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On today’s program: Erin Houchin, U.S. Representative for Indiana’s 9th district, recaps Thursday’s vote on President Trump’s spending cuts package and talks about the surprisingly low inflation numbers. Chris Mitchell, Middle East Bureau Chief
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From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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Look, there’s a chance of massive conflict. We have a lot of American people in this area. And I said, we got to tell them to get out because something could happen soon. And I don’t want to be the one that didn’t give any warning and missiles are flying into their buildings. It’s possible. So I had to do it.
SPEAKER 11 :
I was President Donald Trump earlier today responding to a question about his warning to Americans to leave parts of the Middle East as nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran have failed to reach an agreement. Welcome to this June 12th edition of Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins. Thanks for tuning in. CBN’s Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell will join us from Israel with what could be next for Iran.
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We’re cutting waste, fraud and abuse. billions of dollars going to Canadian Lesbian Justice Foundation and transgender sex worker networks in Nepal and a whole list of things. I would say that among the definition of things that we could do to eliminate those programs would be the definition of saving the American taxpayer money.
SPEAKER 11 :
That was Florida Congressman Brian Mast, who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was speaking on the House floor earlier today in support of a $9.4 billion rescission package aimed at cutting wasteful federal spending. The House narrowly passed the first of what Republicans hope will be several such bills by 214 to 212. We’ll talk about it with Indiana Congresswoman Erin Halchen, who is the secretary of the House Republican Conference. And the House, as the House moves on the spending reductions bill, the Senate is grappling with advancing the one big beautiful bill as several GOP senators want to put their imprint on it. We’re going to get an update from Texas Senator John Cornyn a little bit later in the program. Also, we’ll break down some of the week’s biggest stories with Suzanne Bowdy, Editorial Director of The Washington Stand, and Travis Weber, FRC’s Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs. Before we go to our first guest, just a quick reminder that Washington Watch is a production of the Family Research Council and made possible only through the generous support of patriots like you. We receive no government funding and are not underwritten by advertisers. It all comes from you. So as we approach the end of our fiscal year from now until June the 30th, you can stand with us both in your prayers and your financial support. In fact, your gift can go twice as far thanks to a $1.5 million challenge match. This opportunity is only available for a limited time, so don’t miss it. To stand with us, just text the word FAMILY Family to 67742. That’s Family to 67742. And stand with us as we stand for you here in our nation’s capital. Well, as I mentioned, the rescissions package, which aims to cut back specific areas of federal funding, just barely passed the House earlier today by a vote of 214 to 212. Prior to the vote, the package was hotly debated as Republicans and Democrats sparred over the various cuts that would be made. So what can we take away from today’s vote? Is there enough momentum to get another vote? Rescissions bill through. Well, here to talk about that and more, Congresswoman Erin Houchen. She serves on the House Budget and Rules Committee. She is also Secretary of the House Republican Conference. She represents the 9th Congressional District of Indiana. Congresswoman Houchen, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thanks for having me, Tony. Great to be with you.
SPEAKER 11 :
So a big victory today. I mean, this is something that the American people have been looking for. This is codifying some of the cuts that were identified by Doge.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, it was really it’s incredible, Tony. Every time the media counts us out, says something can’t be done, we prove them wrong. We did it again today when we passed this first of what we hope to be many rescissions packages across the House floor. Speaker Johnson’s leadership continues to surpass expectations and getting the job done. A couple of things in this rescissions package that are of note. The American people do want to rid waste, fraud and abuse. It’s exactly what Elon Musk and his Doge team found in the wastefulness of USAID, of NPR and PBS. I noted that you mentioned that you do not receive any public funds. NPR and PBS, as we know, have received federal funds. I did a quick analysis in the Rules Committee just a few nights ago. of the coverage of stories, whether they were positive or negative for Donald Trump or Joe Biden, overwhelmingly positive for Joe Biden, of course, overwhelmingly negative for Donald Trump, those are your federal tax dollars going to a quote-unquote news source that is explicitly biased. not to mention all of the terrible things, as we heard Brian Mass, the chairman of Foreign Affairs, talk about happening with USAID funds for funding drag shows and DEI and other woke ideology projects, not just overseas, but in the United States.
SPEAKER 11 :
Those are the most egregious to me. That was $8.3 billion of this package. So the lion’s share was USAID funding. This is supposed to be funds that help advance America’s priorities abroad and help countries. It’s hard to… Wrap your mind around how promoting drag shows and the LGBTQ agenda and even abortion in some cases, how that is advancing American values.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, it’s not advancing American values. It’s advancing far-left values. This is happening in countries that have laws against some of the things that were being promoted by USAID. Originally, USAID was intended to promote democracy. And this is not something that the American taxpayer wants to be spending money on. certainly not those of specific religious backgrounds who don’t support their tax dollars going to things like abortion. And so that’s why we have the Hyde Amendment to begin with, to protect those tax dollars from funding abortion against our own conscience. And here we have had USAID taking these funds and doing things that not only are not supported by a majority of the American people, but but actually in some cases could be illegal or at a minimum not supported by people in the countries where USAID was operating.
