In this episode of Washington Watch, host Tony Perkins dives deep into the current stalemate in Congress over the extension of Obamacare subsidies. With both parties blocking each other’s proposals, the stakes are high as the deadline looms for 24 million Americans who could face crippling premium hikes. Joined by key political figures and analysts, the episode examines the implications of these legislative battles, highlighting the partisan divide and exploring potential pathways forward.
SPEAKER 12 :
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 05 :
the perverse incentives it provides to insurance companies to enroll Americans, some of whom don’t even know that they’ve been enrolled, so the insurance companies can rake in even more subsidies. And then this so-called plan is rampant, and I say rampant, with fraud and abuse.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was Senate Majority Leader John Thune speaking earlier today during the vote to the Obamacare extensions. Welcome to this December 11th edition of Washington Watch. Coming to you from the FRC Media Center in front of a live audience. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. Well, coming up, enhanced Obamacare subsidies are set to expire at year’s end, and the Senate has now failed to advance either party’s competing health care plans. Maryland Congressman Andy Harris joins us to break down what the House will do next. And Texas Congressman Chip Roy joins us to discuss new House efforts to cut federal ties with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has repeatedly targeted conservative organizations, including Family Research Council. Well, Congress is running out of time to stop health care premiums from spiking on January 1st. With the Senate deadlock, tax credits for 24 million Americans are set to expire. So Republicans say their plan would deliver targeted relief while blocking taxpayer funding for abortion and gender transition procedures. But Democrats have rejected it outright. So what happens next? Joining me now is Washington Stand reporter Casey Harper, who has been following today’s stories from Capitol Hill. Casey, where does this leave the negotiations? And what are the Republicans saying as the deadline approaches? What’s the next step?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, well, thanks, Tony. Well, this breakdown came after both parties blocked each other’s bills in the Senate. Republicans pushed a plan offering up to $1,500 in direct help for middle-income families, with guardrails to prevent funds from being used for abortion or gender transition procedures. Those are provisions, of course, that Democrats refuse to accept. Here’s what Majority Leader John Thune said about Democrats today.
SPEAKER 05 :
I hope that after today, they’ll feel like they’ve checked the messaging box and will get serious about actually doing something about the spiraling health care costs under Obamacare. Republicans are ready to get to work, Mr. President. I’m not sure yet the Democrats are interested.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, Democrats instead want to extend the COVID-era Obamacare subsidies for three more years. With premiums expected to jump dramatically, even Republicans like Senator Josh Hawley warned that Congress can’t walk away without a fix. But GOP leaders say Democrats created this crisis and now refuse to negotiate. For now, there’s no deal, but the House is considering several plans that could be debated and voted on as early as next week, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Thanks, Casey. Last night, it took the House a little longer to pass the National Defense Authorization Act. Speaker Mike Johnson had to use his negotiating skills once again to convince five GOP holdouts to get the bill across the finish line. Give us a brief update on this and what next steps are.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, never a dull day for the speaker, Tony. But you’re absolutely right. The House passed the nearly $1 trillion 2026 National Defense Authorization Act after Speaker Johnson convinced those five holdouts to support the bill, marking 65 years of annual approval.
SPEAKER 04 :
On this vote, the yeas are 312, the nays are 112. The bill is passed without objection. A motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
SPEAKER 11 :
The NDAA provides full support for Israel’s missile defense systems, including Iron Dome, and it calls for reviews of international arms embargoes. Attempts to mandate coverage for IVF and transgender-related procedures were left out of the final bill, a move that was applauded by pro-life and family policy advocates. The bill now heads to the Senate next week, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Earlier today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee on Africa held a hearing on Sudan. I had the privilege of testifying. Casey, from your perspective as a reporter, what are the key takeaways from that important discussion about what’s happening in Sudan right now?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, a major hearing, Tony. And as you know, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, who’s been a longtime champion of human rights, chaired the hearing today. Now, one of the most shocking statistics he raised is that since 2023, up to 150,000 civilians have been slaughtered and over 10 million have been displaced in Sudan. Killings, rapes, abductions and child soldier recruitment continue. U.S. officials condemned atrocities by both Sudan’s rapid support forces and armed forces. They stressed that attacks on aid convoys must stop and a ceasefire is urgently needed. Congressman Smith also gave a special shout out to you, Tony, while raising alarms about the persecution of Christians in Sudan. Here’s what he had to say.
