This episode of Washington Watch shines a spotlight on significant religious freedom challenges worldwide, focusing on Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. Travis Weber and Congressman Chris Smith provide critical insights into recent reports by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, offering a sobering look at global persecutions and the essential steps being taken to elevate human rights and dignity.
SPEAKER 07 :
From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 12 :
I’m deeply concerned about encroachment in the Western Hemisphere, not just by China, but other adversaries like Russia and Iran. I’m afraid we focus so much of our attention across the world that we’ve lost sight of our own neighborhood, leading to the anti-American regimes gaining permanent footholds within striking distance of the homeland,
SPEAKER 10 :
That was Congressman Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, yesterday during the committee’s annual worldwide threats assessment hearing. Welcome to this Thursday edition of Washington Watch. We’re glad you’ve joined us. Well, coming up, we’ll look at the highlights of yesterday’s threat assessment hearing with Ryan King, national politics reporter for the New York Post. And pro-life activists were on Capitol Hill today calling for an end to government funding for Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER 11 :
Every year about six to seven hundred million dollars flows from the U.S. taxpayers to Planned Parenthood. That must end. Reconciliation legislation offers an important opportunity to stop funding abortion purveyors like Planned Parenthood. And this is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, co-chair of the House Pro-Life Caucus. He was at a press conference this afternoon. I was there along with several other pro-life leaders. Congressman Smith joins us later here on Washington Watch. A key conservative senator says President Trump’s nominee for Medicare and Medicaid services, Dr. Oz, is being evasive regarding his past promotion of transgender surgeries and the use of experimental drugs for minors. We’ll hear from the senator himself, Missouri Senator Josh Ali, will join us later on this edition of Washington Watch. Plus, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report this week highlighting global hotspots of religious persecution. FRC’s Travis Weber will stop by with more details on that report a little later. All of that and more coming up on this edition of Washington Watch. I do want to encourage you, if you have not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, where you can have Washington Watch right there in your pocket each and every day, along with the Washington Stand, our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, along with our daily commentary, our Bible devotional commentary, which is Stand on the Word. You can get it all at the App Store by downloading the Stand Firm app. All right, before we go to our first guest, I want to bring in FRC’s Kena Gonzalez, Senior Director of Government Affairs, who has been on Capitol Hill today facilitating a lobbying day on the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Kena, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s great to be back, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
I see you changed out of your lobbying attire, your defund T-shirt, and you’re back into a suit and tie.
SPEAKER 03 :
I felt I had to rise to the occasion, but yes, I was in a big defund, big abortion t-shirt along with 350 other pro-life activists who came out, many of them from out of town, most of them from out of town, with strollers, whole families were lobbying on Capitol Hill. It was beautiful.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, tell us about, we know the bottom line is defund Planned Parenthood. Last year, the last number is available, about $700 million flowing into their coffers of taxpayer money. What are the vehicles? What are we asking people to do when they talk to their members of Congress?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, there are several vehicles on the Hill right now, but as viewers of this program know very well, we’re in a very closely divided Congress. And so if one or two or three congressional Republicans in either the House or the Senate object to any particular of a bill, they can kill it. And in the Senate, you have to get Democrats to vote with Republicans because there’s not a large enough majority there to carry most votes. without uh without democrats in order to reach that 60 vote threshold that’s required for most votes in the senate but on the budget there is a vehicle called reconciliation where you only need 51 votes in the senate and of course you need 50 plus one in the house and if those two bills those two budget bills can reconcile and move on reconciliation there’s a lot you can do including defunding big abortion, and that’s what today was all about, was to talk to Republican members about the importance of using Republican votes to defund big abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER 10 :
So this could become reality?
SPEAKER 03 :
This could actually happen. For the first time really since 2017, we have a fighting shot at taking away, as you said, almost $700 million a year at last count from America’s biggest abortion providers.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Well, great job today on Capitol Hill, Kana, and thanks for giving us an update. And folks, you can track this in real time and take action as necessary. Because remember, our republic was not made for spectators. It was made for participants. If you have the Stand Firm app, you can actually get notifications from Kena and his team when you need to lean in with your member of Congress and we give you all the talking points and everything you need. So get the Stand Firm app and activate the notifications on it. All right. Well, yesterday, as I mentioned, the House Intelligence Committee held an open hearing to examine the 2025 annual threats assessment. The topics range from the American war on terror to drug cartels to the infamous signal chat, which multiple government officials, especially Democrats, wanted to focus on. But. What else did the hearing address? What are the international threats which demand American attention now? Well, here to discuss this, Ryan King, the politics reporter at the New York Post, who covered yesterday’s hearing and the one in the Senate the day before. Ryan, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Hi, thanks for having me. So besides the signal chat discussions, what were some of your takeaways from yesterday’s hearing in the House?
