ask you this, Congressman Davidson. When you look at it, I mean, this has been going on. The United States has funded it. We’ve enabled Ukraine to defend itself against the aggressor, which was Russia. What is a likely outcome here when we talk about borders?
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I mean, I think a likely outcome, given the situation we’re in right now, is Russia will occupy a portion of eastern Ukraine or what has traditionally been eastern Ukraine. And that area is Russian speaking. So I spoke with some folks who are in America who are from that region, the Donbass area of eastern Ukraine. And they said maybe the best analogy for someone in America is it’s kind of like Quebec is in Canada. They want to keep speaking French. They want to recognize the distinctions of their culture, they don’t necessarily want to be part of France. But if somehow the English-speaking part of Canada was going to do some purge and say, no, you have to give up all of your French language, all your customs, give up where you worship and how you worship, well, you’d be a little more receptive to the relationship with France. And that’s kind of where a lot of the Russian-speaking portion of Ukraine is. But unfortunately, that’s where a lot of the fighting has occurred. So a lot of it’s been effectively depopulated from the regular civilian population right now. So it is a… war-torn area, and the casualties have been bad on both sides. And I think Donald Trump’s been clear. He just wants people to stop dying. He wants to restore a state of peace.
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Of course, Russia has on the table that no NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine. Of course, Ukraine cannot join NATO. Are we given I mean, obviously, the negotiations are just beginning, but I would think we do not want to concede those things which would encourage this type of aggressive behavior that Russia took in invading Ukraine. And as you pointed out, cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, hundreds of billions of dollars and probably hundreds of thousands of lives. And it’s horrific what’s gone on there. But I think if you go back at the end of the Cold War, you know, the United States had initially committed to no Eastern expansion of NATO. And obviously, it’s expanded massively. And as the Europeans have become accustomed to, it’s the de facto European Defense Force. All the major economies in Europe are underfunding their defense obligation. I mean, kudos to to the Baltic Republics like Latvia and Estonia, places like Poland that are really going above and beyond to defend their own countries. But you have your big economies like France, like Germany, like Italy, that aren’t really meeting their obligations. And so that really accounts for a lot of the manpower and the resources that come out of Europe. So the idea that the United States is just going to keep footing the bill and, frankly, let the Europeans drive the agenda – I think it has to go away. And that’s definitely what was going on when Jens Stoltenberg, who was the previous secretary general for NATO, I mean, he really kind of drove that agenda. And, you know, Antony Blinken seemed, you know, very content to just follow Stoltenberg’s lead. I don’t think that’s going to happen with Secretary Rubio or with Mike Waltz, our national security advisor.
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Warren, are we obligated under agreements to protect Ukraine from Russia aggression?
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t think there’s a formal obligation. I think people do recognize there’s a sort of moral obligation there because the United States participated in the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia and certainly European allies that were concerned about nuclear weapons being left in Ukraine at the end of the Cold War. So in 1994, Ukraine gave those weapons really back to Russia, which, frankly, the Soviet Union, their headquarters was in Moscow. You know, at that point, there wasn’t really a meaningful distinction between what was Ukraine and what was Russia. But clearly, the Soviet Empire built those nuclear weapons. And so, in a sense, they gave them back. And that was really what happened in 2014. So go back to 2014, the Russian Navy which was before the Soviet Navy, their main warm water port was in the southern portion there of Ukraine and Crimea. And so the idea that Russia is going to give that back, I think they basically said, no, we’re going to keep operating our port. And that came to a head. Really, in 2013, when the Ukrainian people decided they were going to do a trade deal with Russia instead of do a trade deal with the European Union and work towards EU membership. So, you know, this is a longstanding conflict. There’s been conflict with Russia and Ukraine through lots of history. Mostly it’s been peaceful. But there have been periods of real conflict between the two countries, and sadly we’re in that phase again right now.