SPEAKER 03 :
Former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Tony Perkins, has also led a delegation to Sudan, and in 2020 and today will testify that both the RSF and the SAF have a common enemy in Christians. Christians have been denied food aid and told, unless you leave your Christianity, you will not get any food.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, the U.S. has provided $400 million in humanitarian aid and sanctioned over 40 individuals fueling the conflict while negotiating a truce with regional partners. Former Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback warned that a civilian-led government protecting religious freedom is essential and ending the war is crucial for millions of lives and U.S. global leadership, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thanks, Casey. Sudan has certainly slipped backward, and Christians, among others, are once again facing fear, pressure, and open persecution. But it’s just one spot, just one spot in the world. The world is on fire. A lot to be praying about. I’ve seen how much hope there was at one point and how quickly it has been lost. Now, my prayer is that America will stand with the innocent people of sudan support a future where they can live and worship freely again but part of the conversation we had this afternoon was there we have to address those underlying issues and that’s not just the immediate crisis we’ve been here before it’s the underlying lack of a foundation of a civil society large in large part because they do not have that religious freedom All right, Casey, thanks for the update. I would ask you for a weather report, but I could tell you’re already cold, so I don’t guess I need it. My lips are frozen. All right, thanks so much for joining us. All right, as we were talking about earlier, we’re talking about the issue of the battle over health care. I want to go back to that topic and get a second opinion from a doctor. Joining me now is… congressman dr andy harris who is the chairman of the house freedom caucus a member of the house appropriations committee he represents the first congressional district of maryland and he is a medical doctor dr harris welcome back to washington watch thanks for joining us good to be with you tony so let me ask you what does it mean that the senate has now rejected the two rival health bills what are the next steps
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I do think the House may take action next week. We’re going to take action, if we do, to actually help lower the costs of health care insurance premiums for basically all of Americans who are on private health care insurance, not just the small number that are on Obamacare. This is a problem that goes well past the Obamacare increase in premiums, and we need to address it for many more Americans than just the narrow bill that the Democrats put forward in the Senate.
SPEAKER 08 :
Let me ask you, Congressman Harris, what it says about the Democrats in the Senate that they had an opportunity to extend these if they would have allowed for hide-type protections for taxpayers, not forcing them into funding abortion and gender transition procedures. They rejected that. What’s the real issue here?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I’m not sure what the real issue is. I think they just want a health care issue, because I’m not sure they want to solve it, because if they did, it would be very simple. Let’s just put Hyde into it, and then we’ll take it under consideration, because we really shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars on abortion. That’s a view of the majority of Americans. Whether you’re in a pro-choice or pro-life state, the bottom line is the majority of Americans believe you shouldn’t be using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions, and of course, that’s what the Hyde Amendment does.
SPEAKER 08 :
I have to say, I think it was a pretty generous move on behalf of Republicans who have never voted for Obamacare, nor did they vote for these COVID era subsidies. But yet they were willing to say, if we put these life protecting provisions on there, we’ll do some extensions until we have time to address the underlying issue of health care and the reform that’s truly needed to bring it back to the private sector.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s absolutely right. We’re willing to come to the negotiating table. But again, a precondition is that it has to include Hyde protections. Nothing coming out of a Republican House is not going to have Hyde protections attached. Because the bottom line is we do believe very strongly not only that we are pro-life, but that we shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.
SPEAKER 08 :
Now, this has been alluded to, and I think we’ve talked about this on the program before. These are COVID era subsidies, right? Premium subsidies. They we were told they were needed because of covid. Of course, everything is needed because of covid. But this was needed. But in reality, it was propping up a failed health care system. And that’s the real issue here for Democrats is they have to prop this up because their house of health care cards are about to come tumbling down.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s absolutely right. You know, the three promises of Obamacare, one is that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Not true. If you like your insurance company, you can keep your insurance company. Not true. And oh, by the way, this is going to bring down premiums for each family by $2,500. Not true. It greatly increased premiums. So Obamacare is a huge failure. this would, in fact, prop it up. It would be sending, you know, good money after bad. And the fraud rate is probably on the order of 25 percent of the 24 million people who are on Obamacare because of these COVID era enhanced subsidies. So there is no way we were going to consider a clean extension at all. But even to consider any kind of extension, even taking measures against fraud into account, you’d have to include real Hyde, not Hyde Light, not, you know, some promise like Obama made when he passed Obamacare in his executive order that said, oh, no, this is all compliant. No, no. We want to put Hyde in statute, and it actually would be in statute for the first time, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
That would be a great advancement forward. But in reality, Dr. Harris, I mean, we have basically a week left congressionally, and then we’ve got the Christmas break, come back next year. Is there time, really, for Congress to solve this crisis created by the Democrats and these subsidies?
SPEAKER 07 :
well if the if again if the democrats really don’t want to do anything about it and not include hi there probably isn’t going to be time uh… but the bottom line is we could we could do this in january this is a tax credit it could always be given retroactively so we could actually found assembly much larger package again taking care of the over a hundred million people of private health insurance who are not on obama care but uh… dealing with some of the the true hardship cases that will come from a step change in the expiration of the COVID-era enhanced subsidies.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Dr. Harris, final question for you. I want to step back from the debate over health care, Affordable Care Act or the not so affordable care act. And I want to talk about the appropriations, because when you come back from January, from the break in January, you’ve just got about three weeks to deal with the appropriations bill. We’ve got the CR that will be expiring. Will we be able to get the appropriations bills through?
