In this episode of Washington Watch, Jody Heiss leads a thorough discussion on topical issues facing the nation from a biblical worldview. The program opens with insights into the establishment of a new federal department aimed at government efficiency led by entrepreneurs Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk. As part of this agenda, Congressman Andy Biggs shares his perspective on challenging the bureaucratic state and prioritizing taxpayer savings.
SPEAKER 11 :
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. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, good afternoon and welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss, Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. We’ve got a lot coming your way today. A decade after the Doge Internet meme became popular, President-elect Trump is making Doge great again since the announcement of his new Department of Government Efficiency.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is, I think, the Manhattan Project of our time, hopefully. We are going to take aim at the overgrown fourth branch of government and finally restore self-governance in America again, where the people we elect to run the government once again become the ones who actually run the government, and in the process, take care of massive cost overruns, massive federal spending in a way that’s really never happened in our generation.
SPEAKER 08 :
Of course, that was Vivek Ramaswamy, who, together with his fellow entrepreneur, Elon Musk, was tapped to lead the incoming administration’s new department. And already work is underway, including cooperation with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. I’ll be talking about this in just a moment with a member of that committee, Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs. And while Congress is out now for Thanksgiving week, the clock continues to tick as we head toward another December deadline, in fact, December 20th, for the funding of the federal government. So what could the budget battle look like in the three weeks that Congress is going to have to work with? Congressman Michael Cloud will be joining me a little in the program for that discussion. And it was not just a budget battle that lawmakers on the Hill were talking about this week. There was also the bathroom battle.
SPEAKER 15 :
I was asked a question this morning at the leadership gaggle, and I rejected the premise because the answer is so obvious. For anybody who doesn’t know my well-established record on this issue, let me be unequivocally clear. A man is a man, and a woman is a woman. And a man cannot become a woman.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was House Speaker Mike Johnson addressing the press on Tuesday. That was just right before he formally announced a policy that will keep men out of women’s private protected facilities, such as bathrooms and locker rooms. Well, how in the world did we get to the point that this is even a controversy? Well, I’ll discuss that later when I’m joined by Dr. Carrie Gress, who’s the author of the book, The End of Woman. And here are three words that you don’t usually hear to describe one person. Pastor, spy, assassin. But that was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose story is being told on the silver screen this weekend.
SPEAKER 09 :
Is Hitler the first evil ruler since scripture was written? No.
SPEAKER 17 :
But he’s the first one I can stop. What do you require of me? God forgive us if we do this. Will he forgive us if we don’t?
SPEAKER 08 :
That was Bonhoeffer as portrayed by actor Jonas Dessler. And I’ll be joined by one of the producers of this powerful movie a little bit later in the program. And then to close out the program today and this week, I’ll be joined by FRC’s David Claussen for our Biblical Worldview segment, discussing this week’s headlines and how we as Christians should be thinking about them. So as usual… We’ve got a lot coming your way, an absolutely packed program. If by any chance you miss any portion of it, the website is TonyPerkins.com, where you can find this edition of Washington Watch, as well as past editions as well, and of course, tons of resources available there for you as well. So be sure to bookmark that webpage, TonyPerkins.com. Also, as we prepare for the transition of leadership in Washington, we here at FRC believe that this season calls for a heightened spiritual vigilance and unity. So during this pivotal time, specifically between now and January 20th of 2025, we invite you to join us for Operation Prayer Shield. This is just a collective prayer effort. in which we’re encouraging all believers to seek God’s divine protection and guidance, not only during the transition, but as a new administration takes hold and leads our country. So if you’d like to participate, simply text the word SHIELD, S-H-I-E-L-D, SHIELD, to 67742. You’ll receive weekly alerts, you’ll receive prayer points, and much more. Again, text the word SHIELD to 67742. All right, now for our first topic for the day. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is going to have a brand new subcommittee coming into the 119th Congress. It’s one that’s going to work with the Department of Government Efficiency. That’s all part of President-elect Donald Trump’s new incoming administration. And actually, the work has already begun. It was reported this week that the chair of the new subcommittee, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, they’ve already met. And they’ve met with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and his team. And Ramaswamy was tapped, as I mentioned a while ago, to co-lead the new department together with fellow entrepreneur Elon Musk. So what will this new department tackle? How is it going to be working with Congress? There’s a lot of questions with all of this. And joining me now to discuss it is Congressman Andy Biggs. He serves on that important committee, the Oversight Committee, as well as the Judiciary Committee. He represents the 5th Congressional District of Arizona. Congressman Biggs, my friend, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thanks, Jody. Good to be with you. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. And I just want everybody to know that you and I served on oversight together. So that’s that’s important for folks to know, I think.