SPEAKER 06 :
One of the big takeaways was the concern that the intelligence community has that U.S. adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, are working – collectively in part to counter the U.S. and undermine America abroad. There was also a lot of emphasis on non-state actors, including cartels and other groups that have hurt U.S. national security. There was talk, too, about the opioid crisis and about how synthetic opioids have killed over 56,000 Americans last year. So there are a variety of threats. And I think that the intelligence community is in a state of alarm right now about where the world is at.
SPEAKER 10 :
So I do want to just address the signal chat for a moment because that did seem to consume a lot of time in the hearing of both the House and the Senate. How much time was spent on that versus these major threats that are facing our country right now?
SPEAKER 06 :
I’d say between both the Senate and House hearings, almost half the time, roughly, it was basically a situation where Republicans would tend to focus on the national annual threat assessment and then Democrats would go back to the signal controversy. So about half the time was dedicated to the signal issue. And again, the hearing had been initially intended to focus on national threats.
SPEAKER 10 :
So, Ryan, I want to get your take on that. What do you think this signal, I mean, I know the media has been continuing to pound on it. Does this have legs or does it go away?
SPEAKER 06 :
I think that’s going to stick around for a little bit because there are multiple lawmakers that have pushed for investigations into it. And it’s something that Democrats, I think, are very unlikely to forget. So it might like kind of go to the back burner for a little bit. But I think that this is something that Democrats are going to be interested in revisiting. And I think one thing that’ll be interesting, too, is there’s a trip right now featuring the vice president, the second lady and national security adviser Mike Waltz to Greenland. So I think that that’ll be interesting to see how that goes with Waltz going to Greenland after he had been the guy that admitted to inadvertently adding the Atlantic editor in chief to that signal chat.
SPEAKER 10 :
So let’s go back to the threats. In looking at and laying out the various threats, was there a sense of what is the greatest threat right now, what we need to have our eye on right now? I mean, there’s multiple threats, but did any rise above the others?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, the report described China as being the most capable threat against the United States, but it was basically suggesting that China, of the four main adversaries against the U.S., has been the least adversarial in terms of aggressive actions. So it was kind of describing China as one of the biggest threats And then as like an ongoing threat, I think it was really focusing on non-state actors like the cartels and the impact that these groups can have on the U.S.
SPEAKER 10 :
Speaking of the cartels, since the Trump administration has been in, there’s been obviously a crackdown on the border. Is there any measurable difference in terms of the cartel activity, the fentanyl coming across the border?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, there was a recent study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that had suggested, based on some preliminary data from last year, that we’ve peaked in terms of deaths from fentanyl. So that’s very early data, but that is a little bit reassuring. And then we’ve also seen from the encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border that they have plummeted very significantly relative to last year under the Biden administration. And the Trump administration has announced a number of pretty high profile arrests when it comes to some of the cartels and gang members.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. For instance, this morning, an MS-13 leader was arrested in Virginia, apparently a leader in a region, including Virginia. So is there any sense that, all right, we’ve we’ve kind of stopped the flow of them coming in and now it is a mop up, clean up operation, getting those that are in the country that pose a threat and getting them out?
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s hard to say for sure. I mean, right now it kind of looks like it’s the latter. It looks like the big problem has kind of been kind of abating a bit. And now the Trump administration is kind of focusing on just kind of cleaning up the rest of it. But it is hard to say right now because it’s still pretty early.
SPEAKER 10 :
What was the discussion regarding Iran and their nuclear capabilities?
SPEAKER 06 :
So one thing that the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, had told both the House and the Senate Intelligence Committees is that the Intelligence Committee assesses that Iran is not pursuing a nuclear weapon. It was a pretty interesting claim from Gabbard. She said that this is something that they’re monitoring very closely, and she also cautioned that Iran has the highest levels of enriched uranium that they have had and that they have much higher levels of enriched uranium than they would need to pursue a peaceful nuclear energy program.
