In this episode of Washington Watch, Tony Perkins delves into the complex and ongoing government shutdown and its far-reaching impacts. Casey Harper reports on the FAA’s impending flight reductions amid staff shortages. A deep-dive discussion ensues with Congressman Ron Estes about the political stalemate and the possible future of U.S. legislative strategy. Meanwhile, the show turns its attention to New York City’s historic mayoral transition as Zoran Mamdani becomes the city’s first Muslim Democratic Socialist leader, exploring potential implications for the city’s governance and nationwide perceptions.
SPEAKER 18 :
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.
SPEAKER 08 :
Will the far left not be satisfied until federal workers and military families are getting their Thanksgiving dinner from a food bank? Yesterday, the Transportation Secretary announced that as a matter of safety, The Department of Transportation is requiring mandatory reduction in air traffic starting, I should say, in air traffic starting tomorrow because of shutdown staffing issues.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier today on the U.S. Senate floor accusing Democrats of hurting Americans as the Schumer shutdown continues. Welcome to this November 6th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks so much for joining us. Well, coming up on this edition in my conversations with the Republican leaders on the Hill today, there is some optimism that an agreement could be reached by the weekend. Missouri Congressman Bob Under will discuss the real impact that the Democratic shutdown is having on everyday Americans. And yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case that could significantly impact the Trump administration’s use of tariffs as a foreign policy tool. Jerry Boyer, president of Boyer Research, will join me shortly to break it all down. Well, as U.S. government shutdown drags into its 37th day, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced a 10% cut in flights at 40 major airports because of shortages of overworked and unpaid air traffic controllers. With 13,000 controllers and 50,000 TSA agents working without pay, there are widespread delays, long security lines, and safety risks have actually worsened. Joining me now is Washington Stand reporter Casey Harper, who’s been following all of today’s main stories. So, Casey, what’s up?
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, Tony, it’s a pretty big impact. We’re seeing from the shutdown, the FAA reductions could affect up to 1,800 flights and 268,000 airline seats. And of course, that’s just in time for the holidays. The FAA said even more cuts could be coming as early as this week if the government doesn’t reopen. So this could get worse. Here’s what Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had to say about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
There’ll be frustration. We are working with the airlines. They’re going to work with passengers. But in the end, our sole role is to make sure that we keep this airspace as safe as possible.
SPEAKER 20 :
Now, Tony, Duffy did say that those cuts could be reversed quickly if Democrats agree to reopen the government.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, I’m wondering, my flights may be in that mixture, so we’ll have to wait and see. You know, Casey, some were thinking, myself included, that this week’s election results could possibly provide Senate Democrats with that off-ramp that could end the shutdown. But the election results, it seems to have had a mixed effect. Some Democrats want to take the off-ramp, while others appear emboldened by the results and want to continue their joyride.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, that’s a good assessment, I would say, Tony. Progressive Democrats, they’re celebrating Tuesday’s elections naturally, but they’re also considering it a green light to keep the shutdown going. They’re defying calls to compromise, even from many in their own party. Groups like MoveOn, Senator Bernie Sanders, and others, they say Democrats should refuse a deal until they get those spending guarantees, like the $1.5 trillion they’ve been demanding. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress say if Democrats won’t even accept this clean CR that doesn’t have partisan spending measures in it, what more can they offer?
SPEAKER 08 :
What more do Democrats need? They got their chairs at the left-wing No Kings rally. They kept their base satisfied through the fall campaigns and Election Day. And as of Tuesday, they have the extremely dubious honor of instigating the longest and most severe government shutdown in history. How much more do Americans have to endure before Democrats are satisfied?