SPEAKER 11 :
Very frequently the case. And I think the agenda here that the left has been doing, and they’ve done it pretty much unchecked, is a little more malicious in that the State Department, you know, they talk about D.C. being a swamp. Well, that literally is in the swamp. that pushing this stuff out through our foreign policy is kind of going through the back door. A lot of this stuff then goes to the United Nations and that becomes a cesspool for all these leftist ideas. And then they use that as trying to create leverage for us to change our laws. Oftentimes you hear reference to international law or what Europe might be doing. And a lot of that has been seeded through our own State Department and our own dollars.
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s absolutely right. And it comes back to us. These are things that are pushed in other countries by our own tax dollars and then turned around and used as examples of what we should be doing here. It’s really disturbing. In fact, you know, under President Biden, the Treasury was just whatever invoices they got, they paid. There was very little consideration or oversight there. I’m so grateful to the Doge Committee to look at some of the things that were egregiously wrong, egregiously wasteful, fraudulent and abusive, and glad that we passed this rescissions package today so that we can begin to restore sanity and fiscal responsibility within our systems of government.
SPEAKER 11 :
So, Aaron, you said you were hoping this is the GOP is hoping this is the first of many. What else can we be looking toward? I know this is it’s instigated by the White House. The administration sends this to Congress. Congress has 45 days to act upon it. But any I’m assuming there’s discussion about what might be next.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, and within every federal agency, Tony, the DOJ committee has found wastefulness, fraud and abuse. What we are currently working on and what the speaker has been working on is trying to take those one by one and whatever the DOJ folks found and take them one by one to substantiate those see where and how much we can find savings and then proceed to putting those into legislation, into a rescissions package. So I can’t speak to what’s next. I can just tell you that it is rampant within every agency under the Biden administration. We had ongoing waste, fraud and abuse that was unchecked and untouched. And we are going to begin to target it one by one as we substantiate it and can put an amount to it and pull it back.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, I mentioned that the debate on this was pretty intense. I’m just curious, what were the major complaints by your Democratic colleagues against the passage of this bill?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, one of the main things we heard was that we were defunding Big Bird when Sesame Street is now operated under, I believe, the HBO family. And so it’s not really part of public television. There are many ways to get free educational programs now that maybe weren’t available before. So the fact that we are cutting some funding for PBS and cutting some funding for NPR is Those were big points of contention. But NPR, make no mistake, is a political arm of the Democrat Party funded by your tax dollars. So, for me, it was a no-brainer to fund, to vote on this rescissions bill, which takes away that funding for people, for this news platform that deliberately writes stories that are anti-conservative, anti-Republican and pro-progressive, pro-Democrat.
SPEAKER 11 :
It does not take away their platform. It just says we’re not going to pay for it. I mean, it puts everything on a level playing field. As I said earlier, we receive no government money, not looking for them to underwrite us. And we shouldn’t have to underwrite competing organizations that provide news from an opposite perspective. perspective in other news aaron inflation numbers for this month were slightly lower than some economists had expected now many were saying that because of the the difficulty over the tariffs that we were going to see uh rising inflation but that was not the case
SPEAKER 14 :
No, not at all. The consumer price index is up. Inflation is trending in the right direction. The Democrats keep talking about how President Trump has not curbed inflation yet. But still today, we see that it is trending in the right direction, even despite some of the rhetoric that they’ve tried to push out on Trump’s tariffs. What President Trump is trying to do with the tariff plan is to have a freer and fairer trade system for American companies. It is absolutely America first. And this is proof that this is working. It will result in on-shoring and making a renaissance, a golden age of manufacturing in America, in my state, in Indiana. We are trying to turn this country from a consumption country back to a production country with President Trump’s leadership, and the numbers today really are a great indicator that we are on the right track.
SPEAKER 11 :
What can we expect ahead in Congress? I mean, this has been a couple pretty significant weeks. Of course, you were out last week, but we got the reconciliation bill over in the Senate, the first rescission bill. What’s next on the agenda?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, we have to get this one big, beautiful bill across the finish line and passed. I expect that we will get something back from the Senate and have decisions to make on the House side on where we stand with the bill to hopefully have all of this wrapped up by July 4. I can tell you, if we don’t pass the one big, beautiful bill as we passed it out of the House with a few changes, hopefully only a few changes in the Senate, what we don’t want to do, failure is not an option. We cannot raise taxes on every American. The highest tax increase we will ever see if we had if we don’t pass this one big, beautiful bill. Our emphasis is on getting the job done. And we are going to be hyper focused on that. But we are not we are not in a vacuum here. We can multitask, which is why you saw us pass bills on halting fentanyl this week, on cracking down on illegal immigration. Lots to do here in Washington. But we are in for the fight.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, Congresswoman Erin Houchen, thanks so much for joining us today. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, we’re going to get an update from the Senate and see how things are progressing over there a little bit later. John Corner from Texas, Senator, is going to be joining us. But next, we’re going to go to Israel, and we’re going to talk with Chris Mitchell. So don’t go away.