SPEAKER 10 :
Very interesting. Any surprises for you, Ryan, that you took away that you thought, oh, because I know your track is keep your finger on the pulse. Anything that really surprised you?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, two things. First was what actually we just mentioned about what Gabbard said about Iran, that assessment that Iran isn’t pursuing a nuclear weapon. That’s quite a bit different than what we normally hear. And then the second thing, I think, with the signal chat was both Tulsi Gabbard and the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, had been. saying that they personally didn’t share classified information. And it seemed like Democrats were really going after them about how they were describing that. Both of them were trying to suggest that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was the one that would have been tasked with determining whether or not the information shared on the Signal chat that leaked was classified or not. So I think that that’s something that could be revisited in the future.
SPEAKER 10 :
Very interesting. Well, Ryan, thanks so much for joining us. By the way, are you on Signal? Yes. Admittedly, yes. All right. Well, so am I. I’ll call you later on Signal. All right. Thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate the insights and observations.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thanks for having me. And folks, another reason to pray. It’s a dangerous world out there. All right. Don’t go away. We’re going to be joined by Josh Hawley next on Washington Morning.
SPEAKER 02 :
At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. That’s why FRC President Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55,000 people have been killed and 21,000 abducted in the last five years alone. The congressman also stressed that 89% of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria.
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Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution.
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Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
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This is systematic religious violence. Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. The Biden administration’s removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians.
SPEAKER 02 :
Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
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These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
SPEAKER 02 :
Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
SPEAKER 01 :
We live in fear because at any point it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak.
SPEAKER 02 :
FRC is calling on President Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
SPEAKER 04 :
Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
SPEAKER 08 :
Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We’ve created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
SPEAKER 1 :
you
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us on this Thursday. All right. President Trump’s nominees continue to plow through the congressional confirmation process. I mean, he’s got them in the pipeline. But there’s been a few that have raised concerns, and there’s one right now that’s raised particular concerns. Dr. Oz, the TV personality nominated to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Some Republicans worry about his views on transgender surgery on kids as well as abortion, considering he had previously voiced support for them in the past. Has Dr. Oz changed his mind on these issues or is he evading really answering where he stands on these issues. Here to discuss this is one of the senators that has raised this issue quite successfully, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. He serves on four Senate committees, including the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Senator Hawley joins us by phone. Senator, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. You’ve raised this concern about Dr. Oz. You’ve asked him questions before the committee regarding his positions on these issues such as abortion and transgender surgeries for children. What has been his answer?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, so far, no answers, Tony. And I want to be clear on this. This is the position I’ve taken with all of the president’s nominees. I want to make sure that all these folks are supporting the president, that they are aligned with the agenda that the president ran on. You know, we saw in his first term, there were quite a number of people who slipped through, who then got into their positions and actively undermined what Donald Trump had ran on. I don’t want to see that. And I’m not going to vote for somebody who I think is going to undermine the president’s agenda. So in this case, When it comes to transgender surgeries for minors, I’m just dead set against them, and so is the president. When it comes to hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors, I think that’s wrong. So does the president. And the problem is Dr. Oz has supported that stuff in the past. And I’d just like to know, is that still his position? I’d like to be sure that he is in alignment with President Trump. And I can’t vote for him until I am sure about that. Ditto on life issues. You know, in the past, as you said a moment ago, Dr. Oz has criticized state laws that protect life. But, of course, we have the Dobbs decision thanks to President Trump and the justices he put on the bench. I want to know that Dr. Oz supports the Dobbs decision and supports the right of the voters to decide these issues, the people and their elected representatives to decide the life issue and to protect life. I think that is absolutely vital.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and as you’ve said, you have been consistent in asking the various nominees these questions as they’ve come before your committees. But let me ask you, what exactly did you ask Dr. Oz and what was his response?
SPEAKER 09 :
I asked him if he changed his views on transgender surgeries and treatments for minors, which he has supported in the past. You know, you mentioned, of course, he had that TV show for years and he’d had doctors on there that perform transgender treatments. people who had gone through transitions, so-called, including children, and had been very supportive of all of that on his show, and as recently as 2022 said that he supported hormone treatments and puberty blockers for minors. Now, that’s not the president’s position. It’s certainly not mine. So I just asked him straight up, have you changed your mind? And I would hope the answer is easy. Yes. I hope he’d say, I don’t support any of that. I’m in line with President Trump. I asked him the same questions on life. I pointed out that he’s criticized state laws protecting life. And I just asked him, listen, do you support Dobbs? And do you support the right of the people and their elected representatives to protect life? It’s an easy question. I mean it’s just asking, do you support Trump’s position? Do you support the position of Republican voters nationwide? And he hasn’t answered me at all, Tony, which I find a little bit strange. I hope it’s just a matter of processing some paperwork or something. But I can’t support him until I know that he is going to be strong and going to be in alignment with the president.