SPEAKER 07 :
I think we will get a large number of them through. Hopefully we get them all through by January. But I think the Senate’s going to take action. If they don’t take action this week and time is running out for them, they will take action next week. Send us a package of five bills. The House will probably work on two or three of those bills pretty quickly. We might even be able to pass another two or three bill package by next Friday before we leave home for the Christmas holiday. But if we don’t, we would take it up immediately in January. The Senate could take that package up. and then that would leave only half the bills to be resolved in those last three weeks in January. Certainly something that could be done if we put our mind to it, and I’m hoping that we do.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Dr. Andy Harris, always great to see you. Thanks so much for taking time to join us today.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
And folks, I want to encourage you to weigh in on this debate over the Affordable Care Act and the extensions, whether we have them or not, but the fact that we need to hide. Text ACA to 67742. ACA to 67742. All right, don’t go away. Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, and I want to invite you to join me for Stand on the Word, a daily journey through the Bible, 10 to 15 minutes a day. That’s all it takes. And in no time, you’ll have finished the entire Bible. And along the way, we’ll learn how to apply God’s truths to the world in which we live. As we’re about to start a new year and as our nation is about to celebrate 250 years, there’s never been a better time for a fresh start in the Word of God. To join us, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742.
SPEAKER 15 :
Should a Christian support Israel? That question has become one of the most emotionally charged issues of our time, both in the world and within the church. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins offers a clear biblical and prophetic answer. In his latest book, he examines Israel’s past, present, and future through the lens of scripture, revealing why support for Israel is not rooted in politics, partisanship, or cultural sentiment, but in the unchanging promises of God. Drawing from Genesis to Revelation, Tony Perkins demonstrates that the ultimate rationale for a Christian’s support for Israel is spiritual. Should a Christian support Israel invites believers to see beyond headlines and ideologies, returning to the foundation of God’s Word to understand His heart for His chosen people and the blessings that flow when we stand with what He has established forever. Text the word Israel to 67742 for more information.
SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Merry Christmas and welcome back to Washington Watch. We’re coming to you from our media center in our headquarters in Washington, D.C., before a live audience of our supporters. Good to have them here. We’ve been spending a couple of days together. It’s always great to have friends in town. Well, this has been a busy week. Next week will be a busy week. But we want to kind of unpack what’s happened this week. So our in-house studio panel, Kena Gonzalez, Senior Director of Government Affairs at the Family Research Council, and Suzanne Bowdy, Editorial Director and Senior Writer at the Washington Stand. Kena, Suzanne, thanks so much for joining me this evening. Thanks, Tony. All right. So in the last segment, I was talking with Congressman Andy Harris, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, also a medical doctor, about the battle over the health care. Kena, what are you and your team tracking with regards to this? Is something going to happen before the end of the year?
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, goodness. Predicting Congress, Tony. Good luck. There is a strong push in some quarters, even of the Republican Party, to try to extend these COVID era Obamacare subsidies. And conservatives like Andy Harris and many, many others are hoping that that does not happen. Or if it does, that it’s either time limited, that we sort of ease into a new model. And that, as you have already said, that we make sure that these subsidies do not fund abortion and gender transition procedures.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, Suzanne, this creates a problem politically for Republicans. As I talked with Dr. Harris, no Republican has ever voted for Obamacare. They have never voted for the subsidies that came during COVID in the Biden administration. If they were to vote for something like this right now, they would be challenged by their own party. back in their states.
SPEAKER 13 :
Of course, the media is not going to be their friend in this. And that’s just one of the challenges that Republicans face right now. You talked with Dr. Harris about Democrats who basically just want to extend the subsidies and have no interest in bipartisan compromise on this issue. You also mentioned time is short. We’re looking at the end of the calendar year for the subsidies to expire. There’s one week left of in Congress for them to negotiate something that seems unlikely, especially considering, third, Republicans aren’t on the same page themselves about what they want to do for an alternative. And lastly, getting some of those moderate Republicans, along with Democrats, to agree on something like the Hyde protections, which for us is non-negotiable, that is a tall, tall battle, even for Mike Johnson.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I don’t see anything happening before the end of the year. If they’re going to do real change, it’s going to require some diligence, some work, and I don’t think they should put a Band-Aid on this. I think they should really go in and provide, as Senator Rick Scott has proposed, using the health savings accounts, making this more of a doctor-patient transaction as opposed to an insurance company.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, Tony, you’re absolutely right. This sort of end of year urgency to just get something done so we can go home for Christmas and say we did it is a really, really dangerous time in Washington.
SPEAKER 08 :
But that’s how they operate. I mean, that’s the memory muscle we have here. But the Speaker and others are trying to break that and reshape the way Congress thinks.