SPEAKER 20 :
And Tony, I’m glad your sources are saying that something could happen by the weekend. I’m hearing similar things, but Senator Thune said he’s keeping all options on the table, even if it means making the Senate work into recess next week.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, thanks, Casey. Congressman Ron Estes will join me shortly to discuss the government shutdown, any developments there. By the way, speaking of elections, how are New Yorkers reacting to Zoran Mamdani’s election as the city’s first Muslim and self-proclaimed Democrat socialist?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, Tony. Well, New York City’s Jewish Fire Commissioner, Robert Tucker, he actually announced he’s going to step down next month, just two weeks before Zoran Mamdani, the mayor-elect, assumes office on January 1st. Now, Tucker didn’t explicitly say that it was because of Mamdani, but the New York Post is reporting that Tucker was concerned about Mamdani’s anti-Israel stances, and he’s not the only one. Mamdani’s election sparked a lot of concern among Jewish groups. For instance, the Anti-Defamation League, they actually launched a Mamdani monitor. Just making Mamdani harder to say, I think. But it’s a tip line to track policies and appointments that threaten Jewish safety, a really serious issue. The ADL is pointing out that in his past statements and associations could be considered anti-Semitic. And conservative critics, they’re warning that New Yorkers need accountability as this far-left administration is taking control of City Hall in a city that has the largest population of Jews outside of Israel, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s going to be very interesting to watch. Very, very interesting. Let’s turn to California. What’s the latest there on the redistricting battle that was on the ballot on Tuesday?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, well, California Republicans are suing to block a new congressional map that was approved by voters under Proposition 15. So this redistricting measure was brought by Governor Gavin Newsom, and it redraws districts for the upcoming elections, 2026, 2028, and 2030. Democrats say, hey, we need this to counter what President Trump and Republicans in Texas are doing with their redistricting. But the California lawsuit claims that this new map was drawn on racial lines, you know, to favor Hispanic voters, which violates the 14th and 15th Amendments. Republicans also argue it’s designed to give Democrats an unfair advantage in up to five crucial House seats while leaving black majority Democrat districts untouched, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
Again, another development we’ll be watching very, very closely. All right. Thanks so much, Casey. And by the way, nice haircut.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. While much of the attention is focused on the Senate right now when it comes to the government shutdown, the House Republicans continue to press in, knowing that the November 21st date on the continuing resolution that they passed back in September is going to have to be changed. What might the new expiration date be? What are conservatives saying in the House? Joining me now to discuss this is Congressman Ron Estes, who is a member of the Joint Economic Committee, the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Ways and Means. He represents the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. Congressman Estes, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, thank you for having me on.
SPEAKER 10 :
So it previously looked like the election day wins might give the Democrats an off ramp to reopen the government. But now some seem to be emboldened by those victories and want to continue.
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, it really is. I mean, they’ve laid out this whole strategy, the Democrats, as they’ve looked at shutting down the government. And they wanted to get through their protest rally, their so-called No Kings rally. They wanted to get through their election for the fall election season. And the issue now is they still can’t figure out a way to get out of the corner that they’ve backed themselves into. And, unfortunately, it’s real Americans that are being hurt because of the policies that the Democrats have foisted on them. You know, the Senate has voted 15 times not to fund the government. And it’s the Democrats’ decision now to not fund the government. And we Republicans, particularly in the House, we have passed our resolution to actually keep the government open while the appropriations are done for the full year. And, instead, we’re going through this difficult time that Democrats are using for political leverage. which is what they’re calling it, in order to inflict pain upon American people in trying to get a bigger spending bill that they want.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I think in part they might have been emboldened by the president’s comments yesterday morning when he said that the shutdown was hurting Republicans that appeared in the election results. I don’t necessarily agree with that, but I think it may have thought, well, let’s just keep inflicting pain on the Republicans when, in fact, it’s the American people that they’re inflicting pain upon.
SPEAKER 21 :
It really is. It’s American people across red states and blue states. And if you look at where the elections were, New York, New Jersey, California, Virginia, all of those states have gone for Democrat presidential candidates for the last 20-plus years. So, if you look at, it really was an election in Democrat primaries. It would have been more news if Republicans had won either the governor races or if California had lost in their additional gerrymandering effort that they put in.
SPEAKER 10 :
The media would just bypass it. You wouldn’t be hearing about it if that would have occurred. What are you hearing from Republican leadership in the House? Are the members on standby ready to come back in if a deal is reached?
SPEAKER 21 :
The speakers ask us to be ready and be flexible in terms of being able to react if the Senate ever does pass out a CR. Obviously, as you mentioned, they’ve wasted five weeks now. I mean, the whole purpose of having a continuing resolution to November 21st was to allow a seven-week period where the appropriators could finalize agreements on what the next year’s spending would be. You know, this this continuing resolution, it’s it’s spending at the levels that actually Democrats have voted for 13 times when President Biden was in office. And so what we’re trying to do now is, as you mentioned, we only have two weeks left now till the 21st date. So that’s probably not a realistic date to get all the appropriations done. I think a more realistic. A scenario of what might happen is come up with a new date. I believe it ought to be into January to make sure that we get past the Thanksgiving and past the Christmas holiday spirit, holiday time frame, because otherwise we’ve got to recover from the damages that have been done over the last five weeks.
SPEAKER 10 :
I would agree with that. I think it needs to go into next year, although I’m hearing that Senate appropriators, including Republicans, want to make it like a December 21st deadline, which we know how that story plays out. We’ve seen it many times before.
SPEAKER 21 :
We’ve seen them many times before and it never works well. I mean, you end up backing up against the holidays. I mean, what if we shut the government down? What if they shut the government down again on December 21st? You know, right before Christmas when people are trying to travel to see their loved ones and going for a New Year’s vacation with the family before they go back to school. I mean, that’s just a bad plan. We’ve seen it fail over and over again. I do believe a January date is much better in terms of making sure that there can be thoughtful and come up with better decisions on what we should be doing with appropriations.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, because every time they just that’s when they push bad stuff. And it’s just because everybody wants to get home. They want to keep, as you said, in this case, keep government open. And so they just take this bad stuff. We just have a little over a minute left. Congressman Estes, I want to ask you this question. You kind of alluded to this, but given this new environment that we are in, is there any discussion about a concern that every time we come up to one of these funding deadlines that the Democrats could hold the government hostage?