SPEAKER 10 :
Now, have you sat down with him as you have some of the other nominees?
SPEAKER 09 :
I have not. I’m not on the committee that voted on him, and that’s a reason I didn’t get to ask him questions in the hearing. So I’ve sent him written questions. Happy to talk with him, of course, personally. I don’t know him personally at all. But sooner or later, I think we need to get answers on this. Certainly, I do. And I just say again, it’s important to me that people who want a job in this administration at any level, and of course, I’ve voted for all the president’s cabinet nominees, but some people say, oh, well, this is a lower position, doesn’t matter. Now, actually, I think every position is important, and anybody who wants a job at any level in this administration needs to support the platform the president ran on, needs to support what we believe in as conservatives, and needs to support the president’s positions.
SPEAKER 10 :
Isn’t it normal practice that these, I know they start with the committees and they make their rounds meeting with the members of the committees to have the conversations and to make sure there are no issues. But, you know, when you’ve been a very clear outspoken voice in the Senate on the life issue, on the issue of protecting children from these invasive, irreversible surgeries and experimental drugs, wouldn’t it be appropriate for him to communicate with you?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I would think so. I mean, it’s easy to answer questions and listen. I mean, senators do this all the time. I do this all the time. And you might remember, we talked about when I sat down with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and I had a lot of the same questions for him. And I put these same questions to him, and he answered them very forthrightly, both to me personally, and then again in public under oath. I asked him in his committee hearing, directly about all of these same things we’ve been talking about, and he answered them directly.
SPEAKER 10 :
Which helped his confirmation.
SPEAKER 09 :
On that basis, I voted for him, Tony. I mean, it was critical to his confirmation. I needed to know that he was in alignment with the president, and he did not hesitate to to take the clear stance that he would, and that involved, frankly, in Kennedy’s case, renouncing some of his past views. So this is pretty standard, and I’m a little surprised Oz hasn’t done it, but there’s still time, and we’ll see what he says.
SPEAKER 10 :
We just have about a minute and a half left, but a spokesman for Dr. Oz told the Daily Wire that he understands the harms of these transgender surgeries, and that he is, quote, committed to implementing President Trump’s agenda for protecting children. But that’s coming from a spokesman, not… him. Is that a concern?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, it is a concern. Listen, I’m glad that unnamed spokespersons are willing to issue those statements. I would hope they’d say that, because again, these are the president’s positions. But really, we need to hear from the nominee himself. He wants to have a very important position in the government, and we need to hear from him directly. Is he in alignment with what the president has pledged and committed to, what he ran on? And if the answer to that is not yes, then I can’t support him. And we need to hear soon.
SPEAKER 10 :
Senator Josh Hawley, appreciate you fighting the good fight on Capitol Hill, standing up for life, standing up for children, protecting them from the dangers of these experimental treatments that are designed to advance this radical gender ideology. So thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER 10 :
And folks, these are things you need to weigh in on with your senators. If a nominee comes down on the wrong side of it, we need to weigh in on it. All right, coming up next, we’re going to talk to Travis Weber, get a little insight into the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms. Annual report released this week, so don’t go away.
