On today’s program: Scott Perry, U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 10th District, criticizes the Biden administration’s escalation of American involvement in the war between Ukraine and Russia as well as shares how House Republicans are holding
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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 sound bites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 13 :
Chairman Perry, we do have an ongoing investigation, and we have questioned other personnel in this chain of command, and we find no information about at this point that there was anything beyond her direction to her employees to skip and bypass a home.
SPEAKER 11 :
Welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. That was FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell responding to Subcommittee Chairman Scott Perry earlier today regarding allegations of FEMA employees refusing aid to Trump supporters. Chairman Perry will join us in just a moment. President Biden’s decision to greenlight the use of U.S.-made longer-range missiles in Ukraine’s war with Russia has triggered strong response from Republicans.
SPEAKER 07 :
What Biden is doing is totally reckless, Laura. It is absolutely reckless. And let’s not forget, this is a guy who the Democrats decided couldn’t be trusted, didn’t have the capability to run a presidential campaign. And now here he is, potentially leading us down the path to World War III with just weeks to go in his presidency. It is unbelievably reckless and irresponsible.
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That was Missouri Senator Josh Hawley last night on the Ingram Angle. Russia has also responded with reports indicating that they have adjusted their nuclear weapons doctrine to respond to this development. Could this escalate out of control before January the 20th? We’ll discuss it. And is the left really, are they really engaging in soul searching?
SPEAKER 12 :
There’s obviously a lot of soul searching right now going on within the Democratic Party, and that’s a good thing. But what I worry about is that in the course of all that soul searching, some Democrats might reach the wrong sweeping conclusions. And there are a lot of issues that fall into that bucket. But one in particular that stuck out to me is transgender rights.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, that was MSNBC host and former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. We’ll delve into how this issue of transgenderism impacted the 2024 election and preview an upcoming Supreme Court case on the topic. FRC’s Dr. Jennifer Bowens will provide insights. Finally, the connection between the open border and child trafficking was front and center on Capitol Hill today.
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The Biden-Harris administration has stated that they have the most humanitarian border policies in history, yet we witness these horrors that are happening, and there’s nothing humanitarian about enabling criminal cartels to exploit, abuse, and profit from vulnerable children.
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That was Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins, who chaired today’s hearing. How quickly can steps be taken by the new administration to protect children and seal the border? Oklahoma Congressman Josh Birkin is here with answers. The topics we’ll discuss today remind us of the urgent need for prayer as we navigate this lame duck period and approach a very significant transition in leadership. This moment demands more than passive observation. It demands unified and fervent prayer. And so we believe this is a season where heightened spiritual vigilance is absolutely essential. And that’s why we’ve launched Operation Prayer Shield, which is a collective prayer initiative seeking God’s divine protection, his wisdom and guidance for our nation, our leaders and for Israel during this critical time. So from now until January 20th, I invite you to join me. With Operation Prayer Shield, just text the word SHIELD, S-H-I-E-L-D, to 67742. That’s 67742. You’ll receive alerts, daily prayer points, and other resources to keep you engaged in praying in this mission. So let’s stand together and let’s cover our nation in prayer. Text SHIELD to 67742. Well, for the first time since the start of the Ukraine-Russian war, Kiev fired several U.S.-supplied longer-range missiles deep into Russia, hitting a Russian weapons arsenal, according to officials. Now, this attack comes just two days after the Biden administration gave the green light to Ukraine, a move that has Moscow rattling its nuclear saber once again. So how are policymakers viewing the nuclear threats coming from Russia? Should we be concerned about escalation? Join me now to discuss this and more is Congressman Scott Perry. He serves on four House committees, including the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee. He represents the 10th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He’s also a combat veteran who retired at the rank of brigadier general in March of 2019 after 40 years in uniform. Congressman Perry, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to see you.
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s great to be with you, Tony. And the escalation really has been all rushes from the start of this thing, most recently with introducing North Korean soldiers to the conflict. That having been said, this president, who, you know, wasn’t allowed to run again by his own party, let’s face it, those are just simply the facts, because of his cognitive decline, has made the decision on behalf of the United States to essentially allow Ukraine as a proxy now of the United States to attack Russia, one of our greatest strategic foes. And I think that’s dangerous. I think that’s, you know, that’s a questionable judgment. And I don’t know exactly what to make of Putin’s nuclear saber rattling, but I don’t think that that’s something that we want to take lightly for certain. You know, nuclear war is something… you can barely talk about, let alone experience. You know, it’s been a long time since any of that was engaged in for good reason. And I just don’t think it’s anything to be trifled with. And unfortunately, the current president of the United States, you know, his judgment is in question for sure on this decision.