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Hi, everyone. This is Pastor Jay Johnston, National Prayer Director with the Family Research Council. I want to invite you to join our 21-day Family Bible Challenge as we read through the book of Matthew. This is an opportunity for you and for your family to come together for 15 minutes a day to read God’s Word together. Deuteronomy 6 says, these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. and press them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Seek the Word of God, obey the Word of God, share the Word of God so that you and others might know the joy of walking with God now and for all eternity. As your family gathers to read the Bible, invite the Holy Spirit to work in your life to spiritually transform each one of you. Ask the Lord to show you creative ways for you to connect with your family to read God’s Word together. I pray that however God uses this challenge in your life and those that you join together with will be a blessing to you and strengthen you as you read the Gospel of Matthew together. Visit FRC.org slash Family Bible Challenge for more information.
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In a time when Washington seems clouded by compromise, a bold group of lawmakers are standing firm in defense of the values which our nation was built upon. At FRC Actions 100% Awards, 171 members of Congress were honored for voting 100% in line with policies that promote faith, family, and freedom.
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Faith and family made our country, it’s the foundation that made our country not only great, but good.
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The values that make America, faith, family, hard work, personal responsibility. I mean, that to me is the heart of FRC and grateful for everything that they do.
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It’s very important for us to have organizations such as FRC. First of all, I think it keeps us grounded. In addition to which, the issues that you champion are issues that we should all be championing.
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FRC is very, very good at honing in on those things that really affect Christians’ lives. Also, working with members of Congress, too, to make sure that those values are instilled in the legislation that we create.
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Having the Family Research Council to guide us is critically important to being able to do the right thing consistently.
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These lawmakers have drawn the line, not just in policy, but in principle. This is more than politics. This is conviction in action. Visit frcaction.org for more information on how you too can make a difference.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. All right, we are into our 21 days of reading through the book of Matthew. It’s our 21-day family Bible challenge. Still time to get into the challenge. 21 days, we’re just a couple of days into it, If you’d like to lead your family into the book of Matthew and the journey of Jesus, strengthening the spiritual foundation of your family, well, just text to Matthew to 67742. That’s Matthew to 67742. I’ll send you a link. You can look at all the resources we put together to make this easy for you. We’ve got discussion guides, we’ve got family activities, we’ve got coloring pages for the kids. The main thing is we need more Americans, more followers of Christ to be in the Word of God, to strengthen us, to give us an understanding of the times in which we live and how to respond to those times. Speaking of that, so the reports over the past day suggest that Israel is now considering an attack on Iran. And the threats appear to be serious enough that the U.S. is withdrawing some diplomats and military families from Iraq. The U.S. negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program have slowed to the point where President Trump expressed frustration with the lack of a deal. And the U.S. previously asked Israel to refrain from attacking as negotiations continued. But that could be changing. Joining us now from Jerusalem is Chris Mitchell. He’s the Middle East Bureau Chief at CBN News. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for staying up late and being a part of the program. Great to be with you again, Tony. All right. Things are changing. We’ve been in weeks, week after week after week of negotiations that have led nowhere. And it now appears that time has run out.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s exactly right, Tony. And it seems like the patience of the president has run out. His deadlines are passing, his two months deadline as well. Iran seems intransigent about the ability to enrich uranium. And the White House and President Trump are just as adamant that they cannot enrich uranium, which the only purpose for that is to a nuclear weapon. Now the IAEA says, Iran has maybe enough enriched uranium if they go from 60 to military grade at 90% for 10 nuclear bombs. And they also voted, the IAEA this week, that Iran is noncompliant for the first time in 20 years. And then Iran says they will build a nuclear facility in an undisclosed location. So all the things we’re hearing, Tony, it feels like what Iran is doing, what the U.S. is doing by pulling out non-essential personnel, reports about Israel being ready to strike, all seem to indicate that maybe the time for negotiations is over and military action may be right on the verge of happening.
SPEAKER 11 :
Chris Mitchell, I was talking with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who tracks the issue very closely with Iran and Israel. And he said, look, we didn’t listen when Hitler was making all the noise in the 1930s. We just kind of passed him off as a madman. You know, the Iranians repeatedly are threatening Israel. They’re threatening the United States. And even this week, I mean, I think it was yesterday, stating that they would attack American military sites abroad. And I think too many people in America just kind of brush that off as crazy talk. But how likely is it that we might see them taking action against United States troops abroad?