SPEAKER 16 :
And the reality is when it comes to Obamacare, we actually have the opportunity to do that. The plans for 2026 have already been written, have already been promulgated. And so this end of year urgency to please do something is much more political than it is an actual reality.
SPEAKER 13 :
They’ve known all this time that this was going to sunset and they had plenty of time to do something. They shouldn’t have shut the government down. They should have been negotiating.
SPEAKER 16 :
Democrats set this sunset three years ago. We’ve known this was coming. So the urgency is in some ways a false one and a purely political one.
SPEAKER 08 :
But again, I go back to the point I made with Dr. Harris. I think the Obamacare or maybe the Biden era subsidies for COVID was simply to prop up a failing system. And if they don’t do something, it’s going to expose that Obamacare does not work. That’s right. The Republicans have been saying that all along, but the American people are going to see it. All right, I want to move on to another topic, the Defense Authorization Act. A little bit of wrangling there to get that out. Finally got it out. Who wants to tackle that?
SPEAKER 16 :
Kenny, you go first. The NDAA, as it’s called, the National Defense Authorization Act, passes every year. It’s one of the few pieces of legislation that we can count on, Tony, that passes every single year. It’s called must-pass legislation, and it’s because it has pay raises and other necessities for military families and for the military itself. And so everybody and their mother tries to attach whatever they’re trying to get through Congress to this.
SPEAKER 08 :
Because so few bills actually pass.
SPEAKER 16 :
And this bill must pass every year. And once again, we’re down to the wire on the NDAA. And coming down to this wire, we were very concerned at FRC because we knew that there had been some things that had been inserted into the NDAA that really don’t belong there. And some of those affect our pro-life, pro-family policies. And we’ve been watching those very closely.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we were able to get some out.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 13 :
very exciting yeah so it was overall a good bill never perfect but some years better than others i would put this in what category suzanne i would say great yeah i mean there are things that we wish were in there but gosh i mean when you consider they’ve prohibited all the dei we got out taxpayer-funded ivf which as we know destroys embryos we also have family leave now not just if you’re adopting a child but for foster families i mean there’s a lot of good in this bill
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Suzanne, I’m gonna go to a non-Hill story that you’ve been tracking that’s worth noting. Fill us in.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right, I think a lot of people are aware now of the controversy that’s been happening in Loudoun County. I mean, it’s hard to keep track of the controversies in Loudoun County where the school district is concerned. You know, we’ve had some teachers who’ve been suspended for using wrong pronouns or for fighting the transgender policy there. But earlier this year, there were two Christian boys who were in a locker room and a biological girl came in and began filming them Naturally, they were extremely uncomfortable. They went and talked to school administrators and actually it was the boys that ended up getting in trouble. They were suspended under the auspices of sexual harassment because they referred to this girl, biological girl in their locker room as a girl. So the parents have now sued the school district, but what happened this week, which is absolutely awesome and just, it’s a great sign that we have the Trump administration here to do things like this, but the DOJ is joining this suit. They have a motion to intervene, which will really help these boys out. I mean, this never should have happened.
SPEAKER 08 :
Again, this goes back to what it looked like a freight train coming just a few years ago with all this gender ideology that was being forced down the throats of children and parents as a result of the Obama administration. But because parents stood up and pushed back at local school boards, they risked being called domestic terrorists. but it was for their children, and they did not stop. We have seen a reversal of that cultural push.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right, and this is actually one of the few holdouts remaining. I feel like Virginia is really standing alone when they’re protecting these really unpopular controversial policies.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. But it’s a good news story that when we stand up and speak truth, eventually you’ll get enough people who say, yeah. They’re right. Their warning was correct. Suzanne, Kana, thanks so much for joining me.
SPEAKER 13 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, folks, when we come back, I’m not sure what we’re going to have, but we’re going to have somebody. We’ve got several members of Congress still to come, but they are coming off Capitol Hill to join us here in the Media Center. So stick around and see what we have next. So don’t go away. More Washington Watch straight ahead. 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 percent 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. All right, welcome back to a live broadcast of Washington Watch. Well, I left you with a question in the last segment that I didn’t know which member of Congress we would have at what time, but here we have Texas Congressman Chip Roy, who has joined us here in the Media Center at the Family Research Council, a familiar face and voice on Washington Watch. Congressman, thanks so much for running off the hill and coming down here and joining us.
SPEAKER 06 :
Happy to do it. Great to be here, Tony.
SPEAKER 08 :
So we’re coming up on really the end of the year. Still a lot hanging out there for Congress to deal with. We’ve been talking about the health care extension. So what can we anticipate over the next week?