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Congressman Perry, the criminal press secretary told reporters today that, quote, aggression against the Russian Federation by any non-nuclear state with the participation or support of a nuclear state is considered a joint attack, end quote. Now, we have we’ve heard a number of threats regarding nuclear use by the Russians. Is this different than what we’ve heard before?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, well, I think they’ve been there. They’re being very specific. Putin is being very specific. And essentially what he’s describing is the United States of America in a joint attack with Ukraine by virtue of us being a nuclear armed power. and attacking their homeland directly with munitions that we’ve provided, even though Ukraine has been the one to pull the trigger. The question will be, is he going to actually hold true and do something about it? But again, I don’t think we want to find out the easy way about that. We don’t want to find out that he’s true to his word and that there are nuclear rounds impacting anywhere in the world.
SPEAKER 11 :
Congressman, I know you’re close to President-elect Trump. And I would not be surprised for him to seek your insight on this. I know he’s got some good people he’s tapped as he comes in with his second administration. What do you see as an off-ramp here to de-escalate the situation? Obviously, Russia started this with the invasion of Ukraine. How do we get out of this? How do we solve this or help this? the parties over there resolve this so that this does not grow into a bigger issue in Europe and beyond?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I think, look, Ukraine wants their territorial integrity, and I support that. They should be a sovereign nation. That includes Crimea. Allegedly, at the beginning of this, Russia didn’t want Ukraine to be a NATO nation. And I think that that’s where the center of the discussion should be. And quite honestly, I don’t think that Ukraine is ready to be a NATO-aligned nation. And, furthermore, NATO needs to do more of its own work to shore up its own defenses, as opposed to relying on the United States of America. And I’m not sure that we lose much in Ukraine not being a NATO-confirmed nation. And so if we can get to a point where Ukraine can receive its territorial integrity back and there’s a commitment to hold off on a NATO-involved Ukraine, I think that that’s a place where that will end the killing and allow Ukraine to progress and calm Russia’s fears down of having a neighbor right on their border that’s so adversarially opposed to them. And I think that that might be the sweet spot where we can all sleep well at night if we can have that conversation.
SPEAKER 11 :
Would that be facilitated by the United States once again pledging to support Ukraine if they are not in NATO, that we would still stand with them if there’s further aggression by Russia?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it might be part of the details. And Russia’s probably not going to like that either. But they’ve got to understand Ukraine has been invaded by them. And so they’re going to be interested in their own sovereignty and protecting their own people and their own borders, and rightly so. So I think Russia’s going to have to be realistic about that. At the same time, I think there are limits to what the United States can do 5,000 miles away from its shores to protect other countries. And Ukraine has to be realistic about that as well.
SPEAKER 11 :
Do you think that Vladimir Putin is looking for that off ramp?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think that we’re looking for the off ramp more than he is, and that’s very concerning to me. This hasn’t negatively affected his economy. It hasn’t negatively affected his political popularity. And so that’s not the best negotiating place for the United States of America, for Europe or for NATO or Ukraine, for that matter. The question is, is what he does now, and does that imperil the circumstances where he seems to be in a good position right now? These things can turn very, very quickly, and he might not want to gamble with that. He might want to leave while the getting is good, so to speak. We just don’t know. I don’t know exactly what’s in his heart right now or what his ultimate goal is.