SPEAKER 10 :
I think it’s very likely, and Iran has been saying this ever since 1979 when the Iranian revolution, when they took over this country and turned it into a tyranny. So the vulnerable part, and I think that’s where Iran is threatening, it’s the U.S. bases, U.S. military infrastructure, embassies, and I think that’s why the White House took them seriously and what’s happening. And President Trump said last night, I think at the Kennedy Center, that it could be a dangerous place. And we want to get people out of there, out of harm’s way if necessary. So to your point, you need to take Iran at its word. They want to destroy Israel. They want to destroy the United States. And they’ve been working at doing that for many, many years.
SPEAKER 11 :
Let’s go back to last year when they launched their, I guess, about 300 missiles at Iran. Israel, most of them were all intercepted, both with Israel’s own defense system, with the aid of the United States and some surrounding countries. Did they throw everything they had at Israel at that point, or do they have more that they can bring to the next fight?
SPEAKER 10 :
I think they have more ballistic missiles. Apparently they can build about 50 per month. But what happened last year twice was that they attacked Israel and both attacks failed. So you wonder what more can they do to threaten Israel or its neighbors. They’re also threatening Israel’s neighbors that may participate in any strike against Iran. So I’m not sure exactly what they have left in their arsenal that could damage Israel. I was here for both of those attacks. And, you know, miraculously, all of them, nearly 99 percent of those projectiles failed. And also in the meantime, when Israel counterattacked, they were able to destroy most of Iran’s air defenses, which makes a nuclear attack against their nuclear sites even more likely.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, Chris Mitchell, we just have two minutes left, and I want to save a little bit of time to talk about how we need to be praying for Israel in this moment. But I want to go to an event that occurred today, and that was an attack on a bus of humanitarian workers in Gaza by Hamas. I mean, such a blatant example of Hamas using humanitarian aid, weaponizing it, using it against their own people.
SPEAKER 10 :
Exactly. What happened a couple of weeks ago was that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established and it provides aid free and direct to Gazans. They’ve had maybe 20 million meals by now and counting distributed to Gazans. What this does is undermine Hamas. Hamas has been stealing the aid and according to the IDF, maybe made hundreds of millions of dollars to fuel and fund their war machine. Now this is a separate, it’s undermining their grip on the population, on their grip on the money. And so this could be one of the death knells for Hamas in the near future.
SPEAKER 11 :
So they’re taking the aid that the international community, the UN and others are giving, and they’re selling it to the people is what they were doing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, they hoard it, they loot it, they sell it back to the people to make money to fuel their war machine. All right, Chris Mitchell, 30 seconds left. How do we need to be praying right now? Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for wisdom for the leaders, for Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump, for leaders in the region, and that they would… be in one accord. There would be an agreement, and there would be a way to finally eliminate what has been a Damocles sword over Israel, this nuclear threat, existential threat from Iran’s nuclear facilities.
SPEAKER 11 :
We will be praying. We are praying, and we will be praying. Chris Mitchell, always great to see you. Thanks so much for, again, staying up late and joining us. Great to be with you, Tony. All right, Chris Mitchell from Jerusalem. Coming up next, Texas Senator John Cornett joins us. Don’t go away.
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The Center for Biblical Worldview’s all-day workshops delves into the formation of a worldview, what it is, how it’s formed, when it’s formed, what that means to them personally and their churches and communities.
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My hope for people when they come to these worldview workshops is that they will come away better equipped to engage the people and the ideas that they’re living with and around. And our goal is to give people more confidence in the gospel, in the fact that what God said to us actually is true, actually is the path to happiness and human flourishing for all of us, but also more confidence in their ability to have these conversations and help lead other people to the truth.
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for Bible-believing Christians to know what God’s Word says on these issues and to learn how they can apply it to their lives. And we believe that the more Christians that we equip, that’s how we’ll change the nation.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hey fam, listen, Pastor Sammy here at Lighthouse Church, and I cannot tell you how equipping, how empowering, how… incredibly educating this conference has been. And so I just want to encourage anybody that either has not been part of or is thinking about hosting this event, certainly to pastors, leaders, even CEOs for that matter. This conference is lights out. Stand behind it myself. I can’t commend it enough. We’re going to be talking about this for some time to come.
SPEAKER 06 :
The culture is kind of squeezing in on us as God’s people, forcing those of us with biblical views to change those views or to suppress those views. It’s forcing us to engage with issues that we’ve never had to engage with. And so what this teaches us is what those issues are, what the Bible says about those issues, and then how we can critically engage our culture on these things in a way that is committed to biblical principle.
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Visit frc.org slash worldview for more information.