SPEAKER 21 :
It really is. That kind of seems to be their playbook, is how to inflict as much pain as possible, trying to win their political points. I mean, I think we ought to look at some idea, maybe if we don’t have appropriations done by October 1st, that we spend at 90 percent of the previous year’s level. And that way we keep the government open, we keep it operating, we make sure that at least the core functionality is provided. Obviously, that wouldn’t start new programs. But it actually makes sure that we don’t inflict this pain on American people.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and also, I think, affecting our credit rating. I mean, this is doing damage to our economy. I think that’s a great idea. I hope that gets some traction because we need to prevent this from happening in the future. And I think the motivation there would be the reduction in spending should bring some of the people to the table who like to spend money and we can move forward. So I think that’s a great idea. I hope it gets some traction. Congressman Estes, always great to see you. Thanks so much for spending some time with us today.
SPEAKER 21 :
Great, thank you.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, coming up next, we’re gonna take a look at something that took place in the Supreme Court yesterday, oral arguments regarding the president’s use of tariffs. Jerry Boyer joins me next, so don’t go away.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
For over 4,000 years, the Jewish people have had legal, historical, and biblical ties to the land of Israel, especially the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, which much of the world still calls the West Bank. To Israelis, Judea and Samaria is far more than a name. It’s the center of their ancestral homeland where nearly 80% of the Bible’s events took place. Abraham purchased property in Hebron, Jacob in Shechem, Joshua made an altar on Mount Ebal and led the Israelites into a covenant before God. On Mount Gerizim, overlooking Shechem, Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well about worshiping neither on Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth. Judea and Samaria is nearly a quarter of Israel’s current land mass, not a small strip of land on the Jordan River, but a vital and strategic part of the nation’s identity. The October 7th massacre, launched from Gaza, shattered the illusion that giving away territory brings peace. Gaza, which was once seen as the cornerstone of a two-state solution, became a launch pad for terror. Today, only 21 percent of Israelis support a Palestinian state. Trust in a two-state solution has all but collapsed. The Middle East is changing. Iran’s grip is weakening. New alliances are forming. But Western countries and some U.S. officials still chase the mirage of a two-state solution. History speaks clearly. The 2005 Gaza withdrawal, backed by the U.S., led not to peace, but to a terrorist regime. Judea and Samaria are 24 times larger than Gaza, deeply woven into Israel’s geographic and spiritual fabric. To surrender them would not bring peace. It would invite conflict and existential danger. Family Research Council stands with Israel’s rightful claim to sovereignty. It’s time for America to do the same for history, for justice, and for lasting security in the Middle East. This is Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins, your host. Thanks for joining us on this Thursday. The website is TonyPerkins.com. Resources available there for you, as well as on the StandFirm app. If you have not yet tried out the StandFirm app, I encourage you to take it for a test ride. Go to the App Store, download the Stand Firm app. You’ll have access to Washington Watch no matter where you are. You’ll have access to our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, the Washington Stand. We’re going to be talking about this later with Suzanne Bowdy. She’s going to be joining me in the D Block. But a really troubling story of what’s happening in Sudan, that is on the Washington Stand. I encourage you to take a look at that. And also, every morning, you can join me for our Stand on the Word Bible devotional. So all of that is on the Stand Firm app. Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the president’s use of a 1977 law to impose his sweeping tariffs across the globe. Now, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act provides that the president has authority to regulate a variety of economic transactions following a declaration of national emergency. And it kind of lays out what those emergencies might be. But justices on the Supreme Court seem skeptical about the president’s justification to impose these tariffs kind of globally.
SPEAKER 01 :
Is it your contention that every country needed to be tariffed because of threats to the defense and industrial base? I mean, Spain, France. I mean, I could see it with some countries, but explain to me why as many countries needed to be subject to the reciprocal tariff policy as are.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was Justice Amy Coney Barrett asking that question of the Solicitor General who was defending the position of the Trump administration. So what could the impact be of a ruling by the Supreme Court on the president’s use of these tariffs? Joining me now to discuss this is economist Jerry Boyer. He is the CEO of Boyer Research. Jerry, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Pleasure to be with you, as always. So what’s your read on where the justices appear to be headed based on yesterday’s oral arguments and the questioning?