SPEAKER 11 :
Good enough. I want to switch gears. We just got a few minutes left. You chair the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a subcommittee day on economic development, public buildings and emergency management. Your committee you held today, hearing you held today with the FEMA administrator. What can you tell us about that?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, among other things, FEMA is requesting another $100 billion in disaster relief aid money where they’ve spent it. And, of course, Americans are very frustrated when the Department of Homeland Security, which also includes FEMA, is spending billions of dollars on people here illegally. while American citizens can’t get federal disaster relief from their own government. That having been said, the response in some of these recent disasters is painfully and unacceptably slow. And furthermore, we found out through FEMA’s admission that at least one of their employees, and we’re trying to determine if this is a culture associated with this, but they denied or passed over political rivals to the Biden administration in the disaster-affected areas. So if you had a Trump sign in your yard and you just got flooded out, FEMA didn’t bother coming to your house, but they went to the house right next to you because it had a Biden-Harris sign. We’re trying to get to the bottom of that story, but FEMA was not very cooperative, in my opinion, as the chairman of the committee in asking the questions.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, one of the employees that was fingered in this has said that they’re being treated as the scapegoat, that this is more pervasive within the agency. What did you come away with based upon the testimony of Ms. Criswell, the administrator?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, the administrator denies that it’s any more than one person, but the administrator also said that they are conducting the investigation, to which I said there should be an independent investigation, because obviously FEMA has every interest in making sure that this story doesn’t go further and we don’t find out the facts if other people, especially up the chain of command, were involved. And so I’ve called for an IG investigation, and I got her to agree to request one. So we’re going to see if she stands true to that. And then we’re going to have an impartial investigation, I hope, to get to the bottom of this to find out if it was one person that’s now being scapegoated or there was this culture of political retribution within the halls of FEMA, which apparently at some level weaponized their authority over the American people and the people that they didn’t agree with politically.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, we look forward to seeing the results of that investigation. Hopefully it won’t get lost in the transition as a new administration comes in, because those are fundamental issues that the American people deserve to be treated fairly by their own government.
SPEAKER 09 :
Indeed. And we’re going to keep track of it regardless of the transition. We’re going to run this to ground until we have the answers.
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All right. Congressman Scott Perry, always great to see you. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you. God bless you. God bless you. Thank you.
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All right, folks, stick with us. We’re back with more after this.
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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.
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Let’s not be discouraged. Don’t lose heart. Don’t lose the faith. Stand now strong because the Lord has given us the great privilege of living in a time when our choices matter, when our lives matter, when our courage matters. So let’s stand together and save this great country. God bless the United States of America.
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The American Republic has a freedom like no other. It has roots in the scriptures far more than any other heritage. And if we as followers of Jesus and conservatives don’t defend it, who will?
SPEAKER 01 :
Neutrality is not an option. There are many Christians who believe that if we just keep our heads down, if we just don’t say the wrong thing, that somehow we will come out of this unscathed. You’re naive if you think that, because what they want from us is not our silence. What they want from us is our submission.
SPEAKER 06 :
Part of the dilemma of Christianity in our generation is that we’ve relied a little too much on human wisdom and human reasoning, human strength, human resource, and we’ve relied too little on the power of God and God’s ability to open doors that we can’t open and do things that we couldn’t even hope to begin to do.
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This may not be an easy task, But we are living in a moment of challenge, but also a great opportunity. And we know always that we are not alone, that his spirit empowers us and protects us, and that he can do the unimaginable. Dobbs, after all, was never supposed to happen.
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Father, we thank you. You have entrusted us with this moment in history, and I pray that we would be found faithful, and that as a result of our faithfulness to you, that thousands, millions would come into the kingdom as they would experience the forgiveness of sin and the new life that is found only in Jesus Christ. Amen.
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Are you a Christian parent looking to raise a spiritual champion in today’s culture? Renowned author George Barna has written a new book, Raising Spiritual Champions. This book offers valuable insights based on extensive research conducted by George Barna, the Family Research Council, and Arizona Christian University. Learn how to help your children discern biblical truth and find compelling meaning and purpose. Don’t miss out on this essential resource for parents. Order your copy today.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us on this Tuesday afternoon. The website TonyPerkins.com. But I encourage you to download the Stand Firm app. That way you have access to Washington Watch, the Washington Stand, news alerts, legislative alerts, all on your smartphone. Go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app or simply text APP, that’s APP, to 67742 and I’ll send you a link. And there’s also exclusive content that’s only found on the app. So go ahead and download the Stand Firm app. Following the decisive victory of President-elect Donald Trump, some Democrats, well, they’ve had some second thoughts about the path that the radical element of their party is taking them down. recognizing that a large majority of Americans simply do not agree with this radical agenda. A new poll conducted by Scott Rasmussen’s RMG Research found that just 18% of voters, 18%, think that it should be legal to provide minors with puberty blockers, drugs, and or surgeries to help them cosmetically become another gender. 72%, 72% say it should be against the law. These are numbers that reasonable Democrats can’t ignore. So could we see more Democrats shift on the transgender issue following this past election? And why was it that Republicans were so successful on this issue, speaking frequently about it? Joining me now to discuss this and much more, Dr. Jennifer Bowens, Director of the Center for Family Studies here at the Family Research Council. Dr. Bowens, thanks for joining me today.