SPEAKER 06 :
well we just passed the national defense authorization act this week as you point out we’ve got these issues to kind of close out and you know look i’m very bullish about a lot of the things we’ve been able to accomplish in terms of the big beautiful bill tax policy getting work requirements and medicaid the stuff that we did there that i think will help position the economy for next year which is where we needed to be and be strong heading heading into the midterms but look i i’m one who believes we ought to be on offense on health care so i’m being i’m a voice for that and this whole notion of getting wrapped around the axle on subsidies is a mistake yeah because that’s just perpetuating the very broken system that has given us the inability to afford health care. So from my standpoint, I’m advocating for what I call health care freedom, massive expansion of health savings accounts, direct primary care, access to Medicare, health sharing ministries, all the things that we know are actually working. And you just got to have some catastrophic option and then free up the American people so you have patients and doctors who are empowered instead of insurance bureaucrats and government bureaucrats. And I think we can do it, but It’s hard to build 218, and Mike has been doing… So who’s opposed to that, other than the Democrats? So let me say the good news. The good news is I’ve seen greater unanimity on that concept that I just laid out than I’ve really seen in years. Everybody’s speaking the same language and off the same sheet of music. However, there’s a pocket of our mods who really want something, moderates, on something on the subsidies. I think they’re getting wrapped around that axle wrongly. We’re trying to kind of pull that off. But they really want to vote on that because they believe they’ve got to answer that question. I think they’re putting, you know, I think they’re focusing on the wrong thing. We’ve got to go focus on what’s fundamentally structurally wrong that is actually making it totally unaffordable for the average hardworking family who now have $25,000 of insurance payments to get boxed out from the doctor of their choice. So are those moderates all in blue states? Yes, they are.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, there might be. Yes. Yes. I mean, because the history here, we’ve talked about this. I don’t want to beat a dead horse or a sick horse thinking about health care. But the reality is no Republican has ever voted for Obamacare nor the subsidies.
SPEAKER 06 :
Correct. Why start now? Well, we shouldn’t, and I want to give a lot of credit to Speaker Johnson, who I think has done a very good job navigating a tough climate. And look, I’ve had my differences of opinion here and there with everybody, and we always have that. But Mike navigated through the shutdown. He’s navigating through some of these issues to try to focus on the right things. He rightly agrees that going down the road of subsidies is a mistake for Republicans. The president agrees. Look, the president has opened the door. When he goes out and says, why are we subsidizing insurance companies when we should be helping the American people? That is the right instinct. The president is pointing in the right direction. So if congressional Republicans will step up, the president will get out and message it and we can sell it. But this is what we’re all wrestling with. We’re literally just on the House floor a minute ago trying to figure out the next steps next week. And I don’t know yet what it’s going to be. Well, I would agree with you.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think we need to take the opportunity to fix the system by replacing it with something that works, that is free market-based, patient-focused relationship with the doctor, not the insurance company.
SPEAKER 06 :
And by the way, 30 seconds aside, I’d like to get rid of Obamacare, but you know what? You can leave Obamacare in place. If you provide a freedom option, people will go there. If you give them the ability to have something they can afford. Well, because it’ll work. Correct.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’ll work.
SPEAKER 06 :
So fine. You want to leave this in place? Fine. But you give me a place to go. Give my family a place to go. Give everybody here a place to go. All right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Talking about you like to be on the offense. You like to move forward. You don’t want to just kind of sit. So let’s talk about something you are hosting or actually you’re chairing, I should say, a subcommittee hearing next week. You chaired the Constitution Committee in the Judiciary Committee on the Southern Poverty Law Center that has, in fact, when you walk out the door of this room, you will see the bullet holes in the wall that inspired a gunman to come into this building. Congress is ready to act on that. They’re ready to move to expose this long-term relationship that SPLC has had with government agencies?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I’m certainly ready to do that. I think Congressman and Chairman Jordan rightly agreed that we should have this hearing in the subcommittee on the Constitution. So we’re going to be doing this next week. Tony will be one of the witnesses. Tyler Boyer from TPUSA is going to be one of the witnesses. as well as an individual who’s pretty knowledgeable here in town, a journalist named Tyler O’Neill, about all of the dot connecting of all the money. Now, there’s a lot to unpack here, which we probably don’t have enough time to do in full, but the short version is anybody who loves and is familiar with FRC knows what Southern Poverty Law Center meant with respect to the attack here over a decade ago here in this building. And now we’ve seen the connection to what happened with Charlie and the extent to which crosshairs are put on you. Heck, my name is now getting put in the crosshairs because I’m daring to call out the Islamification of America. So what we’re gonna do in this hearing is expose that, demonstrate what’s actually happening. But I want to take that a step further so people understand the vast array of networks that are funding all of it. The Soros operation, Arabella, all of the groups and all of the operatives that are involved, the Islamification funding, the open borders groups, the NGOs, the United Nations, your taxpayer dollars, all of it coming together in this vast network to have a red-green alliance where you’ve got the Marxists and the Islamists who want to take our country over. And it’s all related. And SPLC is right at the center of it. Antifa is at the center of it. All of these groups need to be exposed. And we’re going to be doing that next week. And we’re just getting started. And I’ve had some great conversation with Secretary Besson, with people in the administration. I think there’s a hunger to go break this network down because it’s attacking our way of life.