SPEAKER 07 :
I think they’re headed back to the text of the Constitution and the original intent of the founders, which is that revenues are a function of Article 1 of the Constitution, the legislative branch, with a focus on the House of Representatives, and that presidents do not have the authority to raise taxes, including tariffs, which are just another form of tax. They are a sales tax on imported goods. And it’s interesting, I think, that the conservative justices are actually being conservative on this case, Amy Barrett, for example, making that argument. The liberal justices, I think, just don’t like anything from Trump, and I think that’s going to amount to a kind of landslide against the president on this issue, which I think is justified on constitutional grounds, as much as I’m a supporter of a great deal of the president’s agenda, including his economic agenda, not so much the trade war. Constitutionally, he just does not have this authority, and I think the courts are going to say that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Now, Jerry, his argument or the argument of the administration is that the exploding trade deficits had brought us to the brink of an economic and national security catastrophe. And so based on that, that’s why he took those actions.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, I don’t think that’s a valid argument because emergency generally applies something that has not been going on for 50 years. Emergency, plain English language and in the statute, is something that happens suddenly. A crisis, a war, something along those lines. But a trade balance issue, which really goes back even before 1977, America has run trade deficits for almost all of its existence. Our model is largely been a model where we buy things from overseas and then those dollars fly back, you know, kind of come back in as capital investments. So, I mean, something that is normal for probably 90 percent of the years in American history, which is us running trade deficits, can’t suddenly become an emergency in 2025. It just doesn’t make any sense. It defies the language.
SPEAKER 10 :
Is part of that the kind of the the consumer orientation of America?
SPEAKER 07 :
I think it is. And I don’t think it’s a good thing. I think that America, Americans don’t save much. So in Japan, for example, they have very high deficits, but they also have high savings rates. So Japanese savers fund the Japanese government’s debts. but American savers are not funding the American government’s debts, which means foreigners do that. So we have an intricate system here, which kind of holds together. We get goods from overseas, we send those dollars in exchange, and those dollars come back and fund our federal government. I don’t like that very much. But the fact is, that’s the way the system is set up now. And unless we become a nation of savers, and unless we get control of our spending and get control of our national debt, we really can’t afford a trade war. I don’t like our dependence on foreigners for funding our national debt. But we have a national debt. And the way it’s funded, essentially, is through our trade deficits. So become a saving society. And the problem solves itself without protectionism.
SPEAKER 10 :
We just have a little over two minutes left. Jerry, you’re an economist. One of the issues in the election, the exit polling in the election on Tuesday, and I have some issue with the exit polling because they only asked five questions as to what the number one issue is. They had nothing to do with the moral or the value issues, but they primarily skewed toward the economic issues. And so that went to the top. And people are feeling economic pain. Is that at all related to the cost of items that have gone up as a result of this trade war?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, absolutely. I think that the main reason the president won the election was inflation. Now, as a conservative Christian, I might wish that he won the election for other reasons more than that. But I have to acknowledge from my friends and neighbors and everybody else, it was the rising price of everything, including food. Tariffs don’t help with that. And it’s so interesting to see how people think that, well, maybe tariffs might cause inflation. They might not. Maybe they cause prices to go up. I don’t think they understand. Tariffs are supposed to cause prices to go up. That’s the function of a tariff. If goods are coming in from overseas and they’re cheaper, the idea is by raising the price of those goods, by adding a tax, that that means that local producers can raise the price of their goods. So when the president says to beef producers, hey, cut the price of beef, I did you a favor with the tariffs, the beef producers say, wait a minute, the tariffs were so we could raise the price of beef. So tariffs are inflationary. It’s plain and simple. And I think, look, I think the big, beautiful bill is good enough. It doesn’t need the help of the protectionism. I think we now are in a competitive position. Let the president’s deregulation and tax cuts work. We don’t need a thumb on the scale in the form of trade taxes.
SPEAKER 10 :
So is that why I’m paying more for my coffee when I go to the grocery store?
SPEAKER 07 :
Of course it is. Right. Because we don’t have a climate in America where we can grow coffee or cocoa. So the stuff that’s grown around the equator, things that come from overseas are more expensive. And we know it when we go to the grocery store. So beef even is up in price. So that’s that’s tariffs cause inflation. That’s what’s going on. If the president gets rid of that, we can sail in the midterms.
SPEAKER 10 :
Might drive me to drink tea. I don’t know. All right, Jerry, thanks so much for joining us. All right, folks, stick with us. We’re back with more Washington Watch after this.