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. And likewise, happy Thanksgiving to you. And I miss that committee. I miss serving with you and that and a host of other capacities is an extremely important committee. Let me start first, Congressman Biggs, with your overall thoughts on this new department.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I’m actually very excited about it because the focus is going to be on the fourth branch of government, which is the bureaucracy. And as you know, and as any American knows now, the federal government is so upside down big that it needs to be turned right side and made right size again. And I’ll just give you a couple of quick examples. There are more than 40,000 felonies that are rule created by the bureaucracy, not created by Congress, but by the bureaucrats. And so I’ve got a bill dealing with that. And these rules that they put out, I have a bill on this, Jody, that’s gonna go hand in hand with this Doge thing. If you actually were to set aside all the rules put in place by the Biden administration and this bureaucratic state, for the last year, the last 12 months alone, if you were to set those aside, you would save $1.7 trillion. Whoa.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s stunning. Now, that’s the kind of thing that I think the average American citizen can get excited about when we think about going after all these wasteful programs and things. That’s incredible. So how is this going to relate to specifically the Oversight Committee that now is going to have a subcommittee that evidently is going to be working hand in hand with the new federal department? What do you see as how this is going to work together, some of the goals? How are you going to work together with this new agency?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I think the Doge guys are going to try and identify programs, agencies, departments that are redundant, that are wasteful, and slip those over to the legislative branch, which is where we sit, And they’ll have hearings and introduce legislation that will decouple those wasteful programs and agencies from the federal government. And Marjorie Taylor Greene, the new chairwoman, has said that she expects to close agencies and fire people for this kind of wasteful approaches. So I think it’s going to kind of be the synergistic effect where you have one side investigating and Congress investigating, but also having to take the action that it can take through the funding processes that we control.
SPEAKER 08 :
So what are some of the agencies, when you’re talking about, she’s talking about, and we’ve heard the president, of course, specifically refer to the Department of Education. Are there some other departments specifically that you’re aware of that House Republicans might identify to be ripe for elimination?
SPEAKER 18 :
I’ve heard everything from education, EPA, certain aspects of ATF. There’s discussion about refining and breaking down like the Department of Homeland Security And by the way, some Democrats have come up to me privately and told me that they agree with this. It is so topsy and misguided or misled. It’s so big that you have to pare it down. You have to basically realign and actually pare some of this stuff down jurisdictionally and with resources and get some of this back to the states where it was always intended to be under the Constitution.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, there’s no question doing that is, as you referenced a little while ago, just with one example, going to save trillions of dollars potentially. Absolutely amazing. It’s such a feeling of it’s about time for something like this to get underway. Now, Elon Musk and Ramaswamy this week, they started outlining some of their plans to reform the federal government. And one of them that caught my attention was potentially defunding Planned Parenthood. Is there a way that we could really eliminate hundreds and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that end up in Planned Parenthood’s pocket?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, it’s called the budget, the appropriations bills. And Congress, and this is a problem, and this is why the bureaucratic straight has grown, is every time you do a continuing resolution, and you were talking about the budget fight, when you do a continuing resolution, you keep funding the same programs at the same levels and periodically there’ll be an omnibus that raises all that spending. That’s just all you just you’re kind of cruise control. The way you stop it is you actually do your appropriations bills and you say we’re not going to fund Planned Parenthood. We’re not going to fund various DEI programs or woke programs in the military or anything else that you that that will be designated by Doge or designated by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s subcommittee on oversight. Yeah, it’s through the budget process.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. Well, I tell you, this is going to be just not just fascinating. I don’t want to minimize it. This is such a critical time for Congress to step up and the new government on so many fronts. While I have your last question, I want to throw your way, Congressman Biggs. The International Criminal Court, as you well know, has issued arrest warrants for Israel Prime Minister and the defense minister and so forth. But you’ve introduced a resolution to deal with this issue. How critical is it to make clear that the U.S. does not recognize the ICC?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, it’s imperative because the ICC, when it was formed, they said when you get 40 signatories or member states, that they would interpret that to mean that there’s jurisdictional authority for all nations of the world under the ICC, which they don’t have, obviously. So they want to tax sovereignty. That’s why we have the resolution. And that’s why we have to make it crystal clear we’re not part of the ICC. We’re not going to be part of the ICC. We’re not going to give you money, and we’re not going to respect anything that you do because you’re basically, in my estimation, a totally illegitimate international institution.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more. Congressman Andy Biggs of Arizona, one of my dear friends and great heroes on Capitol Hill. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your dear family. Thank you for joining us on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thanks.