SPEAKER 14 :
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 world view. 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 from the trees.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Glad you’re with us. Earlier this week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, of which I chaired a few years ago, released their annual report detailing trouble areas in the realm of international religious freedom. We’re going to talk about this a little bit later with Congressman Chris Smith when he joins us because they’ve made some recommendations regarding Nigeria, Vietnam, India. But I want to focus on one particular area that is once again in the report, Saudi Arabia. They have been recognized as a country of particular concern. And the commission is once again recommending that they be a country of particular concern. And one of the things that’s being highlighted is their educational materials, whether what they’re teaching in their schools and what they’re putting out in their textbooks, which are being exported. And given the fact that Saudi Arabia is kind of really at the center stage of world events right now with the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, and they will probably play a key role in the area of Gaza once that war between Hamas and Israel is over. So here to take a little deeper dive into why Saudi Arabia is a country of particular concern is Family Research Council’s Vice President for Policy and Government Affairs, Travis Weber. Travis, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Tony. All right. So lay out for our viewers and our listeners why Saudi Arabia is such a problematic nation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, Tony, as the USURF report, which was recently released, lays out, it again recommends Saudi Arabia for inclusion on the list of countries of particular concern. And it lays out its reasons for that. Among those include a generally oppressive, authoritarian government that’s driven by an Islamist ideology. And it lists examples of of prosecuting and oppressing religious dissidents, those who would speak up against the regime out of a religious motivation. Some of these are Shia Muslims or atheists. Crackdowns on social media speech along those similar lines. It talks about the oppressive treatment of women in the kingdom, but it also discusses the issue of the textbooks and the indoctrination that takes place within Saudi Arabia, despite attempts to reform this, calls for reform going back to 2006, when there’s a lot of attention on this. Anita Shea done a lot of work on it. I mean, there were hearings 10 years after that was exposed in 2017 before Congress, where members of Congress were saying there’s not been progress. So even to this point, as the USURF report recognizes, there is not yet sufficient reform to align with a Western ideology a good standard of what we would want people to be educated along the lines of freedom, true human rights, a true recognition of their human dignity.
SPEAKER 10 :
So just to be very clear, we’re not expecting Saudi Arabia to be United States of America. But let’s let’s just take a comparison. in that region of the world. It’s an Islamic country. The United Arab Emirates is one as well. However, they get high marks on religious freedom because they have churches of many different denominations that operate within the UAE. How many churches are in Saudi Arabia?
SPEAKER 05 :
There’s no public churches in the land. None? There’s none. So there’s not a true, that’s just, what does that equal? It equals no religious freedom. Because if we compare that to the U.S. model, where our declaration proclaims freedom of conscience and recognition of the humanity of all people, allowing them the freedom to live out their faith and publicly worship, clear contrast, right? And you can use words of inclusion, dialogue, interfaith, none of that equals religious freedom.
SPEAKER 10 :
Now, Saudi Arabia, the reason it’s of concern is it is the most wealthy ISLAMIC NATION, AND THEY FUND NOT ONLY MOSQUES AROUND THE WORLD, IN FACT, SOME OF THE UNITED STATES, THE WAHABI MOSQUES, WHICH ARE VERY EXTREME, BUT I WANT TO FOCUS, WE JUST HAVE A COUPLE MINUTES LEFT HERE, TRAVIS, BUT THE TEXTBOOKS This has long been a problem, even going back before I was on the Commission, when I was on the Commission. They’re supposed to have reformed these textbooks, but they still fall short of recognizing others outside the Islamic faith as human beings.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, if we quote from the USURF report, official textbooks continue to compare members of non-Muslim religions to maimed animals and contend that atheism results in psychological disorders. That can, the equation of human beings and the imagery and equating us, that’s just equating us to animals that’s still in the books. And we know from reports about the books that have been used in Gaza, the same language is in there. In all the lessons, Jews are equated to pigs and it’s ingrained into the system.
SPEAKER 10 :
So in Gaza, this has been an issue we’ve talked about under the Palestinian Authority. This has been done through the United Nations, through UNRWA. They have been funding the education system in Israel under the Palestinian Authority. The concern here is that Saudi Arabia may be looked to to be a partner with or a resource in reestablishing or rebuilding the education system in Gaza once the war is over.
SPEAKER 05 :
So we have to look at that and say, what is going to come in? You know, we know all the focus on UNRWA, the inclusion of Hamas terrorists in the UNRWA ranks, in the educational ranks. And just this month, a report came out from a group called Impact SC examining education in Gaza, still finding lessons, equating Jews to pigs and talking about bringing blood on the land and TRAINING CHILDREN TO RECEIVE AND ADOPT THESE IDEOLOGIES, INCLUDING BRINGING THEM TO MATH LESSONS. SO AS THE TIMES OF ISRAEL IS REPORTING, EVEN TODAY ABOUT THIS REPORT, AS GAZEN IS RETURNING TO SCHOOL LAST MONTH, THIS IS IN, THIS IS A LIVE ISSUE, AND WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE FOUNDATION, IF IT’S REBUILT, IS NOT BUILT ON FAULTY GROUND.