SPEAKER 14 :
Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued its historic Dobbs decision, a ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade, which for nearly 50 years imposed abortion on demand, silencing voters and bypassing the democratic process across the country. The Dobbs decision was a huge step forward against abortion, but it didn’t outright ban it. It returned the power to the people. Now, 29 states have laws on the books protecting life. However, there’s a catch. Abortion numbers since Dobbs have actually gone up with an increase of 12% since 2020, climbing from 930,000 to over 1 million in each of the most recent years. So how can this be? The answer is simple. The abortion drug. Today, over 60% of U.S. abortions involve abortion drugs, many of these without medical oversight. In 2021, the Biden administration quietly removed bare minimum longstanding safety protocols for the abortion drug that have existed for 20 years to protect women from life-threatening risks and ensuring informed consent. The Biden DOJ then declared that they would not enforce the Comstock Act, which prevents the mailing of anything that causes an abortion. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. A study shows nearly 11% of women who take the abortion drug end up in the emergency room with serious complications. Unless the Trump administration reverses these reckless Biden-era policies, pro-life laws will remain largely symbolic. Without a full review and repeal of Mifepristone, unborn lives will remain in grave danger and pregnant mothers will remain at risk. Let’s stand for life and end this mail-order abortion drug pipeline. Sign the petition urging the Trump administration to take action at frc.org slash stop chemical abortion.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, this is Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. I don’t know if you heard Jerry on the way out there, but he said there’s tariffs on tea. So I looked it up. There’s actually tariffs on teas, too. I don’t drink tea, but I guess that’s not an option. I guess I should have. Thought back from history, there was a tea party at one point over the taxes on tea. But anyway, moving along, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, is preparing to cut 10 percent of flights at 40 U.S. airports beginning tomorrow. as I get on my plane, as staff shortages and flight delays continue to impact travelers amid the government shutdown. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recognized in his announcement yesterday that this will cause frustration as the reductions will probably increase flight delays, which are already bad, and increase cancellations. But he said in the end that this is a quote, our sole role is to make sure that we keep the airspace as safe as possible, end quote. I do agree with that. So joining me now to discuss is Congressman Bob Under, who serves on several House committees, including the Transportation Infrastructure Committee. He represents the third congressional district of Missouri. Congressman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 19 :
Great to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
What can you tell us about the FAA’s announcement? What are we going to see here in the next few days?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, yeah, that’s right. I mean, safety is paramount for the FAA. I also serve on the Aviation Subcommittee of the Transportation Committee. I’m actually a private pilot myself. And safety has to be foremost. And Sean Duffy has been warning for weeks now that he does not want to see his air traffic controllers having to work night jobs driving Uber or Lyft. in order to make ends meet. But more and more, the ATC employees are suffering. And one union official said that there’s unprecedented resignations among his ranks. And we know that now Delta, Southwest, and United are already announcing flight cancellations because of this reduction in air traffic. Look, we need the Democrats to do the right thing and to come back to the table, reopen the government so we can get all of our federal workers paid, but especially those who have jobs relating to public safety like ATC.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman, I know it’s very early and the investigation has just started, but you are on the subcommittee on transportation air safety. A crash yesterday, it was a UPS jet there in Kentucky. Any information there that that could have been related to any of the issues that we’ve been talking about?
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, all indications so far, and Secretary Duffy said as much last evening, are that it was a mechanical failure, that it wasn’t related to ATC staffing or anything of that nature. It looks like the wing, or rather one of the engines, caught fire on takeoff, and then there was a tragic accident. crash. But as best we can tell, that’s not related to ATC understaffing.
SPEAKER 10 :
So in addition to the commercial travelers that are going to be affected by the reductions that were announced yesterday, this is also going to affect, if I understand, cargo operations. I mean, will this have kind of a cascading effect? I mean, when people are, you know, a lot of material being flown by plane as well as obviously by truck transported across the country. But I mean, what might we see in the upcoming holiday season?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, that’s right, Tony. Commercial aviation has a huge impact on our economy, not only business travel, leisure travel, but also moving cargo. UPS, FedEx and others move a vast amount of cargo. I mean, how do we think that Amazon or Walmart gets stuff to our homes overnight when we place an order? Yeah, this could have an enormous impact on our economy, the holiday season, holiday travel, but also many businesses, they speak of the day after Thanksgiving as being Black Friday because many retail businesses, it’s the first day of the year where they make a profit. Yes, there’s supply chain interruption, whether it be by boat or truck or airplane, that has huge economic consequences.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman, I’ve been watching this closely because prior to this administration coming in, we already saw our infrastructure from a standpoint of commercial aviation being strained. We had that horrific crash in D.C. Actually, the plane coming out of your home state where it collided with a military aircraft. Is this making the situation even worse? I mean, are there things you’re concerned about as you look at the system?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, yes. I mean, the air traffic controllers are absolutely key to the safety of our commercial and our general aviation systems. And the DCA crash was just a series, a number of mistakes made. But yeah, understaffing, which was the case the night of that crash, is a potentially tragic situation. You know, this summer, though, in the one big beautiful bill, we did pass an extra $12.5 billion in infrastructure for air traffic control systems, something that is badly needed. I believe Sean Duffy estimates we’re going to need about $50 or $60 billion total. So that was just a down payment. But personnel are first and foremost the most important. And that’s why we need to get the air traffic controllers paid back to work or else it’s only going to get worse.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman Andre, let me thank you for joining us. Thanks for coming on the program. Good to see you.