SPEAKER 08 :
Happy Thanksgiving to you and DeeDee and your family. And I hope to see you soon. Thank you so much. All right, friends, after the break, we’re going to talk about the bathroom battle on Capitol Hill and how we ever even got to this point in the first place. So stick around. Much more coming your way right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 07 :
The throne of Jesus Christ is unchallenged. His name was never on the ballot to begin with, and it’s never going to be on the ballot. He’s the King of Kings, and he’s the Lord of Lords, and nothing’s going to change that. And so our mission stays the same. Preach the gospel, make disciples, get ready for heaven. In the meantime, that we’re to advance the concerns of the kingdom of God here on earth.
SPEAKER 06 :
America has entered a critical and vulnerable period from now until January the 20th. Join Family Research Council for Operation Prayer Shield, a 10-week prayer initiative for our nation. From now until January 20th, our country faces global challenges, a transition of leadership, and a lame duck session of Congress. This season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance, discernment, and prayer. Text the word SHIELD to 67742 to join us. You’ll have access to prayer points, scripture, prayer calls. Text SHIELD to 67742. Unite with us and pray for our nation.
SPEAKER 13 :
Let’s not be discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let’s stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
SPEAKER 16 :
the american republic has a freedom like no other it has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage and if we as followers of jesus and conservatives don’t defend it who will
SPEAKER 01 :
Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don’t say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You’re naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
SPEAKER 02 :
Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we’ve relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource. And we’ve relied too little on the power of God and God’s ability to open doors that we can’t open and do things that we couldn’t even hope to begin to do.
SPEAKER 14 :
This may not be an easy task. But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that his spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to have it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you. I am your Friday host, Jody Heiss. An honor to have you with us today. All right. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced this week that all single sex facilities in the Capitol and the House office buildings are going to be reserved for individuals of that biological sex. The announcement on Wednesday was made after South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to ban biological men from using women’s private protected facilities, such as bathrooms and locker rooms, all on federal property. Well, although Mace had before then been considered an LGBT ally, her latest move has supporters of the movement now labeling her as anti-trans. Or should we be surprised at all by that? And how in the world did we even get to this point? That’s probably the bigger question. Well, joining me now to discuss this is Dr. Keri Grist. She’s the founder and co-editor of the online women’s magazine, Theology of Home. And she’s also the author of nearly a dozen books, including her latest, The End of Woman, How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us. Dr. Grist, welcome to Washington Watch. It’s an honor to have you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh, thanks so much for having me. It’s great to be here.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. So let’s let’s begin with your take on the bathroom battle that we’re seeing waged on the nation’s capital.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s really amazing that Nancy Mace was so brave to stand up for that and really stood firm on it. And the fact that Speaker Johnson has instituted only biological men and women can be in appropriate bathrooms. I think that is a huge win for us to start pushing back on the trans craziness that we face. are certainly dealing with. I know, as a mother, this is obviously a concern in places like Target and, you know, thinking about sports and whatnot. So, I think it feels like a really great step in the right direction.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, trans craziness, I think, is a great description of it. I’ve been there myself in some of the hearings that have taken place and have just literally been stunned with some of the answers that I’ve heard. So let me ask you, among some of the answers that I personally have heard and many others in some of these hearings, why are people so afraid to say what a woman is?