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So obviously these conversations are just beginning, but hopefully they will lead to a resolution of that conflict. And then looking back, when you look at, as you pointed out, the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent, the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost, what was gained, and was this fueled by American involvement?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I think a lot of the conflict there has been fueled by American involvement. And, you know, thankfully, in my opinion, Victoria Newland is retired. She was one of the main agitators when she was at the State Department and, you know, really kind of fueled this whole end of 2013 transition into 2014 regime change thing. with sort of a soft coup inside Ukraine. And, you know, I won’t say that United States is the only entity responsible or that we even directly played a role in that. But I do know Victoria Nuland was very happy about it. And, you know, this has been, you know, a tipping point from that from the time Russia has been very clear that they don’t want NATO to expand eastward. But the real hard thing for them was when NATO was going to expand into Ukraine and go back. The United States had a date certain withdrawal from Afghanistan of August 31st, 2021. And on September 1st of 2021, the very next day, the Biden administration entered into a partnership agreement with Ukraine to support their membership, not just in the European Union, but in NATO. So that’s when you saw Putin start to move his forces more aggressively in to the Ukrainian border. And then two days before Putin actually invaded, Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General, gave a speech talking about how important it was for NATO to project power eastward across Asia. And that clearly referring not just to Russia, but to China in trying to grow NATO into South Korea and Japan. So this is really something that has been pushed and agitated. None of that excuses what Putin did, but we certainly played a role.
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And a little bit of incitement there. Absolutely. Congressman Warren Davidson, always great to have you on the program. Thanks for joining us today. Very insightful.
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Likewise. Thank you, Tony. God bless you and all your viewers.
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All right. Thanks so much. All right, folks, stick with us. We’re going to talk about free speech and why it drives the left crazy next. Don’t go away.
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During these challenging times for our nation, Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we’re making an eternal impact. 2024 was a year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, DC. Last fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington stand published 2000 articles of news, commentary and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC’s outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere with the community of believers on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God’s intervention in America. In May, FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel’s peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Government. Available now on the Stand Firm app, this series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us in standing for faith, family, and freedom.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. I mentioned this yesterday, but this past Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation, host Margaret Brennan interviewed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference that came up in the conversation. And what Brennan had to say about it, frankly, it was shocking, although perhaps not surprising.
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Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide. Censorship was specifically about the right.
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No, I have to disagree with you. Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none.
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Good for him for pushing back. So why does the left have such a beef with free speech? Well, here now to discuss this, Mary Hassan. She’s the Kate O’Brien Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mary, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
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Thanks so much, Tony. Good to be here.
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So, Mary, why does the left have such a significant issue with free speech?
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I think part of it is they’ve lost their sense of moral clarity, because if you don’t have a sense of what’s good, what’s right, what’s true, and you don’t understand speech as being part of that search for the truth, then it’s all about power. And that’s what we see here. Even the way she responded there or set up the question, she said, you know, they weaponize free speech as if Nazi Germany was nothing more than a power play by a bad guy. as opposed to false ideas, wrong ideas, and the need for free speech to be able to push back against that. But of course, the Nazis squelched that. So it’s when you lose your moral clarity, when you no longer appreciate the truth, or even the sense that there is a truth, then it’s all about maintaining your power. And that’s where censorship comes in.
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So it’s got up is down, down is up, good is evil, evil is good. I mean, how do you assert that Nazi Germany was the product of free speech? I mean, to your point, it was the opposite. They suppressed any type of voice that was counter or would hold them into account for anything was punished.
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Yeah, I think it’s a lack of moral clarity, but also a weakness of political will. So if you think about what’s happened in Germany itself, where Germany, like the Scandinavian countries, has really had a terrible problem with criminal migrants and their crime has spiked and yet here they are spending all this energy trying to police what people are saying and yet they’re doing a very poor job of policing criminality and actually protecting their own people because they’re no longer willing to call something’s wrong and something’s right.
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Right. And you know about this firsthand. I mean, you co-founded and directed the Person and Identity Project, which equips parents and faith-based institutions to promote the truth about the human person and encounter this radical gender ideology. That is a prime example of where the left tries to shut down the freedom of speech because their ideas—this is my take on it— Their ideas are indefensible, so they don’t want to be challenged by free speech.