SPEAKER 19 :
Thank you, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Coming up, we’re going to have a conversation with our panel from the Washington stand. We’re going to talk about some of the headlines for the week. We’re also going to go a little bit deeper in this disturbing story out of Sudan. It is quickly becoming the most significant humanitarian crisis in the world. Again, you can read all about it at the Washington Stand. If you have the Stand Firm app, you’ll have it right there in your pocket. Don’t go away. Our founding scripture for this is Ephesians 6, verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, stand therefore.
SPEAKER 09 :
Family Research Council’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit 2025 brought together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action.
SPEAKER 10 :
We are equipping the body of Christ to understand that what is happening around us is not just political. It’s not just cultural. At its heart, it is spiritual.
SPEAKER 16 :
We gather in a nation that has torn the foundation apart, and we have separated our governing documents from our divine source, Jesus Christ. We need truth now more than ever to guide us.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m believing, God, let this be a testimony of the American church, that we become so full of the fire of the Word of God that we cannot contain it. We have to tell people about it. We have to make disciples.
SPEAKER 06 :
The idea of America was the idea that our rights don’t come from governments. They come from our divine creator, right? Government’s main job is to protect those rights. And because that was the foundation of America, We’ve enjoyed over the last 250 years more freedom, more prosperity, more stability than any other nation anywhere in the world. And that should be celebrated.
SPEAKER 13 :
We are living in a moment. What’s that moment? It’s a prophetic moment on God’s timeline. And so he needs the church more than ever to act biblically for the blessing of our political leaders and of our nation.
SPEAKER 03 :
The number one issue today. facing America domestically, which is the epidemic of fatherlessness. 40% of all American children today enter the world without a father in the home married to the mother.
SPEAKER 11 :
We cannot win the pro-life fight without acknowledging that this is the pro-family fight, that this is the pro-marriage fight. We’re never going to end abortion if we do not secure and shore up marriage.
SPEAKER 04 :
We pray that this would be an opportunity, Lord God, for you to use us mere little mortals, but we possess the name of Jesus. God, use us mightily. We pray in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for tuning in. By the way, tomorrow evening I will be up in Rogers, Arkansas, for the Counteract USA event. If you’re in the area, look forward to seeing you there as I speak there tomorrow night. Our friends at Regent University’s Israel Institute are hosting a pastor’s conference next week titled, Does Israel Matter for Jesus and the Gospel? Now, the conference takes place next Thursday and Friday, November 13th and 14th on Regent’s campus in Virginia Beach. You’ll hear about the assault on evangelical support for Israel, why Israel matters for Jesus and the gospel, and the best practices for engaging Israel and the Jewish people. Now, the conference is free, including meals, but advanced registration is required because space is limited. To sign up, to attend in person, or to listen to the panels online, visit regent.edu slash doesisraelmatter. That’s regent.edu slash doesisraelmatter. You can also go to TonyPerkins.com and get all that information. Our word for today comes from Ephesians chapter 5. You know, Jesus is the gold standard when it comes to love. Yet what culture calls love today often stands in direct opposition to love. The so-called freedom of unrestrained sexual expression is not love. It’s precisely what love seeks to restrain, because true love protects rather than corrupts. To walk in love as Christ did means doing what is best for others, even when it costs us personally. That includes honoring God’s design for human sexuality, which reflects his holiness and his order. Our culture has confused love with affirmation. Scripture calls us to love every person, but not to affirm every behavior. Genuine love speaks truth graciously, courageously, and with the same redemptive heart that led Christ to the cross. For more on our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, there was a lot of activity this week from the off-year elections to talks to reopen the government to an encouraging move by the Trump administration to designate or redesignate the government of Nigeria as a country of particular concern because of the ongoing egregious and systematic persecution of Christians. So here to recap some of the events of this week and to offer some analysis is our panel from the Washington Stand, managing editor for the broadcast, Casey Harper, and editorial director and senior writer, Suzanne Bowdy. Casey, Suzanne, thanks for joining me. Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, let’s start with this. We are in the now longest government shutdown in the history, and President Trump on Wednesday is saying that the way out is to eliminate the legislative filibuster in the U.S. Senate. Now, this might bring a short-term gain, but, Suzanne, this could be very costly in the end. What do we need to be looking at here?