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s good to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 11 :
So have we reached a tipping point on this issue? I mean, we’ve been talking about this for quite some time. What has brought us to this point where the American people are saying, yeah, this is crazy. We don’t need to be doing this.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, I think we’ve seen on full display a number of sports teams, young women having to face off with men. And we’ve seen the harms that have come to these young women from volleyball, the field hockey, the boxing ring. I mean, we’ve seen it on full display in our culture. And so people who may not be following the science and all of the things that we do regularly on this program, they’ve been involved in sports and they’ve seen what’s happened to young women and they think this is really unjust. You know, these young women have worked hard to get to where they’re at and they’re having it taken away just because somebody has a different biology than they do. and there’s a group of people who don’t wanna live in reality about that. So I think Democrats have a real opportunity to be honest and embrace reality on this issue because they have the science, they have public opinion, they have culture with sports, it’s all pointing to, it’s time to rethink your position here.
SPEAKER 11 :
It has come to a point where even we have members of Congress now. We have a new member elect, Sarah McBride. He is, I assume it’s a he, that is a she. And this has prompted Nancy Mace from North Carolina, from South Carolina, to introduce legislation or rules in Congress to prohibit people from opposite biological sexes from using the opposite bathroom. I mean, I find this very interesting because it wasn’t that long ago that we had this huge national debate over North Carolina when North Carolina said, look, we’re not going to allow you to use a bathroom of the opposite sex. And we had sporting teams saying we’re not going to North Carolina. We had, you know, series being pulled from the state. But now we see this battle even raging in Capitol Hill, and most people see this as very common sense, that if you’re a male, biological male, you use the men’s restroom. Again, we’ve reached a point where it appears that most of Americans see through this nonsense that’s been pushed by the left.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, I think we are at a real, thankfully, at a tipping point. And we also have a president-elect who has vowed to address this head on. And that’s also very encouraging, as for many of us who’ve seen this at play for decades now. And I think one thing that, you know, in the recent controversy as Democrats are coming out about this, there was a Representative Moulton who, he had a very interesting perspective. He shared on a few shows where He basically said, you know, I’ve come out and said, let’s have a conversation about this topic, the transgender topic. And he received a lot of backlash and, you know, actually hang ups from his colleagues. And I think that picture really crystallizes what has been going on behind the scenes in the academic space, in the medical, psychological professions, where there’s absolutely no room, to quote the representative, there’s no room for discourse. And that’s just not going to fly these days. Thankfully, it’s not going to fly in the face of all of the sway of public opinion that wants our government to deal with this and take action to protect children and to protect young women in sports.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, Dr. Bounds, I think you’re absolutely right. The sporting issue, fairness has brought this to the forefront. It’s no longer a theoretical issue. You know, we warned that these types of things would happen when we redefined marriage because if you can redefine what is in natural law and has been, you know, throughout time, the norm, just because of how you feel and what you want, there’s no stopping that. So while I’m encouraged by this, I’m wondering if it will prompt more soul searching as to how we got here and how we prevent further devolving of understanding morality, biology, etc.? ?
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, I hope so. And one of the things that you hear right now from from Democrats is at least this is the way I was taking it is that, you know, we hear the public and we are willing to have discussions to change our views. And and that’s good. I mean, because the government’s for the people, it’s not for an elected official. But, you know, I am hearing that, OK, we’re just going to change because the tide is changing. And again, that’s good. But where is that moral compass, that plumb line that says I’m doing this because of of my beliefs?
SPEAKER 11 :
And I think that’s that’s what has to be interjected into this conversation at this moment. All right, Dr. Bowens, we’re up against a break, but we’re going to come back and continue our conversation, folks. So stick with us. Don’t go away.