SPEAKER 10 :
I MEAN, OCTOBER 7TH IS A RESULT OF WHAT CHILDREN HAVE BEEN TAUGHT OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES. IT DOESN’T COME FROM NOWHERE. YEAH. TRAVIS WEBER, THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. THANK YOU. All right, folks, on the other side of the break, we’re going to be joined by New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith. We’re going to talk about the effort to defund Planned Parenthood. So don’t go away. More Washington Watch straight ahead.
SPEAKER 13 :
What is God’s role in government? What does the separation of church and state really mean? And how does morality shape a nation? President John Adams said our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a powerful 13-part series that equips you with biblical truth to engage in today’s most pressing debates, from the Ten Commandments in classrooms to the immigration crisis of America. We’ll uncover the foundations of our nation’s history and why it’s relevant for today. Defend God’s plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. New episodes available each Monday. To view the series on the Stand Firm app, text COURSE to 67742.
SPEAKER 14 :
The world is hurting. Streets are filled with crime. Families are broken. Sin is celebrated. And God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. but you can’t do that it’s not that you don’t love your neighbor you do but you care about god’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion and this makes you different in fact sometimes it makes you feel alone like you’re the only one but there is good news you are not alone not even close Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. If you’ve not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you to do so. Download the Stand Firm app. Go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. Or you can just text me the word app, APP, to 67742. That’s 67742, the word app. And I’ll send you a link. Our word for today comes from Ezekiel 12, which challenges us not to disregard God’s warnings. In verse 22 and 23, the Lord confronts Israel’s mocking proverb, which suggests his prophetic warnings will never happen. He declares that every word of His will be fulfilled. Similarly, in verse 27, it records the people’s skepticism. Quote, the vision is for many days from now. Well, they believed they had ample time to indulge their own ways without consequences. But in verse 28, declares the end has come. God’s word will not be delayed. He says, none of my words will be delayed any longer. Complacency toward divine truth can numb our hearts and harden us against genuine repentance. Some may say, God hasn’t done anything yet, or scoff that the sky hasn’t fallen. But this passage warns us that spiritual apathy leads only to deeper rebellion. we must take his message seriously and respond in obedience with faith. Let this admonition echo in our hearts. The Lord will fulfill his word, and no one can safely ignore it. Heed the warning, trust his timing, and walk humbly before him. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, earlier today, hundreds of pro-life activists gathered on Capitol Hill to visit key congressional offices and demand that Planned Parenthood and other abortion organizations be defunded. The timing comes as members of Congress are busy hammering out details of the budget, which we hope will not include any funding to abortion providers every year. TAXPAYERS LIKE YOU AND ME FUND ABORTION PROVIDERS TO THE TUNE OF MORE THAN A HALF BILLION DOLLARS, WHICH IS WHAT PLANNED PARENTHOOD HAS BEEN RECEIVING. AGAIN, THAT’S EACH YEAR. IT’S TIME TO TELL CONGRESS TO TURN OFF THE SPICKET. Republican control of the House, the Senate, and the White House for the first time in eight years. The pro-life movement has an amazing opportunity to defund providers, abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. And kind of capping off the day was a press conference on Capitol Hill, which I was a part of, several members of Congress, including my next guest. who is a pro-life stalwart. He has been advancing the cause of life for over four decades on Capitol Hill. He is the co-chair of the Pro-Life Caucus and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. He is also the senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He represents the 4th Congressional District of New Jersey. Of course, I’m talking about Congressman Chris Smith. Congressman Smith, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us.
SPEAKER 11 :
Tony, thank you so very much. And I thought your statements today, you know, the waste, fraud and abuse, the way you framed that was outstanding. Thank you for your leadership. And again, thank you for your very wise comments at that press conference.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, thank you, Congressman. You actually have the bill to defund Planned Parenthood. You’ve been advocating for this for a long time, but it looks like this could be the moment.