SPEAKER 08 :
fomenting violence. And it’s leading to death. And it’s chilling, our First Amendment freedoms. Chip Roy, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 06 :
Good to see you, Tony. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
God bless you all. All right, folks, don’t go away. There’s more Washington Watch still ahead. We’re going to be talking with Congressman Chris Smith. So don’t go away. We’re back with more right after this. Thank you, Bob.
SPEAKER 13 :
At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. For years, Islamist militants in Nigeria have targeted Christians and other religious minority groups with brutal violence. Since 2009, 52,000 Christians have been slaughtered, as staggering 89% of Christian martyrs in the world today are from Nigeria. The first Trump administration declared Nigeria a country of particular concern, a designation reserved for countries whose governments engage in or tolerate religious freedom violations. However, this designation of Nigeria was quickly reversed by the Biden administration. Following consistent calls from FRC President Tony Perkins and other religious leaders across the US, President Donald Trump has responded.
SPEAKER 14 :
Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands and thousands of Christians are being killed. I am hereby making Nigeria a country of particular concern.
SPEAKER 13 :
This is a huge step forward for the protection of Christians in Nigeria, as well as religious freedom across the world. While this opens the door for the US government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians, it is only the beginning. We must continue to pray diligently, work strategically, and stand firm for the protection of religious liberty across the globe.
SPEAKER 08 :
In times like these, we need something solid to stand on. That’s why I’m inviting you to join me on January the 1st for Stand on the Word, a daily journey through the entire Bible. Each day, we’ll read God’s Word together, discuss how to apply His truths to our lives. 15 minutes that can transform your year. Join me and thousands of others as we stand strong by standing on the Word of God. Text Bible to 67742. That’s Bible to 67742.
SPEAKER 02 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow Outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 08 :
Merry Christmas and welcome back to Washington Watch in front of a live audience here in our media center in Washington, D.C. And they are live. All right. Our word for today, it comes from Revelation chapter one, and it says this. Well, let me get to it here for just a second. Here we go. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. For the time is near. Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins with his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And that’s why we celebrate Christmas. Jesus is the first to be resurrected from the dead and through his obedience to the Father, as Matthew 28 declares, he has been given all authority. in heaven and on earth, which includes over the kings or rulers of the earth. And guess what? Those who know Him, well, He’s made us to reign with Him. So, let’s stand with Him. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. All right, well, every now and then we have a special segment here on Washington Watch, Standing Together. It’s a segment where we highlight organizations that share our commitment to advance the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, and freedom. And today we want to… show and highlight one of those organizations, Faith Wins, an organization that helps pastors and church leaders all over the country get engaged and involved in the political and legislative process, whether that be maximizing the Christian vote through voter registration drives or sharing what God’s Word says about the issues that we face in America today. And leading that organization is a longtime friend. He’s the founder and CEO, Chad Conley, who’s joining me in studio.
SPEAKER 01 :
Honored to be back. First time live. So I’m excited to be here.
SPEAKER 08 :
In person. You’re right here.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
So let’s talk about right now, all these, in fact, we were talking about this on the break, all these issues that we’ve been talking about today on this program. Are they important issues?
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, everything we care about is at stake. If we’re enjoying what’s going on, and we are. Everybody’s enjoying this. Your whole show’s been about this. Win after win after win. Our briefings today have been about all the victories that have come about because there’s a Trump administration as opposed to a Kamala Harris administration. All that comes to an end if we don’t hold the House and the Senate. And I got to tell you, Christians ought to be worried about it because it doesn’t look like a lot of people in the political sphere are focused on our values and the issues that matter to us. And that’s why I’m laser beam focused on maximizing Christian vote and turnout in every election. Not just for top of the ticket, but for all the way down the ticket.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s more than just vote. Faith wins. Faith wins the culture. Faith wins in terms of it is salt and light. It is about living out our faith. And part of that is your work with pastors and helping them feel confident to preach to the issues that the folks in the pews are facing each and every day.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. Everywhere I go, every state I’m in, last year we did 124 pastor meetings in 24 states with 26 different denominational hosts. It was very intentional. We had this conversation. And I can’t tell you, and you know this, Tony, you’ve done this for years, is how many of them have hidden behind the pulpit, been scared of somebody sitting in the pews, and really didn’t feel empowered. So we do these small meetings where I challenge pastors on our team, go find other pastors who ought to hear this message, and let’s expand this. And the small meetings become large meetings that create new small meetings and rinse and repeat. And they feel empowered because they realize, I’m not alone in this.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s the key, is that… Building the band of brothers, if you will, because the media wants people to feel isolated. That’s right. And, in fact, that’s one of the reasons we launched Washington Watch is because what we call, George Barna calls, SAGECON, Spiritually Active Governance Engaged Conservatives, which are here today and listening to us across America. The media wants us to feel alone. And let me just throw this question out to the audience. After hearing from the various elected officials and cabinet officials today, did you get a different perspective than what you get from the media? A totally different perspective. Your people are here. But the media wants you to think that you’re swimming upstream going the wrong direction when the reality is we may not be in the, you know, I don’t know, I like to use the term moral majority, but the view that we have is in much greater supply. No question. And there are more of us out there that care about the direction of this country than the left wants us to know.