SPEAKER 11 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for tuning in. All right. As the House keeps busy with rescission bills, the Senate continues to work on the reconciliation bill, the one big, beautiful bill. Senate Republicans huddled yesterday to address key portions of the bill and emerged with intentions of making some changes. which was with the speaker yesterday, making him a little nervous because he wants to get this thing through and onto the president’s desk. Well, according to reports, some of those changes touch on more contentious areas of the House bill. What sort of changes does the Senate want to make? Well, here to discuss this and more, U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas. He serves on five Senate committees, including the finance and budget committees as part of the Senate leadership. Senator Cornyn, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 09 :
You bet, Tony. Great to be with you.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. Tell us, what are some of the concerns? I know the state and local tax cap for mainly affecting blue states, that seems to be a problem with some of the Senate Republicans. What else are we looking at?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I know the Speaker has the challenge of getting enough votes to pass the bill, but this is an awful expensive item, over $300 billion to basically get the votes of four states. House members in the Northeast. But what that means is that people from Texas and Louisiana and other states that don’t have an income tax have to subsidize these high tax jurisdictions and allow people to write that off of their individual tax return. So that’s one of the issues. But as you know, we’re trying to prevent a multi-trillion dollar tax increase. We’re trying to accommodate the president’s campaign promises and our promises about the border and about the no tax on tips, no tax on Social Security, no tax on Social Security and overtime. But we also are trying to figure ways to save some money because we are now over $36 trillion in debt. We’re paying more money on interest on the national debt than we are on defense, which is unsustainable. So we’re looking for additional savings in the Senate in addition to those other items.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, that’s a little different. Usually it’s not the Senate that’s looking to trim. But as you pointed out, the House speaker has a very broad caucus of Republicans that he’s trying to work with. This is a step in the right direction. I think he himself has admitted this is not a perfect bill. It’s not what he would have drafted if he’s working on his own. What do you see ultimately coming out when the Senate finishes this bill? Do you think it’s going to be something that can make it through the House?
SPEAKER 09 :
I do. I don’t think we have any option, Tony. And certainly President Trump knows how important this is. He is somebody who believes strongly in keeping his promises to the American people. And when he won the election on November the 5th, the two areas that he was focused most on were inflation caused by excessive government spending and the border, which, as you know, was on fire. And thankfully, with a new president and his commitment to enforcing the law, the border is in far better shape. But Tom Hoban, the head of the border czar, has said he needs more money for beds and for detention facilities and also for personnel to deal with all of the problems. deportations that are occurring in places like Los Angeles and around the country.
SPEAKER 11 :
So I would think that what’s happening right now in real time in Los Angeles would probably, I would think, would underscore to the Senate the urgency of moving sooner rather than later.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. That’s right. Well, and Tom Homan was with us yesterday briefly at a meeting, and that was his message. Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, was with us today, again, underscoring the importance of getting this money to enforce the immigration laws of the country and to secure the border. And we don’t have any time to waste.
SPEAKER 11 :
Let me talk about another issue. It’s related to the reconciliation bill. It’s something we worked on in the on the House side. And that was to make sure that no taxpayers are forced to fund these experimental uses of drugs and surgeries for those children who are suffering from gender dysphoria. We’re talking about these transgender surgeries. That is in the reconciliation bill. But you and Senator Lankford of Oklahoma have joined together and have introduced legislation to stop government funding of this as well. Talk about that.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. Primarily under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Fortunately, nearly 30 states have policies that limit access to gender transition procedures, including Texas. But increasingly, there’s a recognition that this is a form of child abuse, especially when young, immature children are subjected to either this mutilating surgery or to some of these puberty blockers and drugs. Those were, in some instances, irreversible decisions, which they will carry with them the rest of their life. And so Senator Langford and I are determined to make sure that neither the federal funds available in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program are available for that purpose.
SPEAKER 11 :
So I assume you’re going to fight to make sure that stays in the reconciliation bill as well.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 11 :
A final question for you. I know you got to go, Senator. Will the Senate make the deadline of the July 4th weekend to get this bill to President Trump?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, you know, Tony, the Senate operates best when we have a deadline. Otherwise, we just keep talking and things never seem to come to a conclusion. So we’re going to do our best to meet that deadline. And then, of course, then it’s going to be up to the House to be able to pass the bill. And I suspect President Trump will be right there urging them on and helping the speaker get the votes to get it done, because failure is not an option.
SPEAKER 11 :
Senator John Cornyn, thanks so much for joining us today. Always great to talk with you.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you, Tony.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, folks, there you have it. So the bill is running into a little turbulence. I mentioned this yesterday briefly. I was up on the Hill in a meeting with the speaker, and it’s a delicate balance. Any change made in the Senate, it’s going to run into some trouble in the House. But as Senator Cornyn said, failure is not an option. There’s so much. It’s not just what’s in the bill. It is the momentum of moving the country in a new direction. All right, don’t go away. We’re back after this.