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Right. And they turn it into a personal thing. So, for example, I was recently speaking at ASU and there was a segment of people among the faculty and students who protested my mere presence, even though I wasn’t there to talk about gender ideology per se. But they framed it as something personal. In other words, I must be hateful because I disagreed with them. They were in danger and they were fearful and not safe because of my ideas. And so there’s a sense of… trying to protect themselves from hurt feelings or from having their ideas challenged. And that’s not how you arrive at the truth. That’s not how we have a free society where we know what’s good and what’s true, but we want to have this open conversation to be able to persuade others. But when you’re simply trying to avoid feeling bad, you don’t want to hear what other people have to say.
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Right. I mean, the freedom of speech… which is a part of our First Amendment freedoms. It’s critical. It’s kind of a pressure valve. You remember the old, my grandmother used to can and she would have those pressure cookers and when it was done, the thing would blow off a little bit of steam and it kept it from breaking or blowing up. And I think that’s what free speech is to a society like ours. It allows people to vent. It allows people to express themselves. And when that is short-circuited or suppressed, that’s when we have real problems.
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Right, I completely agree with you. And in fact, if you look back at the societies or political regimes that have suppressed free speech, I mean, they can’t stop people from thinking or seeking the truth or trying to share that truth with others. It all goes underground, and then you’re going to have a rebellion, a revolt. And at least in terms of the Iron Curtain and other regimes, we’ve had success in terms of freedom being restored. But for these countries in Europe to look at that historical example and say the way to protect ourselves is to prevent people from speaking, from, as you say, blowing off a little bit of pressure, but really surfacing the issues of the day. That’s how you solve problems. Right. There’s no desire, really, to solve those problems or to hear what the complaints are even.
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We need more speech, not less, in my view. So, Mary, final question for you. How can those of us who cherish this First Amendment freedom work together, growing America’s respect for this freedom? Because I’ll tell you, some of the research, some of the polling data I’ve seen is that some of the younger generation, they don’t have a healthy understanding of the importance of the First Amendment.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, and that’s exactly true. And again, I think part of it goes back to this idea that they’ve come to believe that they are too fragile to hear ideas that they disagree with or that make them uncomfortable. In fact, that was one of the quotes from one of the people interviewed by CBS two days after J.D. Vance’s speech on their 60 Minutes program. They were interviewing people in Germany about their hate speech and suppression of speech. And they were talking about how it makes people uncomfortable to hear certain viewpoints. So what do we need to do? I think we need to be bold and to speak the truth and to encourage our children to be resilient, to understand that they can and should engage with ideas that they disagree with or people who are very different from them. to listen, to engage, but then to be confident in speaking the truth. It’s that self-censorship sometimes that I think is most challenging.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think you’re absolutely right. It is. And that’s a very dangerous thing. Mary, I want to thank you for joining us. Always great to have you on the program. Appreciate your insight.
SPEAKER 19 :
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, folks, coming up next, we’re going to talk about government waste. That’s right. Doge has found, uncovered about $55 billion in misused tax dollars. Now, that is, you can stay with us unless you’re afraid of being uncomfortable, because here on Washington Watch, we tell the truth, and that might make folks uncomfortable. Don’t go anywhere.
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Oh, beautiful… For spacious skies, for amber waves of grace.
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At the 2025 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, hundreds gathered with Christian and government leaders at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., to pray for the nation and ask God to forgive us of our sins.
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The fruit is plain.
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We gather here not to appeal to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are appealing to heaven. Today we make our appeal not in the authority of a political party or in the name of a denomination. We come in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ. who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and we have been commissioned to operate in that authority.
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Father, we pray in Jesus’ name for our complacency, our greed, our pride, our gluttony, our sloth, and tolerance of sin.
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Lord, your word is the food that can make America healthy again. May your word be exalted and believed in our nation again.
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Lord, we ask that you allow us to become that shining city on the hill once more for your love, your grace, and your mercy.