SPEAKER 15 :
I have to tell you, I understand the Republicans’ frustration. It has to be absolutely infuriating when Democrats have shut the government down and refused to negotiate about a solution. But abolishing the filibuster isn’t a magic wand that’s suddenly going to help conservatives pass everything on their agenda. I think there’s this misconception in Washington that, hey, once we lower the 60-vote threshold to 51, we’ll be able to do whatever we want. And I’d just like to remind people that a 51-vote threshold is what we had for the reconciliation bill. And I don’t think Mike Johnson thought that a simple majority was so simple to work with. So to say that this is just a silver bullet, really, to do everything we want to do is actually looking at it very upside down. At no time in the recent Congress has there been real unity among the Republicans. Now, Mike Johnson has been able to cobble together some real miracles in the House to pass reconciliation, the one big beautiful bill, and other things. But let’s say he does pass something miraculously again. It still goes to the Senate, where John Thune has his own thorns in the flesh in the form of – Senators like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who are liberal, who could stand in the way of anything Republicans want to do. In fact, in my opinion, abolishing the filibuster would really just hand more power to those liberal Republicans in the Senate and the blue state Republicans in the House who always want to water down things we’re trying to do, like you know, adding pro-life provisions to legislation or to budgetary items. And what has Trump said he’s going to do with this filibuster? So far, all he’s said is we’re going to ban mail-in ballots and we’ll have voter ID. Well, that’s great. But we don’t have any concessions that if we did this, we would get something like you know, late-term abortion limits or protections for minors from gender transition procedures, parental rights and education. So we’re really looking at a dangerous short-term solution for a long-term problem.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, let’s talk about what would happen if the Democrats are in the majority, which over the last 100 years, if my math is correct, they’ve had 72 of those 100 years, 72 percent of the time over the last century, the Democrats have been in the majority in the Senate. Had the filibuster not been in place, the legislative filibuster we’re talking about, about here. We would have policies such as the LGBTQ policy, their crown jewel, the Equality Act. We would have abortion on demand. Biden tried to push that over after the overturn of Dobbs. That was the Women’s Health Protection Act. We would have nationalized elections, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Those just happened in the last Congress. We don’t have to go back further to see what they would do. So I think it’s a safety valve, a safety net to keep America from or keeping a few politically motivated, emotionally driven senators from, I mean, just destroying this country, quite frankly.
SPEAKER 15 :
And I don’t think we’re unified enough as a movement to say that we can be entrusted with this 51 vote threshold to do the right thing either. I mean, we keep hearing people say, oh, well, the Democrats are going to do it, so we should do it before they do. That’s a terrible idea and a terrible basis for decision making. And I’d also like to remind everyone that it’s not necessarily true that the Democrats would abolish the filibuster. Last time around, we saw their own party, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, take courageous stands to to protect the filibuster. So it’s not a foregone conclusion that this would be over for us. So it boggles the mind that they’d be willing to tear down these rules for just such temporary gain.
SPEAKER 10 :
The words of my father come to mind when I was a kid. So if everyone else is going to jump off a bridge, you want to jump off too? So you want to be the first to jump off? Is that what you’re saying? I mean, it is.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, it’s the only wall standing between the minority party, whichever that is, Republicans or Democrats, and really, really radical ideas of the left or in the Republicans case. I’m sure if the shoe were on the other foot, the Democrats wouldn’t love everything that we would do either. It’s a terrible idea. And people need to reconsider this and think about why the founders designed the Senate the way they did, which was to be more deliberative.
SPEAKER 10 :
One final comment on this before we move on to elections from this week is that I think we have to be very, very methodical in analyzing any decision, any change that we make that moves us further away from what the founders and those close to the founding of this nation put in place. Because I do not think our foundation that we have today is as firm as it was back then.
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Let’s talk about the aftermath of this past Tuesday, the election results. Casey, New York City now has a self-proclaimed Muslim Democrat socialist. He’s the mayor-elect. What does this victory by Mamdani mean?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, well, it means a few things. I mean, obviously any taboo around having the word socialist on your platform is sort of wearing off. But I think Mamdani really represents probably four things to me. One is the hard shift left among women, young women in particular. I think 84% of Gen Z women voted for Mamdani. So we see young men are becoming more conservative, but young women are becoming much more liberal. So Mamdani represents that. We’re also seeing some of the effects of mass migration. I mean, New York City, This is an amazing stat to me. New York City is 37% foreign born. So, I mean, what even is, what is an American election when 37% of the voters We’re not born in America. This is the kind of thing you get. So I think we’re seeing, you know, the effects of mass migration everywhere. But New York City and the second effect here is this. And we can dive into any of these. And then this is more controversial, but I think we’re seeing, you know, the I call it Islamic dominionism. We’ve seen it happen in Europe. We’ve seen London has a Muslim mayor. We’ve seen, you know, I think London is like 20 percent Muslim, but they’re already able to get a mayor spot. They’re very organized in the same area. is the case in New York City. And the last point I think is really important, and we can learn something from this, is that there’s a lot of economic angst in the country, and any form of economic populism that politicians are able to capture, whether it’s the right or the left, does really well. And so that’s how you have voters who voted for Bernie Sanders and then voted for Donald Trump. It’s not always red and blue anymore. Whoever comes up with some policy that promises, whether it’s true or not, promises to address affordability, it’s almost a silver bullet in politics right now.