SPEAKER 10 :
I know, it’s crazy that we’re having this conversation that we can’t answer that question. The answer is actually, fortunately, it’s been growing for about 200 years. I think it really resides with the notion of feminism. I think we’ve thought of feminism as something that’s been very good for women, but unfortunately, feminism has really promoted this idea of women being independent from husbands and from children and really making work the goal and the ideal for women’s lives. And so we’ve been groomed, you know, and I think that’s actually the right word for the last 50 years, being told that we’re going to be happiest if we act like men and not good men. So this has really pushed women to think of themselves in these male contexts. But what we’ve lost really is this sense of motherhood. And we can see that in the birth rates today. We can see that certainly in the abortion issue. So the push has been to really get women to think and behave more like men. And so from there, it’s the very natural step then to start just changing things biologically on a different level, you know, start chopping off body parts and injecting hormones to live with this myth that somehow we can actually entirely change our genders.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, that’s amazing. Would you bring up some timeframes there that I don’t think most people are aware of? This battle, according to what you were just saying, this has been going on for a long, long time. So let’s hit on that. Latest book, The End of Woman, you talk about this whole issue of without feminism, we would not even be where we are right now in this current situation. So explain some of that to us. How did we get to the point that we are now literally erasing women?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, no, I think that’s a great question. I was really startled to discover in my research that first-wave feminism actually had a lot more to do with this problem than we realized, because first-wavers really thought that the problem was Christianity, the family, and motherhood. And if we could just get rid of these things, then we would open up women to something entirely new and wonderful that we couldn’t even describe because we’ve been so sequestered, if you will, in those institutions. And so… That’s really where it started. And then in the 1900s, you started seeing a connection with communism. So you take these radical ideas of the early feminists and then you add communism, which is really focused on work and the worker and not on certainly not on fertility, not on the family, not on Christianity. And all of those things kind of came together. And Betty Friedan, I think, is probably the best example of that. changing the narrative, where she—you know, she actually called the home a comfortable concentration camp and really encouraged women in any way possible to get out and do productive work. And, you know, my research also really revealed how much of a communist Ferdinand was. She was a closet communist, but she was absolutely focused on trying to get women out of the home and doing productive work, so there could be this communist revolution that So many, you know, we’re focused on that effort we’re trying to push for. So it’s remarkable when you start seeing a history, but then it sort of starts making sense of how it is that the push then suddenly, when you open up this idea that sex doesn’t mean anything, monogamy doesn’t mean anything, children are an obstacle to us. then you really just create these people who are genderless, that are disconnected from their fertility. And therefore, it’s very easy to sort of create new genders and enter into this bizarre world where it seems like every day there’s a new gender that we need to sort of add to the flag.
SPEAKER 08 :
Totally bizarre world. So tell me how, because I have some people ask this from time to time, how does feminism in the LGBT agenda work against biological women and obviously against a biblical understanding of womanhood?
SPEAKER 10 :
Sure. Well, as you mentioned before, you know, we would not have ended up with LGBT and wokeness without feminism because feminism really latched on to this idea of the Marxist idea that there’s an oppressor and the oppressed. And instead of it making a class society, class warfare like Marx saw, the feminists were able to leverage that male and female. So men are automatically oppressors. women are the victors or the victims rather and so what happened then when the lgbt movement started to to get a foothold is they started articulating their cause as that of victimhood along with the same way that women So even though no one had actually been doing oppressing or was oppressed, that was the response. And so that’s how we got to the LGTB being this sort of privileged minority. And then, you know, adding on to it just keeps getting pushed. You know, the window keeps getting bigger, the Overton window of making more and more radical ideas getting pushed out into the public discourse.
SPEAKER 08 :
Dr. Keri Grass, thank you so much. This is fascinating information. I want to encourage everyone to get a copy of your book, your latest book, The End of Woman. Thank you so much for the incredible work you’ve done, and thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 10 :
My pleasure.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thanks so much for having me. All right, friends, coming up next, I’ll be talking about a movie that you’re gonna wanna see. It tells us true story of a man who is described with words that typically you don’t see together. Pastor, spy, assassin. We’ll stick around to hear more. We’ll be back in just a moment.
SPEAKER 09 :
All of us are born with the desire to find truth and meaning. Where did I come from? What happens when I die? While our answers to these questions may divide us, we are united in our need for the freedom to answer life’s biggest questions and make life’s biggest decisions for ourselves. That’s why religious freedom matters for everyone. Religious freedom matters because the powerful have long wanted to control those who are less powerful. Religious freedom matters because the freedom of those who are different is often threatened by those who believe different is dangerous. Leah Sharibu, a Christian teenager in Nigeria, remains a captive of Boko Haram for her refusal to renounce her Christian faith. Chinese pastor Wang Yi is serving a nine-year sentence for speaking publicly against the Chinese government. In Pakistan, Asif Pervez is on death row for allegedly sending a blasphemous text message. All of this because people in power decided different is dangerous. at the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council. We promote religious freedom for everyone because the only alternative is religious freedom for no one. We encourage Americans and the American government to engage and advocate for the persecuted. And they do. We work every day to bring good news to the afflicted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. We do it because that’s what Jesus does. We work to give freedom to others because we ourselves have been set free.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host Jody Heist. Welcome aboard. All right. Over the years, we’ve had lots of different guests bearing many different titles here on Washington Watch. We’ve had senators and representatives, governors. generals, pastors, doctors, and a host of others, just to name a few. And while my next guest doesn’t have these titles in his bio, the titular character of the movie that he’s talking about certainly does. Words like spy, pastor, assassin. Well, I’m not sure exactly when it came out. I know my daughter and her husband watched this movie last night and she was immediately calling me saying, dad, you have got to go see this. So I can’t wait to see it. It’s the movie Bonhoeffer. It’s based on the true story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pacifist German pastor who risked his faith, his family, his life, all in a plot to try to assassinate Hitler back in 1944. And here to talk about the movie is one of his producers, John Scanlon. John, welcome to Washington Watch. It’s great to have you.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thank you, Jody. It’s a pleasure to be with you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this movie. I’ve read the books. I’ve read so much about Bonhoeffer. Give us the 30,000 view. Tell us about the movie.