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Thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy, for the opportunity that you have provided us to heal our land. We ask you to do it, Lord. We ask you for the wisdom, discernment, and stamina to do the thing that you have called each one of us, all of us here, to do. May we be found faithful. We trust it, pray it, believe it all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. All right. The Department of Government Efficiency has indicated that it has discovered another example of wasteful government spending. This time, the department claimed that there are about four point seven trillion dollars in federal payments that are currently untraceable. Where’d they go? Apparently, this sum was missing a tracking code issued by the Treasury Department, which monitors all federal transactions. Doge now says the Treasury Department is requiring this code going forward. But this discovery could be the greatest example of government waste or mismanagement. How deep might the fraud and waste go? And can it be stopped? Here to discuss this, Congressman Glenn Grothman, who is a member of four House committees, including the Budget Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He is also a member of the Doge Caucus. He represents Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District. Congressman Grothman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 07 :
Glad to be on the show. And I’ll tell you, that little person I wanted to use, Mr. Mattis, I’m fortunate to be there and A lot of very good points were made.
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Any surprise at the waste mismanagement and misuse of tax dollars that has been uncovered thus far?
SPEAKER 07 :
I think the sheer volume, the dollar numbers are a little bit shocking. I think the thing that isn’t as shocking, but I’m glad the American people see it. If you go through a list of things that have been ended or are wasteful, certainly the number of folks that are involved in DEI is shocking. You know, the fact that every agency apparently had to have a small contingent identifying people by race and gender and trying to divide people. Of course, this was kind of a very left-wing plot to set American against American. But Joe Biden and I’m sure Barack Obama have sure done a lot to try to get contingent like this in every agency.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, DOGE has an 18-month life cycle span. It’s temporary. It’s to go in, identify these areas, and then it’s going to be, you know, not only up to the administration, but to Congress to take this into account when you do your budgeting, because this tells you that these federal agencies have a lot of money that, quite frankly, they don’t need.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I tell you what I think is wrong. You know, we have two kind of silos of spending up here, the mandatory spending and the discretionary spending. We vote on the discretionary spending every year. And I think, because almost every one of these programs is the type of thing the Democrats would want. I think that the Republican Party does not do enough to make public the arguments over how much we should spend. And they just concede the points We have to spend as much as we did last year or continue last year’s program. And as a result, this stuff just continues forever. I think it’s time to dig in people’s heels and say, wait a minute, we’ve gone waste in this program. There’s going to be less in this program next year. And right now, the way Congress operates, the assumption is always that once a program gets in there, it will always be in there. You know, in the private sector, We forever see retail outlets, restaurants open, can’t make it go over, they close. Nothing closes in the federal government. And that’s one of the reasons we’re so broke. What I should point out in this year’s budget, and every year’s budget is about the same in this regard. We are right now spending, or we are borrowing about 26% of every dollar spent. So you think about that. You’re getting a social security check. We’re building a new tank, whatever. 26% of that is borrowed. You could never operate your household that way.
SPEAKER 06 :
Do you think that as this is uncovered, and this is not like it’s not new, people have been talking about this, members of Congress have been talking about this, but now we’re seeing the evidence, and I know we’re early in this process, just three weeks into it. Do you think this could drive a change in the way government allocates its money and the way it budgets? I mean, could this in part be? For the last almost 20 years, we’ve not really gone through the budget process. We’ve done omnibuses. We’ve done continuing resolutions. We’ve not really dug into federal spending.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it means certain committees that are in charge of a lot of spending. I’m thinking in particular the Department of Defense, Ways and means, anybody getting into the State Department, which seems to really be wasting money. We have to look at these programs from scratch and go back to zero-based budgeting, in which you have to justify every program that’s out there, rather than saying, well, we’ll just continue on and last year’s level was 5%. We can say we’re going to zero it out and do proof to us that this program is doing something worthwhile.
SPEAKER 06 :
That would be a radical departure from the way government has functioned. There’s been a big argument for years over zero-based budgeting. I think this shows that it would be good because you go back to the foundation every year and they have to justify their budgets as opposed to just kind of layering a new amount of taxpayer money on the old money that they had. It’s like this automatic increase every year.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s like they look at the title of a program rather than whether that program is doing anything.