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Family Research Council is committed to advancing faith, family, and freedom from the East Coast to the West. So FRC is going to Southern California for this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. Join us for this powerful gathering of Christians desiring cultural renewal and spiritual revival. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit brings together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action. Together, we will seek God’s guidance for our nation and engage in meaningful discussions on the intersection of faith, government, and culture. If the spiritual foundations and the cultural walls of our nation are to be rebuilt, we all have a role to play. May we each find our place on the wall as we build for biblical truth. Register now at PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jennifer, it’s so exciting to be here with you today talking about our new book, Embracing God’s Design. Who is actually going to benefit from reading this book in your view?
SPEAKER 22 :
There’s so many different audiences that can benefit. The first one are counselors themselves, because we have some material in there where we really address the gender dysphoria diagnosis and what is wrong with it. We have information for people who are wanting to go back to embracing God’s design for their life.
SPEAKER 03 :
This is really magical to have the therapist and the individual who suffered come together and write about why this is happening and why we’re seeing this.
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And we brought all of that experience to the table. We want to see people walking in the fullness of who God has called them to be and not a false identity.
SPEAKER 06 :
Order today at embracethedesign.com.
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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 11 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Check out the website, TonyPerkins.com. Better yet, get the Stand Firm app. Lots of resources there for you on the Stand Firm app. Not only will you have Washington Watch, no matter where you go, you’ll have access to FRC’s news and commentary from a biblical perspective, The Washington Stand, and my daily Bible devotional. And it comes from our two-year journey through the Bible, Stand on the Word. And our word for today comes from Matthew chapter 4, where Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterwards he was hungry. Now, when the tempter came to him, he said, if you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus resisted the devil with four powerful truths. The power of identity. Satan questioned Jesus’s identity. If you are the son of God. But Jesus had just been affirmed by his father at his baptism. He knew who he was. And there’s the power of purpose. Jesus was secure in his mission. In Luke 4, 43, it says, I must preach the kingdom of God. For this purpose I have been sent. And then there’s the power of the Spirit. Jesus walked in the Spirit’s fullness. Luke 4.1 says, Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit was led by the Spirit. And then the power of the Word. Jesus answered, it is written. He didn’t argue with Satan. He just declared Scripture. And so must we. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, as I was just discussing with CBN’s Chris Mitchell from Jerusalem, the situation in the Middle East is volatile and it’s growing more so by the minute. Here to discuss this and much more, today’s panel of FRC experts, Suzanne Bowdy, Editorial Director and Senior Writer at the Washington Stand, and Travis Weber, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs here at the Family Research Council. Travis, welcome. And Suzanne, welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for joining me today. All right, let’s talk. We were just talking with Chris Mitchell about the attack that took place last night, early this morning. It depends on what time zone you’re in. Over in Israel where Hamas attacked humanitarian workers bringing aid to the Gazans.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, Tony, I mean, so we hear from the media often how, you know, there’s so much pressure to get aid in. We need aid in. The cry for the media and the global community in general has largely been, we need aid to get in there. Well, this foundation is bringing aid. Its workers were killed by Hamas, the governing, functional governing authority in the Gaza Strip. It’s really as simple as that. Their actions prove where they’re at. They don’t want aid to reach the people. They want to use the people as leverage to force their view in the global opinion community, the elite circles, the UN, global media, to try to pull the hearts of the nations to their side.
SPEAKER 11 :
The media, this doesn’t match the media’s narrative.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely not. It’s eight more people than Israel killed last week, supposedly, according to the headlines that we saw from major newspapers in the United States. This runs completely counter to the narrative that our mainstream media would like to purport, which is that Israel is the bad guy and Hamas is just unfortunately in the crossfires here and not the terrorists and truly monsters that they are.
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, I’m getting daily updates on the number of meals that have been distributed by Israel and the U.S. as humanitarian effort. And I think yesterday, I think there were 2 million meals that were distributed. I mean, they’re getting the aid. And we’ve talked about this before, but Chris was just talking about how the Hamas has been selling This international aid that has been going, you hear all these people saying, oh, the Gazans are being starved, we’ve got to do more. And what they’re doing by providing more is just giving more resources for Hamas to sell to fuel their war machine.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, Tony, I mean, we see really here them using this as a leverage point over the people, right? So what happens when the people try to rise up and speak out? Well, they’re violently repressed, killed, detained, or acted against by the Hamas forces and the governing authority in the Strip, you recall. When Israel pulled out, as you know, years ago, and there was an election, and Hamas was voted in, Hamas quickly seized control and brought their iron fist down on the people. So it doesn’t matter what we’re being told. What matters is what’s actually happening, or the people are not free to speak up. There might be actually a larger number than we realize of Gazans who wish to be free of Hamas, but where their voice is muted, how can they really speak up? It’s at risk of their own lives. We have to understand the pressure they’re under.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I want to transition to domestic issues, but keeping in mind how the media has twisted the narrative in the Middle East and in Israel where we’ve seen it, the same thing here. I mean, they twist the narratives. They’ve been pushing the whole redefinition of human sexuality and marriage. They’ve been championing that. Finally, we’re seeing, you know, we’ve been seeing, it’s been building. But yesterday, I think a very significant move, we talked about it on the program, was the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Dallas, Texas. And they passed two, several resolutions, but two of significance to us. One is the call for the 2015 Obergefell redefinition of marriage. I mean, Suzanne, are people finally starting to connect the dots with all of this? this gender craziness, this ideology that has our kindergarten kids wondering whether they’re male or female. Are they starting to connect these dots back to the redefinition of marriage?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think so. And we’re about 10 years removed now from a Burgerville. So people have seen this gradual progression. And we were told back then, we were told with Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, this won’t affect you. This is about two people who love each other. And now suddenly what we’re seeing is they’re drag queens in libraries. We’re seeing boys on girls’ sports teams in boys’ locker and girls’ locker rooms. We’re seeing children cut off healthy body parts. And I think people are finally realizing, look, this is a slippery slope, and we have to regain our footing here. And just recently, it’s not just the SBC, but Gallup also is tracking all Americans’ opinions on this topic of transgenderism. And what they found is that 6% fewer people – now, this is Republicans and Democrats – think that it’s morally acceptable to change your gender. Not that that’s even possible, but to change your gender. So we’re seeing America slowly awaken, not just in the church, but all around to the real consequences.