SPEAKER 12 :
The movie is a beautiful production by top Hollywood talent about an amazing story. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man very much of and for his time. He was a brilliant theologian who became, as you mentioned, a spy and later joined an assassination plot. But in the interim and over the course of his professional life, opposed Hitler and the Nazis. and frequently around the world on behalf of its victims. Very much an inspiring character and someone that will make you come out of the movie wishing that you could be a better version of yourself.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, that is precisely what my daughter was saying last night. Just powerful. She was stunned with it all. I don’t know if you can do this. It may be a totally unfair question. If so, just tell me. I’ll totally get it. But did you have a favorite scene from the movie as you as you just kind of think about it?
SPEAKER 12 :
I was just telling my wife the other day, every time I see this movie, I think I have a new favorite scene. There’s so many great scenes in here. I personally, the one that comes to mind now as we talk is, there’s a wonderful scene where Pastor Nemo, who is Bonhoeffer’s superior in the church, and initially resists desire to oppose publicly A very famous sermon in which his, and I said nothing because I was not a socialist, he gives that, those remarks in his homily. Of course, it goes on to conclude, and when they come for me, will there be anyone left to speak out? It’s just a beautiful scene and has the trademark direction of Todd Komernicki, wonderful acting by August Diehl, beautiful cinematography by John Matheson, who’s a Hollywood legend. It’s just absolute masterpiece cinema.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. I have shared that quote hundreds of times. It is a powerful quote. And to think of the possibility of seeing it within context is powerful. What was the experience like in filming a movie like this that you know is true, is real? What was that experience like?
SPEAKER 12 :
Every day on set was just miraculous almost. We pulled together a team of some of the best and brightest in entertainment. I mentioned John Matheson, who’s our amazing cinematographer, who did the Gladiator movies and so many other Ridley Scott films, other films by top directors. We had close to 800 crew. and over a thousand extras on this movie so as you can imagine the set was I was like like a small town but I can tell you that the experience every day are being on set was was deeply spiritual and and you know people in the entertainment industry aren’t famous for for being regular churchgoers. But I think everyone on set, I talked to so many cast and crew who came up to us as producers and said, thank you for doing this. It’s an amazing story. We’re so inspired and touched by Bonhoeffer’s journey. And we’re so glad to be a part of this experience of bringing his life to the big screen. So it was amazing.