SPEAKER 06 :
Congressman Grothman, I want to thank you for joining us. Always great to see you. I know you guys got a lot of work ahead. There’s plenty to look at and plenty to cut, hopefully.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s important that your listeners call their congressmen and call their senators and tell them they are pleased with the doge and keep on going because Yesterday in office hours, there was a room full of people who felt we were cutting too much. So it’s important for the average guy to speak up.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. We’ll make sure they get out of the stands and they start cheering for the Doge caucus as it looks to cut money, unnecessary money from the federal budget. Congressman Grothman, always great to see you. Have a great day. All right, folks, coming up next, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is holding a second annual conference in London, and FRC’s Travis Weber is there. He joins us next.
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What is God’s role in government? What does the separation of church and state really mean? And how does morality shape a nation? President John Adams said our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a powerful 13-part series that equips you with biblical truth to engage in today’s most pressing debates, from the Ten Commandments in classrooms to the immigration crisis of America. We’ll uncover the foundations of our nation’s history and why it’s relevant for today. Defend God’s plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. New episodes available each Monday. To view the series on the Stand Firm app, text COURSE to 67742.
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The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. If you’ve not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you to do so. That way you can have Washington Watch with you no matter where you go. You also will have access to the Washington Stand, biblical commentary and news, as well as you’ll get my daily Bible devotional, Stand on the Word. And speaking of that, Well, today’s word comes from Jeremiah chapter 21. It shows us King Zedekiah who typically disregarded the Lord suddenly seeking Jeremiah’s help. He pleads for divine deliverance from the Babylonian king expecting a positive word. Instead, God declares, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands and I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and strong arm in anger and in fury and in great wrath. Well, Zedekiah certainly didn’t anticipate such a terrifying response. Rather than rescuing him, God would oppose him. Why? Well, verse 14 reveals the answer. I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the Lord. Sin has consequences and unrepentant hearts will face judgment. This principle echoes Paul’s warning in Galatians 6, 7. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Zedekiah’s last-minute pleas for relief were futile because his actions had already sealed his fate. We should remember that God expects genuine repentance, not shallow cries for rescue when trouble looms. Praying for crop failure, as Zedekiah was attempting to do, simply won’t work. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742. All right, you can often gauge the content of truth based upon the left’s reaction. Applying that analysis to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship taking place in London this week, I’d have to say there’s a lot of truth being told. The focus of the gathering is to restore and renew the foundations of Western civilization. The left is lamenting the gathering that includes conservative business leaders along with political and religious leaders, which, by the way, includes some from the FRC team. Here now to share what he’s seen and heard so far at the conference is Travis Weber, FRC’s vice president for policy and government affairs. Travis, thanks for joining us from London. Tony, it’s good to be on. So tell us, tell our viewers and listeners about the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, what the conference is, what’s going on and what’s happening so far.
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Yeah, so this is a transatlantic effort that is knitting together those allies and the coalition partners who want to stand against the destruction of Western civilization. So in a way, we can see this as pushing back against the woke, pushing back against the progressive craziness, which has seemed to have gripped not only our political leadership, some of our political leadership in recent years in the West, but the culture as well. So this is an effort designed to say, enough is enough. Let’s restore common sense and the ancient moorings of our culture and the ancient Judeo-Christian moorings and the foundational pillars of our civilization. So, Tony, this is an encouraging sign to see these allies, 4,100 and change, the number of them gathered from the UK, from Europe, from the Anglo world, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, and Africa, Asia, and Latin America from around the world gathered in London to come together and say, how shall we go about this business of not only diagnosing what has gone wrong, but beginning to build and prepare to restore what has been lost or where we have suffered loss in Western civilization in recent years. Certainly the tenor is hope is not lost. We’re not too far gone. Certainly God is on his throne. And so how shall we proceed is sort of the theme of the conference, knitting together those friends and allies of the Judeo-Christian roots of our civilization.