SPEAKER 11 :
So it hit a high watermark in terms of public support, and it’s been declining over the last few years quite significantly. And in part, that’s because people have realized that it’s not a live and let live agenda that’s being pushed by the other side.
SPEAKER 18 :
And Tony, I think, too, what we’ve seen is parents waking up to what’s happening to their kids when they’re not around, what their kids are being taught, what they’re being led into. Deceit, deception outside of parental oversight and authority and knowledge. You talk about the school, all the activities of school, what they’re being taught with school counselors and others are… you know, bringing children into outside of parents permission approval. This has woken up parents on this gender issue, right? So there’s a parental authority issue, but the gender issue has been the entry point to wake up people to what’s happening to kids. And obviously we have the mutilation, the procedures that are altering kids often, you know, just for long with long-term horrific consequences.
SPEAKER 11 :
But ultimately to address this issue, we’ve got to go back to transcendent objective truth. And that is that God is the creator. He is the designer. If we talk about, you know, embracing God’s design. Got it right this time. The book that we have out that Dr. Bowens has put out regarding God’s design for human sexuality. But we have to embrace all of God’s design. I mean, and that is that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. And if we don’t go back to that understanding, that basic understanding of human sexuality, all right, we might prevail in this moment over the whole radical transgender, you know, mutilating our children. But it’s going to manifest itself someplace else.
SPEAKER 18 :
And Tony, I mean, even yesterday, as you were on with Andrew Walker, you made the point about the inerrancy of Scripture. We’re not debating that, thankfully. So if we’re going to settle on that, we look at what Genesis says, right? So God’s design, it’s based off the positions in Scripture. And we hope that it will be a roadmap for healing. Because when Dr. Ballins, who understands the human mind and mental health, Walt Heyer, who helped her with that walk through and out of this lifestyle with the help of the Lord. Powerful pathway of healing, right? But it’s ultimately, we know it’s anchored. It’s anchored in Genesis today. It was anchored in Genesis 10, 15 years ago, right?
SPEAKER 12 :
And so we’ve been dealing with these same things.
SPEAKER 11 :
Isn’t that what was behind the overturn of Roe, finally a recognition of the sanctity of human life? I mean, it was a long time coming, 50 years. Technology brought us there. We were able to see into the womb. And, you know, there’s been a lot of people engaged in the political public policy process over this issue to bring truth into the arena.
SPEAKER 12 :
And I think that’s an encouragement, what you’re talking about with abortion. I think we can still see with marriage. I think we can see with gender identity, with biological men and women. And especially you’re seeing in the GOP, which I’m really happy about, is you’re seeing more people standing up and speaking out. And it comes from the top. It comes from the bottom. It comes from parents. It also comes from the people that we elect to care about these issues. But the more that we can gain traction there and people feel emboldened there, To speak truth, you say it all the time, courage breeds courage. And we need to pray that people have that spiritual boldness.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it’s important to have a foundation, a solid foundation to stand on. And so, you know, we talk about marriage. We talk about human sexuality, gender. You know, when we’re talking about it, it’s not our opinion. It’s not. I think people, Christians, Bible-believing Christians, need to come to an understanding of it. It’s not your opinion that matters. It’s the Word of God. And Jesus himself talks about this in Matthew chapter 19. Have you not read from the beginning God created the male and female? And he goes on to talk about marriage. So we’re simply lining up with truth when we advocate for these policies. Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Tony, that’s absolutely right, right? So if we even think about, as you’re sharing, reflecting on scripture, right? So this was before the fall, and then there was the fall of man, and Jesus had to come to make a way back to God. But he had to make a way back to something that was good, that he set in order. He put in order. It was a good plan for all of humanity. So God has come with a message of reconciliation through his own life being sacrificed on the cross to come back to his design. He didn’t come, that’s not a vacuum. We have to understand for the application in society today.