SPEAKER 08 :
Of course, this movie is coming out as we’ve all been watching across the country, a rise of anti-Semitism since the October 7th attack on Israel last year. But I’ve heard that there’s been some amazing eye-opening comments on social media ahead of the film’s release. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
SPEAKER 12 :
Sure. I would say that Bonhoeffer’s life is so rich in his writings. He wrote so many wonderful works, other amazing theological works. He was a very prolific author. And, of course, his experience in Harlem, in the United States, his experience in Germany, traveling around the world, all changed him and influenced his thinking. So the Bonhoeffer that we bring to the screen is complex. He’s a man of action as well as a man of thought and words. And I think there are a lot of people who would like to try to own Bonhoeffer for their own purposes. I think that he can be an inspiration who’s facing evil and being called. I would encourage anybody of any outlook, any, and I guarantee you they’ll find something in this film to inspire and encourage them. And that’s what we’re hoping for everyone in the audience.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I cannot wait to see the movie. I want to encourage everyone watching and listening right now, go out and watch Bonhoeffer. This is going to be one of the most powerful films you have ever seen. And I am so honored. And I say thank you, John Scanlon, one of the producers of Bonhoeffer, for joining us today on Washington Watch. Greatly appreciate it.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thank you so much, Jody. It’s been a privilege.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Okay, friends, go see the movie. It’s out right now. Go watch it. And after the break, I’m going to be joined by Texas Congressman Michael Cloud. We’ll be talking about the government funding fight that Congress is going to be returning to after Thanksgiving. Then we’ll wrap up the week with our biblical worldview segment with David Claussen. So stick around. We’ve got much more coming your way here on Washington Watch in just a moment.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But you know, the Bible talks about four institutions of government. You know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this saying separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 17 :
Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It’s true that all ideas have consequences, but we’re less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life’s biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you. Thank you for joining us today. Again, I want to encourage you to join us for Operation Prayer Shield. Again, this is a collective prayer effort in which we’re earnestly seeking God’s protection and guidance as we prepare for the upcoming transition of leadership that’s going to be taking place in Washington, D.C. and our entire nation. And we Here at FRC, we believe that this season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance and unity. So we’re praying and we’re asking you to join us. You can do so by simply texting the word SHIELD, S-H-I-E-L-D, SHIELD to 67742. Come on and join us. Let’s pray for our country and this transition. Well, Congress, as you know, is out and they’re not going to be coming back until the first week of December after Thanksgiving. But when the lawmakers return, they’ll have just three weeks before the December 20th government funding deadline. And so where do things stand right now? And how might the funding battle unfold as we approach December 20th? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Congressman Michael Cloud. He serves on the Appropriations Committee that has all the details and the answers to the questions we’re seeking. He also serves on the Oversight and Accountability Committee. He represents the 27th Congressional District of Texas. Congressman Cloud, welcome back to Washington Watch, my friend. Always great to see you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, great to see you too. It’s awesome to see you, Jody, again, and appreciate all the work that you’re doing. And of course, it certainly is a time for prayer for our nation.
SPEAKER 08 :
It really is. And you know that. Michael’s one of our… representatives who also served in ministry prior to going to Congress and still is serving in ministry while in Congress. So thank you for that. All right. Let’s looking at the budget battle that is about to take place. Let’s just start with there’s a lot of push pull taking place. What are some of the options that are on the table? Let’s maybe start with what do the Democrats want?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the Democrats would certainly love a big, huge omnibus again. They’d love to be able to cram a lot of policy that would tie the hands of a Trump administration that’s coming in that would keep him from doing all the things that he just got elected with a huge mandate to do. And so it’s going to be important for us to, step one, make sure we do not go down the omnibus road. And so Speaker Johnson’s has come out and said that an omnibus is going to be a non-starter, so that’s a good first step. We also need to make sure that sometimes in the past we’ve seen where that omnibus gets just broken into two different boats, and they call it a minibus, for example. And of course, the omnibus, for viewers who who haven’t heard that term before. It’s just basically we’re supposed to pass 12 spending bills that fund different sections of the government and too often it’s been the norm where that gets thrown into one big pot. It will have a CR that gets passed in September 30th that kind of kicks the can down the road to Christmas and then Christmas Eve or very close to then, they pass this massive bill that no one’s had a chance to read. And it’s especially dangerous, again, in this particular situation where you have a lame duck Congress who would potentially try to tie the hands of the incoming president. So that’s step number one is we’ve got to avoid that.
SPEAKER 08 :
So what about on the other side of the aisle? What about Republicans? What are some of the options that they’re debating?
SPEAKER 03 :
There’s a few different options. Obviously, the best thing we could do is if we were to pass those appropriation bills, just take them to the floor, send them to the Senate, work the process like it’s supposed to be worked. You kind of toward the end of the term start to run into a clock management issue. And so some of the options on the table at this point are, one, first of all, the government funding runs out on December 20th. And so the question is, is do we do something before then? Can we do something before then? Can we get to an agreement between the House and Senate? If not, do we go into a shutdown for two weeks over Christmas and then Congress addresses this first thing when we come back in January? If not, there’s a the option of a CR, which continuing resolution, which would continue current funding just for a couple of months to let the president get in, get sworn in. And whether that’s three months, nine months, there’s some debate over the timing of that based on a number of the other things that need to happen those first hundred days and the like. So that’s kind of where the discussion is right now on a lot of these things. And then there’s other things that people are looking at that need to happen potentially in this lame duck session from disaster bills to helping farmers to other things that are on the table, so to speak, that could get thrown into this or could be separated. All that’s very in flux at the moment.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, there’s no doubt the omnibus thing, omnibus, minibus, any kind of bus this time of year when it comes to budget issues in Washington is a frightful thing. What are you hearing from most of your colleagues? Does the CR seem to be the most favorable option?