SPEAKER 11 :
I think we are poised if we have the courage and we could be close with a couple of votes, but hopefully people will be persuaded to put this into the reconciliation package, which does not require a super majority on the Senate side. So the filibuster has no power over this initiative. And our leadership, I think, is very committed. to ensuring that a group called Planned Parenthood that has themselves in their affiliates and their affiliates performed over 10 million abortions since 1973. I mean, that is a numbing loss of children’s lives. And of course, we know what it does to the women. And one of our speakers, as you heard, we all heard, she went right after I spoke and you, I should say, she talked about her experience going in to a Planned Parenthood clinic She got the abortion pill. She was treated shoddily. And then when she had complications, they didn’t want to hear a thing about it. And more and more reports are coming out that women are ill-treated and botched abortions, like we saw in the New York Times piece. And the loss of life every single day, over 1,000 babies are killed in just one organization’s clinics, and that’s Planned Parenthood.
SPEAKER 10 :
You know, Congressman, you and I are both opposed to abortion. We want the nation to embrace life. But what we’re talking about here is government-funded going to organizations that perform abortions. In the last recorded numbers that Planned Parenthood has put out from 23 and 24, they received just shy of $700 million in taxpayer dollars. That’s almost a billion dollars coming from taxpayers. Now, this was on the heels of them raising almost $500 million after the overturn of Roe. None of that money went to clinics. All of that went to their political campaigns. I mean, how is it that an organization like this can get all of this tax money and then turn around and use it in campaigns?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, they really are shameful with regards to that. They distort people’s voting records. They’re very aggressive with their 30-second ads and their direct mail and all the other things that they do. And it’s about time that every pro-life advocate in Congress and everywhere else realizes that they not only kill babies, They are a very deceptive organization that tries to defeat pro-life lawmakers as well. And I remember trying to persuade George W. Bush to defund Planned Parenthood, and they said, look, if you can’t do it because of their anti-child policies and anti-women policies, why can’t you do it? Look what they did to you. And we had all these examples of how they had totally attacked him in the campaign. And the same goes for members of Congress, House and Senate. You’ve been the target many times.
SPEAKER 10 :
You’ve been the target many times by Planned Parenthood because of your outspoken pro-life views. Look, everybody has a First Amendment right. I support that. But if you are going to take taxpayer dollars, if you’re direct taxpayer dollars, then how is it as an organization you engage in political advocacy in terms of candidates? I think there should be a line there. You should be able to choose one or the other.
SPEAKER 11 :
And there needs to be an investigation. How often do they cross the line? I remember one time in one of my campaigns, they ran this whole thing, let’s turn Chris Smith around. It was done right before the election time and they had petitions and they had all of this work going on to try to defeat me. And while it was thinly disguised, it had nothing to do with turning me around because I’m not going to be turned around. I’m committed to defending life no matter what the cost is. But it got their mailing list and mobilized people. And sure enough, you know, a lot of people were responding to their deception. And it is a very deceptive organization. I can give you example after example on just how they’re not trustworthy. And, you know, they’re part of that whole group that says don’t report adverse events. You know, unfortunately, under under. Clinton and then Obama and then under Biden, adverse events attributable to an abortion to the woman have been grossly underreported. And in some cases, they’re told not to report anymore, like with the abortion pill. So when they claim it’s safe, based on what?
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. I want to ask you about this because you’ve been one of the, again, not only a pro-life advocate in the House, but also human rights advocate. And sex trafficking is a huge issue globally, but here in the United States as well. There’s evidence to suggest that the operations of Planned Parenthood has covered up sex trafficking by not reporting some of the minors that have come into their clinics.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s a very serious charge. I’ve written five laws, not bills, laws, including the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. We’re celebrating the 25th anniversary of that law this year. And, you know, I bristle. I get very angry when I realize that there are organizations that enable sex traffickers. There was a case that live action, and they did several of these cases, but it was in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where I actually went to high school. And they went in with a fake pimp, and it was an undercover type of operation, and a woman purporting to be an underage woman from Latin America, Central America in particular. And in the interview, back and forth, the Planned Parenthood representative, and I’ve watched it and I’ve used it in floor debate, sits there and says, you know, we can take care of this, and, you know, they could be back on the street being exploited, my word, with their sentiment. And they didn’t care. They should have been calling the cops as that sting operation was underway and should have said, you know, I’ll stall them. You come and you come and arrest them. But no, they were enabling it. They even said, if you need a later term abortion, we know where that can be procured as well. And they had a clinic in northern New Jersey that they were talking about. So they enable sex trafficking. And that is very, very disturbing as well.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman Smith, I want to get to another topic. I want to get to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that released their report earlier this week. But before I do that, one final question on this issue of the defunding of Planned Parenthood and the abortion providers. What do our listeners and viewers need to do?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, they need to contact their congressman or congresswoman and their senators and ask them to vote to defund Planned Parenthood wherever that argument is engaged, whether it be on an appropriations bill, which will be harder to prevail on, or on this reconciliation package, which is a once-in-a-year effort which doesn’t require a supermajority of votes in the Senate. And that’s why we’re optimistic that we have a good, God willing, good opportunity to defund Planned Parenthood this go around. And I do believe President Trump will be solidly behind this effort. He’s already called for a pause on Planned Parenthood. He’s done some other great things vis-a-vis funding. So Mexico City policy, for example. So call your congressman, defund Planned Parenthood and call again and call again and have others do the same thing. Because the other side is doing it. You know, I get mail the other way all the time. Emails, you know, the old style of letters that show up and phone calls. So I would strongly urge that we need to get. And if we have any any weaker links out there, members who don’t want to do it. encourage them to have the courage to defend the most innocent and the most vulnerable among us unborn babies and by extension during that period of time when they’re so vulnerable, the women.