SPEAKER 10 :
OK, for the next week, we’re going to unpack off all of those points that you just brought out. There’s so much there.
SPEAKER 20 :
Four point sermon.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, well, it’s very instructive. So I want to start. I don’t even know where to start with that. There’s so much there. Let me start with the point about the immigration issue, because you make a reference to London. That’s a part of the problem in Europe is their immigration, migration in of those in the Muslim community that are coming in. And so up until the late 1960s in this country, we regulated legal immigration because we wanted to keep that balance and allow people to assimilate in. Now, I know that this sounds very foreign to the ears of some today, but that’s what we did in order to preserve our national identity and make sure people were being assimilated into the culture so that we didn’t have – someone like this running for mayor in the largest city in America, which, by the way, he is proposing a government that runs counter to our Constitution. And it may be incumbent upon Congress at some point under Article 4, Section 4, or Section 4, yeah, Article 4, Section 4, for the Congress to intervene to ensure that a Republican form of government exists there in New York.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, that’s a little known point there, Tony, but it has to be, you know, the Constitution does guarantee this and the founders put that in there for a reason. And they also warned about immigration. And we’re not just kind of inventing this on the heels of like, you know, Joe Biden’s immigration crisis or something. From the very beginning of the country, there was strict controls of immigration. on legal immigration, that the people that came here had an understanding of a free society, of a Republican value. Republican values, I don’t mean Republican Party values. I mean of what it means to be a Republican, not to be under authoritarianism. And so if you import people from all around the world, well, meaning people who just want an economic benefit, but if they’re not Here, because they love the American ideals and the ideals of us being a republic, it’s only natural that we’re going to shift away from something that is very hard, as Benjamin Franklin warned us, very hard to keep, a republic.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. And all of these all the free stuff that he’s offering under this Democratic socialist agenda. You know, if the Democrats are in control nationally, they can you know, they can subsidize New York City. But I think this is going to be the real issue for him is how is he going to pay for it?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I want to go back to the filibuster point. What is the filibuster? Well, nuking the filibuster does one thing. It makes it a lot easier to spend money. And if there’s anything that we should be wary of right now in our current fiscal situation, nearing $40 trillion probably by the end of President Trump’s term, making it easier to spend money to bail out cities. We bailed out banks. I’m sure we could bail out the handsome socialist mayor of New York under a Democrat administration. It would be easy to do. Actually, Obamacare already bailed out a lot of big cities’ pensions, like Chicago. People don’t know that, but it already happened.
SPEAKER 10 :
My prediction is you’re going to see a lot of people leaving New York. I’ve already been leaving, but I think Florida just got a lot bigger.
SPEAKER 20 :
The people who can pay for the policies are leaving.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, well, true. That’s true. The people that are getting the bill are the ones that are going to be leaving. All right, I want to turn now to international matters. Suzanne, earlier this week, you covered the tragic situation unfolding in Sudan and what our brothers and sisters there in Christ are facing. And for those of… You who have not read the Washington Stand report yet, you can get it. Go to WashingtonStand.com or just go to TonyPerkins.com and follow the links over. But good news this week in that the president did reclassify the government of Nigeria as a country of particular concern. I know two different countries, but let’s start with Sudan and then let’s talk about Nigeria. Suzanne.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, a lot of the focus is on Nigeria, and rightly so. The persecution against Christians there has been horrific. But Sudan, as a lot of people know from over the years, has just been a hotbed of hostility, civil war, just a humanitarian crisis that’s resonated for a couple of decades. But in this last week, we’ve really seen the civil war that kicked off again in 2023. I know you’ve been to Sudan, but A couple of years after you left now, the hostilities have returned and the civil war that’s happened has just taken down the last city that the Sudanese army held in the Darfur region. And unfortunately, that has been a slaughter unlike any other. It has just been an absolute bloodbath. We’re talking about a quarter million people in the city of El Fasher who’ve been pinned in by basically a wall that the rapid special forces who are fighting the Sudanese army for control of that city have have penetrated mass executions, an entire hospital where every doctor, nurse, staff member, family member, patient was killed, people being lined up. The blood is so severe and so widespread that you can see it from space. There is a communication blackout in this area right now. And the only way that the international community knows this is happening is because they can see the bodies on the ground, which there are hundreds, if not thousands of them by now, and the mass graves being built just over the last seven days. We really need to be in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Sudan. We really need to pressure the Trump administration to intervene in this situation.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, it is now the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world, and it’s only going to intensify as the famine there that follows this conflict continues. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re out of time. Thanks for joining me. Folks, thank you for joining us as well, but do be in prayer. We need to pray, we need to vote, and we need to stand for that biblical truth.
SPEAKER 18 :
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