SPEAKER 03 :
That seems to be where the discussion is headed, that some sort of CR. The question is, what do you do with that? I’d like to see us attach something to it, like the SAVE Act that would clean up our elections and send that over and try to get a win for the American people right off the bat with this. They gave the president a very clear mandate. that people have spoken very clearly on what they want to see out of Washington, and they don’t want to see status quo. And one of the things we know is we’ve got to clean up our elections. I mean, they’re still counting in California right now. And for 200 years, we didn’t have this issue. And suddenly, with all the technology available at our disposal, we’ve forgotten how to count, it seems. So this kind of stuff, we’ve got to clean up. I’d like to see that attached to a CR and sent over. But we’ll see if that happens or not.
SPEAKER 08 :
Real quickly, and I’ve got to go. I’ve got another guest waiting. But real quickly, you yesterday, your dismantled DEI act passed out of the oversight committee on a party line vote, I might add. But real quickly, tell us about that. What would it do?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the dismantle DEI act basically would tackle all these initiatives we’ve seen stood up in the Biden administration to advance DEI. And of course, if you know DEI, diversity, equity, inclusion, those are three words that sound great, but when implemented into the policy by the Biden administration have been very devastating, even toward the stated goals that they claim to espouse. And basically institutes discrimination in the name of getting rid of discrimination into our government. to where people, when they’re applying for an office, for example, or trying to get a job with the federal government, where race and sex and all these different things become the first and primary determinant as opposed to merit and your qualifications and have you done a good job and what’s your work ethic like? Are you qualified to do the job? In some cases, this has actually led to dangerous situations where there’s a safety issue. And you have a question of competency in an area where people’s lives are at stake. And so this is a very dangerous ideology that the Biden administration has kind of force-fed on the American people through, first of all, standing up a DEI office in virtually every single agency. HHS is spending, they have about 300 employees in this endeavor, and they’re spending close to $40 million on this. And it’s not producing anything for the American people. So it’s a weight on the American people. So you have that And then they would try to get it through the grant writing and then the contracting process as well to force feed this through businesses, to require businesses to embrace this sort of ideology and to force it upon their employees or NGOs, for example, who are getting grants through the government. And so these are the main three areas that this bill tackles. It goes throughout the federal government, gets rid of those offices, prohibits that in the contracting and the grant writing process. It really gets us back to what we’ve known to be the American principle that are found in our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence, where we’re looking at merit, we’re looking at people’s character, not the color of their skin.
SPEAKER 08 :
Awesome. Congressman Michael Cloud, great, great leader on Capitol Hill and for the kingdom. Thank you for joining us. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your dear family.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, thank you. God bless you.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, friends, I like to switch gears a little bit now and turn to our weekly worldview segment. As you know, there’s been a lot in the news this week. And as Christians, we want to try to analyze and evaluate the week’s headlines through the lens of a biblical worldview. And that’s why I like to conclude the Friday broadcast with a biblical worldview segment. And so joining me now for this is David Claussen. He’s the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at the Family Research Council. David, thank you again so much for joining us. Always great to have you on the friday program great to be with you jaredy all right listen let’s jump right into this a little while ago i don’t know if you heard but we were talking about the so-called bathroom battle that’s taking place on capitol hill and garnered a lot of media attention this week and of course without a doubt the issue of transgenderism has taken america by storm over the last few years but for christians who are following the story how should we think about this biblically
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, Jody, so for just anyone who might not be aware of what we’re talking about, you know, just a couple weeks ago, Delaware elected the first person who identifies as transgender to Congress. So this person identifies as Sarah McBride. This is a biological male who has socially transitioned to present as a woman. And because of this situation that’s looming, Jody, you have representatives such as Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who have kind of rightfully drawn a lot of attention to this. And I think, Jody, as Christians, we need to—the politics is really important, and I’m grateful for the speaker’s leadership on this. But as Christians, we first and foremost realize this issue goes to the level of ontology, of being. This is an issue of the created order. And this isn’t something we’re not used to talking about. We’ve been talking about this issue in terms of bathrooms and in terms of surgeries and in terms of sports teams. But the moral revolution has now come to Washington, D.C. And I do hope that as Christians are paying attention to this, we realize this is an issue. As Christians, we speak the truth in love, Ephesians 4.15. But this is an issue we cannot compromise on because, again, this is an issue literally related to the created order, male and female. It doesn’t get any more basic than this.