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Yeah, Travis, this is the second year that this conference has been held. And I think what is encouraging to me is that while there are business leaders, and the left is lamenting many from the energy sector that are there along with conservative leaders and religious organizational leaders, is that there is a recognition going beyond just the common sense on its surface to its underpinnings. I mean, common sense is great, but it has to have an anchor. It has to have a rudder. And common sense really is a reflection of transcendent truth.
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Absolutely. And Tony, that’s definitely the sense that I’m getting is that the theme of the conference, the organizers, the speakers broadly and generally speaking are all increasingly hitting upon the need to go to the source of what made Western civilization great, if we are to make it great again, so to speak. And, you know, so just to start out the conference, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson joined the conference virtually. He had work to do back in the capital city, the United States, capital city, Washington, D.C. However, he joined the conference to give an encouraging message of the foundations of the United States and what led to the greatness of our country at its founding as we approach our 250th anniversary next year, and that included the Judeo-Christian religious roots, the religious makeup of the American people. And so that theme was continued at the ARC conference by speakers like Oz Guinness and many others who, in calling attention to the need for family renewal, family… reclaiming the family, the religious Judeo-Christian, you know, the belief systems which inform how we go about forming family structures, communities, and local church, community-based organizations that are kind of fueled by the local church. So, Tony, absolutely. Now, the conference includes themes like energy, right? The U.S. Energy Secretary joined the conference because they’re looking at what is happening right now in the United States with a note of encouragement as we look at the positive pushback against the craziness that the Trump administration is starting to push back on, push back on that craziness. But without forgetting… So, is it your sense…
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Travis, that there’s a growing recognition that conservatism is not enough to hold off the onslaught of really the leftist ideology that is rooted in Marxism, which is really a hatred for God, a rejection of God, and of transcendent truth. And so there’s a recognition that conservatism is not sufficient. We’ve got to go back to the ancient paths, the very foundational core of And that’s encouraging me because you hear some of these conservative thinkers, thought leaders, actually now talking about what we’ve been talking about for decades, which is what our mission is, is to advance biblical truth.
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Yeah, absolutely. And you heard, Tony, the biblical reference to the ancient paths. One of the speakers made it at this conference. It might have even been referenced several times. So I actually, having been here last year as well, my observation is that this year there are actually more overt explicit references to Christian and Jewish faiths. Jordan Peterson, one of the headliners of the conference, when interviewing Nigel Farage, head of the New Reform UK party, specifically said, from the stage, the ARC effort recognizes heterosexual union of a man and woman in marriage parenting children. And that is a clear reference to what God set forth in Genesis for the flourishing of all humanity. So clearly there is a growing recognition. And I think people are coming to the Lord. They’re coming to know God in this age of uncertainty and difficulty and Mental health crisis, these problems stemming from overuses of smartphones by youth, many of these things were referenced and discussed at the conference. And I think many are recognizing in this age of crisis, only a return to God will do. As Guinness referenced the merger of Marxism and Islamic radicalism as in their assault on Western civilization and the religious nature of that assault. You have to have a religious response and specifically an appeal to God and what he set forth in scripture is the only really sufficient response to that. So I think many people are increasingly recognizing what you are calling attention to. We have to go back to the roots of our faith supplies, the roots of what has watered and best for civilization and made it flourish.
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Well, and that’s a great opportunity to tell our viewers and listeners once again about a new resource that we just launched yesterday here at the Family Research Council, a God and Government course. It is an online video-driven 13-week course. episode, a new episode every week that deals with God and government. And if we’re going to return to it, we need to know what the Word of God says about it. We need to know what our history is and the practical application. And that’s what makes this course unique. And if you’d like to find out more about it, folks, just text the word COURSE to 67742. That’s the word COURSE to 67742. And I’ll send you a link if you have the app. The StandFirm app, you’ll have access to it there on the app. It’s only available on the app. In fact, we’ve got a 10-question pre-course test that you can take. I mentioned a couple of these questions yesterday. Let me give you one question. The main objective of civil government, provide a financial safety net, promote the economy, collect taxes, ensure justice. I’m not going to put you on the spot there, Travis, to give the answer today. But, folks, if you want to take the survey or take the test, go to text the word course to 67742, and I’ll take you to where you can take that course. And you’ll get the results, 10 questions. You can take the test for the course. It’s a pretest. And then you can have access to the course as well with the first episode released yesterday. I mean, this is encouraging to me because some of the things you shared with me is that we’re seeing some of the work that we’re doing here in the States, in our nation’s capital, actually being picked up on by others. We’re not really aware that people are watching, but some of the core biblical foundational issues that we’re addressing here in our nation’s capital, other nations are picking up and running with that.