SPEAKER 11 :
And it’s not something new.
SPEAKER 18 :
It’s not new. And he came to pay the price so we might be restored to his order. And we look around us, there’s opportunity to do that with the crisis the family’s facing.
SPEAKER 11 :
And we’re seeing this, I was on Newsmax earlier today, discussing this, how the Zoomer generation, I don’t know what they call them. The Z, Gen Z. They are now returning to Orthodox Christianity, you know, where we’ve seen a decline of about 10% with every subsequent generation. They’re not following in suit because they probably looked at the millennials that are still wandering around looking for answers.
SPEAKER 15 :
But they also lived it.
SPEAKER 11 :
These are kids that are in the classroom experiencing this too. They’ve lived this and they see the craziness of it. They see the uncertainty of it. They lack hope. They lack any sense of purpose. And all of a sudden their friends, their peers are finding hope. They’re finding purpose in Christ. And so it is beginning to spread. So what one generation throws off and forgets, Another one we’ll discover and find. And I think that’s what we see happening right now. Now, it’s not overwhelming, but it’s happening. The trends are good. We just need to fuel it, to encourage it. And I think that’s one reason of encouraging people to be in the Word of God, especially believers, to be in the Word of God so they know what it says and they can stand upon it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. That’s absolutely right. And as you’re sharing, I’m thinking of, you know, we’re sharing the message of God’s truth, but it’s applied to these issues of government. So much of what government is doing is affecting our lives. And sometimes we don’t realize it’s top level. It filters its way down to local impact and application. But these are issues that individuals are facing, even if it’s a national level.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I mean, the truth is not just for intellectual discussion. No. It is for application in the real world. And speaking of that, we just have about three minutes left, but the Family Research Council has submitted an amicus brief in a case at the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the relationships between a therapist and their patient related to this very issue about being able to speak truth. We have many states and jurisdictions that do not want someone to even hear the truth.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right. Exactly. So this is one of these counseling freedom cases. In this case, Colorado has a law banning what they call quote-unquote conversion therapy. It’s their effort to go against anything that would bring people out of the gender identity lifestyle because the law says you can talk about a bunch of topics except gender identity, sexual orientation, and You can even bring people into that, but you can’t counsel them out of that. It’s a clear viewpoint. Content discrimination as ADF representing the client has made the point they’ve made. But we filed a brief with working with Jennifer and some of our research explaining how the professional associations backing this up are biased. They’re not objective, number one. Number two. There are real issues of trauma here in people’s lives. And this is what Walt Heyer talks about in Jennifer and Walt’s resource. The trauma must be explored. It must be talked through. So we’re protecting speech and the freedom of someone to walk into a counselor’s office and say, I want to talk about this. Think about it. That’s what they’re banning. So we’re saying that’s a First Amendment issue. And I think I feel good about the court because the First Amendment cases have generally been pretty strong.
SPEAKER 11 :
This is what Colorado has done here is so over the top. But they’re not the only state. California has done the same thing.
SPEAKER 12 :
There are 20, more than 20.
SPEAKER 11 :
And so this is going to have implications nationwide. But… I do think I agree with you. I think the court, given the current makeup of the court, that the outcome of this could be very positive from a standpoint of counselors being able to share holistically with their patients about what is happening. I mean, it’s unbelievable we’ve reached this point.
SPEAKER 12 :
And if you’re going to a Christian counselor, you’re going to a counselor expecting them to be Christian. In other words, you want to be counseled by the Word of God. And in this instance, to say that there’s no free marketplace of ideas if someone is seeking out that kind of help. And it’s also just very revealing to me. It’s quite a double standard. When you think about what the left wants to do with counselors, they’re the ones saying, oh, don’t get between the woman and her doctor. But in this case, they’re saying, get in the way of a counselor and her patient. Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
And here, in this particular case, we’re just talking about conversation. We’re just talking about helping walk someone through by asking questions, finding out their background, and just listening to them in most cases. Right.
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s not shock therapy.
SPEAKER 18 :
It’s a pursuit.
SPEAKER 11 :
Which they like to pretend.
SPEAKER 18 :
In the brief, the counselor says she’s never done that. She doesn’t even know anyone who does that, right? So that gives you a glimpse into the difference between what they claim, try to malign and message against someone like this. The truth is these counselors are trying to talk through the issue. So, Tony, I feel good about this case and glad we could file this brief at the Supreme Court.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. Don’t want to shock you, but we’re out of time.
SPEAKER 1 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 11 :
Suzanne, Travis, thanks for joining me. Thank you. Thank you. Always great to see you. And always great to see you as well, folks. But we’re out of time. So you know what the drill is. Pray, take your stand, and then just keep standing.
SPEAKER 19 :
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