SPEAKER 01 :
No doubt about it. Our friend George Barna taught me that. His book, You Turn With David Barton, some 80 million people sitting in church, only about 32 million vote. Everything we’re concerned about, it’s really our responsibility, our fault. Our people out there, what we work to do is make sure they go vote every election. We don’t tell them who to vote for or how to vote, but we talk about the issues that matter to them. And listen, I believe like never before, God’s given us a window of time. Senator Hawley said it at your briefing today. We have a window of time. This is going to be up to us. And we’re going to focus on, I think it’s like 56 or 58 congressional seats that are really in play. with the retirements and all that kind of thing, in places where Trump won and a progressive or a leftist actually won the congressional seat, I believe if we maximize Christian vote in the churches, the low propensity Christian vote that the political consultants can’t find, we go win those seats and hold the House.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we’re going to be working with you on that with our Pray, Vote, Stand chapter. So we look forward to doing that over the next several months. Chad, before I let you go, give your website where people can find out more about Faith Wins.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, it’s faithwins, F-A-I-T-H-W-I-N-S, faithwins.org, O-R-G, faithwins.org.
SPEAKER 08 :
Love to have you involved. And Faith Wins. Amen. All right. Chad Connolly, great to see you, my brother. God bless you. All right. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Well, I do want to encourage pastors because there’s a There’s a case, in fact, I thought we would be talking about it tonight. We were helping with this. This is the National Religious Broadcasters versus Long, and it’s at the heart of the infamous Johnson Amendment, which had a chilling effect on churches across the nation. And this is soon to be decided, and it will remove the muzzle from the pastors that the IRS has placed on them. So be watching that. We’ll be talking about that. All right, I’m going to ask Chris Smith, Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey. He’s coming up from the audience. Chris Smith, come on down. All right, this is what you get with live TV. All right, Chris Smith is one of the, you’re almost, you’re neck and neck for the longest serving member of the House at present, right? And he has 45 years. And some say he’s a case for not term limits because he has been championing for the unborn and for the persecuted worldwide all those 45 years. And just give Chris Smith a round of applause. Today he chaired a subcommittee hearing on Sudan. If there is any time, in fact, I was thinking about this as I was sitting there testifying, Chris. I testified once before your committee on Sudan when Mariam Ibrahim had been sentenced to death and was in prison.
SPEAKER 03 :
And you helped get her out.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, it was the platform that you provided through that subcommittee that helped do that. So anyway, welcome to the program. Always great to have you on the program. Let’s talk about today’s hearing with Sudan and regarding Sudan and what’s happening there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, again, I want to thank you for your… You’re talking to a man who is a force in Washington. You have made such a difference in FRC, but you have to lead. When you talk, we listen, and you’ve been outspoken about Sudan, Nigeria, and the fact that more Christians are being slaughtered there than anywhere else in the world. China incarcerates more, mistreats more. They don’t kill as many. Nigeria, they’re being killed, and it is an existential threat that’s happening everywhere. And the president has, as you know, labeled them CPC country, and you added up the Religious Freedom Commission, so you know how important that is. And you’re calling for that for Sudan as well, and I think that’s extremely important. But we’ve got to stop the fighting. I mean, there’s a bloodletting that’s going on that’s reminiscent of Darfur back in the early 2000s. thousands, and you remember all of that. I went to Darfur. Sam Brownback, who also testified with you today, was the first, and Frank Wolf, the first member of Congress anywhere, any country, to go to Darfur and they raised the alarm bells back in 2004. I went in 2005. And you meet the most wonderful people. Many are Christian, some are Muslim, but they’re non-radical Muslims. But the Christians are just full of love and compassion. They’re leaders, whether it be evangelical or Catholic, they’re all, I mean, they’re courageous beyond words. And now they’re being slaughtered again.
SPEAKER 08 :
I want to key off that word that you just said, again. Again. and I brought this up at the very end of my testimony today, is that this is a cycle. We’re seeing this over and over again. It’s systemic in that there is an underlying issue there when we look at Sudan, and Sudan’s not alone in this, but it’s the absence of civil government, and in particular, and this is something near and dear to your heart because you were a major sponsor author of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, you and Frank Wolf that did that, it was a recognition that you really can’t have stability and economic strength without religious freedom. And that’s now been proven through the studies again and again.