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That’s absolutely true. You know, Tony, just even thinking about what you’re doing now with the God and Government course, it calls to mind our application of the biblical principles that many would say, look, I want to follow the Bible, I want to read and follow what it says, but the application of those to our society’s That is something that FRC focuses on, and it’s something that I’m hearing an appetite for as I talk to folks, even talking to different groups, multiple groups of Europeans here from different countries. I’ve had conversations where I realize they’re hungry for what we’ve been doing in the United States and are tremendously blessed, even when we share just the ideas of how we’ve been working at what we’ve been doing and and conducting our mission from Washington, D.C., tremendous blessing them. They’re tremendously encouraged. And so we’ve had some of these conversations, equipping them, praying with them, encouraging them. Tony, I heard a testimony from someone else who has, you know, attended the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, so encouraged. that this person went back and has now started similar events in their country, calling attention to and conducting and helping lead prayer repentance, specifically repentance for what has happened, or repentance for sin, you know, with these folks, part of the prayer movement. But some of this is actually now playing out even with groups from different countries, repenting on behalf of their country and what they’ve been doing in relation to other countries. And what There’s really, that’s such a great picture of the body of Christ representing the Lord and representing, being vessels for bringing his kingdom to earth. So tremendous work as we see the people the Lord is calling to a stance in government for biblical values in different nations.
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We obviously want to see policy reforms. But more important than those reforms to give them staying power is the spiritual awakening and the revivals that are needed. And what you have shared is suggesting that we may be seeing the beginnings of that globally.
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I think so. I mean, a lot of the… It’s fascinating how much the family has been mentioned at this event. I mean, it was here last year, and it was discussed. But now, this year, I don’t want to say every, but a majority of the talks from the main stage… I will say, reference or kind of are linked to the family, the institution that God has set up as an institution of government. The need for family renewal, family strengthening, family equipping, and just having more families and having more children. The demographic decline, the birth rate challenge globally was one of… of the topics that occupied a whole panel, looking at a social scientist, looking at the current halving of birth rates in some countries in recent years, in the span of 30, 40 years, a real drop-off in birth rates. governments are looking at these. Governments like Hungary are trying to address them. But really, there’s a need for a renewal, a spiritual renewal of what God has set up in Genesis as his model for human beings and for human flourishing. And so, Tony, I’m encouraged by the attention this is getting, because I believe the Lord is setting us up for what he wants to do on the earth.
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Wow. That’s so encouraging, Travis, to hear that, because sometimes we feel like the work that we’re doing is, you know, just kind of shouting into the wind. But it does sound as if there are a lot of people listening and taking their cues from what’s happening here in the United States. Well, thanks, Travis, for joining us. Thanks for attending that conference there in London and giving us an update. We look forward to hearing more when you return. Thank you.
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Thanks for having me on.
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Folks, all the more reason to continue to be encouraged and to press in for what God is doing in this hour. And I will, once again, refer you to the resource that we have available for you, our God and Government course. Text the word COURSE to 67742. Be prepared for what God has for you in terms of making an impact through government. That’s COURSE. Text the word COURSE to 67742. All right, we’re out of time for today, but I want to thank you for joining us. Always great to have you with us. And I hope today you’ve picked up a few prayer points to add to your list of those things to pray about. Until next time, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul, found in Ephesians 6, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, prepared, and taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.
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Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family, and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