SPEAKER 08 :
And as you said, and I think it’s important to make sure our audience heard this, that you said this individual has socially transitioned. So this is still a biological male who’s just identifying as female. Is that correct?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and that’s right. And I think we need to just be really clear. Mike Johnson said it earlier this week. You cannot change your sex. It’s impossible. The entire house of transgenderism is a house of cards that scientifically, biologically, there is actually no basis for this. And I think, again… We as Christians believe all people are made in God’s image, have value and dignity. So this individual who goes by Sarah McBride deserves our prayers. They deserve our respect. But we cannot go along with something that is fundamentally an untruth.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, prayers and respect is vastly different from affirmation. So very good point. If I can switch gears with you, David, we’ve talked a lot over and over about the importance of worldview as it relates to every area of life, but in particular politics. And an example of one’s worldview driving their politics appeared earlier this week when President Biden honored former Planned Parenthood leader Cecile Richards with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That probably shocked a lot of people. What was your response to that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, if that’s the criteria of earning our highest civilian award, Jody, I think maybe the people who give out the Nobel Peace Prize should think about giving it to Yahya Senwar, the leader of Hamas. It doesn’t make any sense. You know, the people who have previously earned this award, the highest civilian award, you know, given by the president is people like Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Graham, Jackie Robinson, you know, our nation’s best. Cecile Richards, if you’re not familiar, this was the leader of Planned Parenthood for 12 years. Under her watch at Planned Parenthood, four million babies were aborted, were butchered. And so—but, again, this shows the priorities. Again, worldview—from worldview flows policies, flows decisions, flows a whole system of ethics. And in the eyes of the Biden-Harris administration, Cecile Richards is someone who is worthy of honor and respect. And again, this is someone who’s actually recently been dealing with cancer, a pretty aggressive diagnosis. So again, as Christians, we should pray for Ms. Richards. But we don’t honor someone like this, in my view, who, again, her professional career was advancing abortion on demand, advancing Again, just the Holocaust for the unborn. Wow.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, David, just a couple of minutes left, but one more issue that I’d like to toss your way. This week, Chuck Schumer has confirmed several of the Biden nominees to lifetime appointments to the federal bench. So this whole issue of judges, the issue of courts, why is this so important to Christians and where is this a biblically based important issue?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I think, yeah, Christians need to look at this issue and understand this is kind of civics 101. You know, we have the three branches of government. We have the executive, which is the president. We have the legislative branch, the House and the Senate. And then we have the judicial branch. Underneath the Supreme Court, you know, you have all these other levels. You have the appellate level and you have the district level. When you are appointed, the president appoints you judges to serve, these are lifetime appointments. People who are appointed by Ronald Reagan are still serving in these lifetime capacities. And they make decisions, Jody, on issues related to family and religious freedom. There’s a case before the Supreme Court originating from Tennessee dealing with these transgender surgeries for minor children. And so, again, I take it back to as Christians, we love our neighbor. We want to be good stewards of everything that God has given us. And so we care about the government, we care about the legislative process, and we care who serves on the judicial branch. I did see recently, Jody, earlier this week, that they made a compromise. They’re going to get, I think, six or seven district-level judges, but they won’t schedule a vote for four appellate-level judgeships that will be open for the incoming administration, which I think that’s probably a good negotiated settlement or agreement. But again, all of this MATTERS, JODY, BECAUSE PEOPLE MATTER. AND IT’S IMPORTANT FOR US TO BE TRACKING ALL OF THIS AND PAYING ATTENTION.
SPEAKER 08 :
AND JUSTICE MATTERS. AND LADY JUSTICE CONTINUING TO BE BLINDFOLDED MATTERS. AND ALL OF THAT RESTS UPON THE APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES. THANK YOU, DAVID CLAUSEN, DIRECTOR OF FRC CENTER FOR BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW. I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO THIS TIME ON FRIDAY AFTERNOONS TO SPEAK WITH YOU AND TO KIND OF GET A WRAP. from a biblical perspective on all the issues happening in the news. Thanks for joining us. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, and we look forward to your new little baby on the way. Thank you, Jerry. God bless. God bless you. All right, friends, that wraps up this week and this edition. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you next week on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 11 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family, and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