SPEAKER 10 :
Folks, you can call the capital switchboards 202-224-3121. That’s 202-224-3121. Also, a better option so you can take action in real time as these things are unfolding in the days and weeks ahead is to have the stand firm app and get push notifications so we can tell you who to contact, when to contact and what to say. So we make it easy for you. All right, we just have about four minutes left, Congressman Smith. And this week, USURF releasing its report. Now, last time you were on the program about three weeks ago was after a hearing you held and your subcommittee and the Foreign Affairs Committee about Nigeria. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom once again making that recommendation that the Trump administration identify them as a country of particular concern so that measures can be taken to improve religious freedom in that country.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, Tony, thank you for testifying. You served as chairman of that very powerful commission on religious freedom. And I thank you for your leadership there. And again, your comments and the comments of our other very distinguished witnesses, including Nina Shea. We had a bishop come and testify from he flew over from Nigeria to present. And he talked about how Especially the Fulani, but also Boko Haram and other radical Islamists are killing Christians with impunity. There’s no other country in the world where more Christians are killed, slaughtered simply because of their faith. In China, there are many more who are arrested. They go to prison, but they’re not executed. Here we have… churches being firebombed and all the rest. So the commission that you once headed as chairman did call yesterday that there be a, you know, a designation of country of particular concern, which was a phraseology created by the great Congressman Frank Wolf. It’s his law called the International Religious Freedom Act. And once they’re so designated, there is a whole series of sanctions that part two designation based on the record part two is to is to sanction them uh and we would be calling on the administration to one name them speak truth to power unfortunately under biden they fecklessly dealt with human rights in on every category and on religious freedom they were horrible uh and especially as it related to nigeria uh our former secretary of state went to wabuja the capital of nigeria and just got rid of the CPC status, which is not a good status. It’s a black mark on them that had been put on by Trump during his years. We need to put that on again and press hard to protect these churches and, above all, to protect the Christians from slaughter.
SPEAKER 10 :
Chris, just about a minute left. Also on that list of recommendations for CPC status was Vietnam and India, two countries that have grown increasingly hostile toward religious freedom and Christians in particular.
SPEAKER 11 :
And Nicaragua is on there as well. But you’re right. Vietnam, I’ve gotten passed in the House of Representatives on three occasions. The Vietnam Human Rights Act. And in their narrative about Vietnam, the commission explicitly calls for passage again of my bill, the Vietnam Human Rights and Democracy Act. And also, above all, that it right now be named as CPC. They are torturing. They are forcing people to renounce their faith. This is a dictatorship. And any kind of false sense that this is part of our China card strategy needs to be jettisoned. We don’t work with dictatorships that do such horrible damage to Christians. And India, of course, has one major problem after another under Modi, who’s the prime minister there.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman Chris Smith, I want to thank you for joining us today, and again, thank you for your tremendous leadership on Capitol Hill.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you. Tony, thank you for your leadership. It’s amazing.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Chris Smith from New Jersey, great friend and great patriot. This is something to pray about, the persecution of Christians around the globe. It’s intensifying, and we need to speak out with a unified voice as a nation, and we need to be praying to that end as believers. Out of time for today. Thanks for joining us. Until next time, remember the words of the Apostle Paul, when you’ve done everything you can do, when you’ve prayed, prepared, taken your stand, keep standing.
SPEAKER 07 :
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.