SPEAKER 03 :
Without a doubt. And you have spoken about that so many times, that if you want to have peace and freedom and prosperity, permit religious freedom, let it be robust, let it be so that people can practice their faith as they see fit. And Christians will thrive. And unfortunately, like the early Christians in Sudan and Nigeria, they’re like the Christians of the catacombs. Right. being hunted down and in many cases through sophisticated weaponry killed in horrible ways. The women are raped and I just can’t get over how evil it is and it’s going on as we meet.
SPEAKER 08 :
There’s some similarities here to what you have been advocating for and raising attention to with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority, funded by the United States, not right now but in times past, in the education of the children. I mean, this is generational. When I was in Sudan five years ago, I met with the minister of education. And that was one of the things we looked at was their educational material. And it was very similar to what the Palestinian Authority had been doing to radicalize the children. And so if we’re going to deal with these problems, yes, we’ve got to address the humanitarian crisis at the moment. But if we don’t deal with the underlying issues, we’re going to be right back here 15, 20 years from now.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I love South Pacific, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Oh, I love the music. And there’s a song in there, You’ve Got to be Taught. And it’s about teaching prejudice and hatred. That’s exactly what the PLA has done. Hamas has done it even more so for decades. And we funded it. As Americans, we funded the UN Works Relief Agency. More than half of their funding came from us. And I’ve had hearings on the textbooks. They are anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, anti-American, and we’re funding it. And I offered an amendment 20 years ago to defund UNRWA, and it passed the House, and the Senate wouldn’t take it up, so it continued unabated. I met with their leaders. They always have this dog-and-pony show, nice bullets that the K Street works up for them, and it all sounds— what are you talking about? They’re educational. They’re into humanitarianism. Nothing could be further from the truth. They teach kids from this, you know, three, four years old, certainly kindergarten on how to hate. And when October 7th occurred, it was a manifestation, the bitter fruit of that hatred blossoming as they’re slaughtering and killing and raping, killing little children, you know, because they’re Jewish. And Hamas, You know, and this is what’s happening with the jihadists all over Africa. It’s all about hatred first towards Christians because we’re the infidels. We need to be killed or converted. I had you, Adam, too, a man that I met in an IDB camp in Nigeria in Joss. They broke around, broke into his home, took him out into the street, put an AK-47 to his head and said, you convert right now or I’ll blow your brains out. He says, I’m ready to meet my Lord. And they pulled the trigger and left him badly scarred. That’s not uncommon. They’re forced conversions.
SPEAKER 08 :
I was reminded of that similarity in the hearing today when there was testimony given about the recording of what the Janzaweed, their modern equivalent, what they’re doing over there, they’re recording this and they’re posting this. That’s the same thing that Hamas did.
SPEAKER 03 :
And that’s exactly what Hamas did. It is. I saw those recordings and it turns your stomach. There’s no horror movie that even comes close to the reality of what you’re watching there. And it’s quickly forgotten. The UN glosses it all over. They have all kinds of anti-Semites at the UN Human Rights Council, at the UN itself, in the high bureaucracy. And even one woman who I met, who she watched as her son killed, was thrown into a back of a van and carted off by the Hamas people. And she wanted to meet, and I was in Geneva at the time at a conference with Gutierrez, the UN Secretary General. I called him. I said, will you at least meet with this woman? You’re making the investigation of what Hamas did so narrow that you’re going to just say, oh, a few people did it, all things right. Nothing can be further than the truth. It is absolutely pervasive in the jihadist mentality, and it is growing, and it’s here. We have people, you know, look at 9-11. They were, you know, some of that came out of New Jersey in terms of the radicalism, and they hate us. And we’ve got to love them, but we’ve got to fight them.
SPEAKER 08 :
Congressman, we have just a little over 30 seconds left. I want to get you to tell our audience how we need to be praying for the persecuted around the globe. We’re talking about Sudan. We’ve got Nigeria. There’s so many different places.
SPEAKER 03 :
All the places. You know, it’s communism. and jihadism that are the two greatest threats currently, and there are others, to our faith and to our fellow believers. And we have to stand up. I read a book in my first term in 1981 called Torture for Christ by Richard Warmbrand. You’ve read it. Frank Wolf read it. We all read it. And it was the moment. It’s like stop enabling atheistic communism who doesn’t dislike us as Christians. They hate us.
SPEAKER 08 :
They have to remove us.
SPEAKER 03 :
They have to remove us. That’s right.
SPEAKER 08 :
Congressman Chris Smith, I want to thank you for all the work that you’ve done.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you for testifying. You did, as always, a great job, but even more importantly, day to day, you are really a force that we all count on you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, thank you so much. Congressman Chris Smith from New Jersey, a stalwart for the persecuted and the unborn. And folks, as we celebrate Christmas, I would encourage you to be thinking about those who, on this Christmas, are being persecuted for the very Savior that we worship in the manger. Thanks for joining us today. Until next time, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, when you’ve prepared, and when you’ve taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.
SPEAKER 12 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit TonyPerkins.com.