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All of us are born with the desire to find truth and meaning. Where did I come from? What happens when I die? While our answers to these questions may divide us, we are united in our need for the freedom to answer life’s biggest questions and make life’s biggest decisions for ourselves. That’s why religious freedom matters for everyone. Religious freedom matters because the powerful have long wanted to control those who are less powerful. Religious freedom matters because the freedom of those who are different is often threatened by those who believe different is dangerous. Leah Sharibu, a Christian teenager in Nigeria, remains a captive of Boko Haram for her refusal to renounce her Christian faith. Chinese pastor Wang Yi is serving a nine-year sentence for speaking publicly against the Chinese government. In Pakistan, Asif Pervez is on death row for allegedly sending a blasphemous text message. All of this because people in power decided different is dangerous. at the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council. We promote religious freedom for everyone because the only alternative is religious freedom for no one. We encourage Americans and the American government to engage and advocate for the persecuted. And they do. We work every day to bring good news to the afflicted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners. We do it because that’s what Jesus does. We work to give freedom to others because we ourselves have been set free.
SPEAKER 11 :
This is Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins. Good to have you with us. My guest, Dr. Jennifer Bowens, director of the Center for Family Studies here at the Family Research Council. We are discussing the issue of transgenderism and how that factored into the 2024 presidential election and national elections across the board. And also, there’s a Supreme Court case coming up the first week in December. We’re going to talk about that as well. Dr. Bowens, thanks for sticking around.
SPEAKER 19 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. So before I get into this Supreme Court case for December the 4th, I believe it is on Tennessee’s SAFE Act. That’s the law protecting children, minors from these experimental drugs and surgeries. I want to go back to where we were at as we came up to that break about. How we take this moment to have the deeper conversations to probe how we got here and how we possibly restore the foundations. I think there’s a teaching moment here. It’s almost parabolic. We see this playing out before us, the sports issues, but how do we take that to have a deeper conversation?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, I think getting back to what truth is, the Bible says that truth has fallen in the streets, and that we’re to rescue truth, we’re to grab hold of truth. And what has happened is that we have a party and many systems in our society that have completely relinquished truth and have based reality off of psychology, off of feelings and what I want and desire and what I’m also presented as a consumer. As we see with the trans issue, psychology and clinical practices become consumer driven rather than good practice driven. So, you know, we have to come back to a place of really, well, for one, sharing the truth, sharing the truth and love with our neighbors and with those having courageous discussions wherever possible. I think that these are really important and fundamental to the stability of our society and to carrying on in democracy. We can’t have a democracy that’s based on whatever fad
SPEAKER 11 :
Flies by the wind. And silencing discussion in terms of how we reach consensus. You are working on a book with Walt Heyer, who has detransitioned. You have your background in studying in trauma. Let me ask this question, because you said this, we need to speak the truth in love. And I think we need to be looking at those who are struggling with gender dysphoria and And understand that many of them have incidents and events in their past that have triggered that. And so there is, in some ways, it’s a defense mechanism. And we need to be mindful of that and need to be, when we’re approaching it, approaching it prayerfully and compassionately, but still truthfully.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yes, that’s right. And, you know, we can step back from the transgender issue and think about, you know, if you know someone who’s ever struggled with hating a body part or, you know, maybe obsessing about a body part. This might be far off for some people. If you remember Michael Jackson, he had… some twinges of this. And if you just address that discomfort by having plastic surgeries and so on, you never get to the root issue. And so what happens with a lot of people who are treated in that way, then another hatred of something else of themselves pops up. And so this is the same thing that’s happened on the transgender issue. we’re not dealing with the root issues and so you know sometimes this issue can be very scary because it’s it’s so politically charged but when we’re dealing with someone who has this going on there are deeper things that need to be addressed so as much as possible that we can be open and wanting to learn about the person’s experience while at the same time you know, not caving to a delusion because that’s what it is. It’s delusional.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. We just we cannot conflate love with affirmation. We need to love everyone. We can’t affirm every choice. Dr. Bowen’s just got a couple of minutes left. The court case, December the 4th, the Tennessee measure that protects children. Talk about it. What’s what’s going to be before the court?
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah, so what is before the court is basically there are a number of states that have passed legislation to protect children from the transgender procedures, and Tennessee is the same. Essentially, there are some families in Tennessee that are trying to oppose that and say that they need the transgender procedures. So the Supreme Court is going to hear this case. And again, here we have another example of consumer-driven practices that are not based on science. So what we have done at Family Research Council and along with other groups, we have submitted briefs that address the science, the true science that is has been used to support these procedures and we We pull that apart and show how it is not good science. And also another argument that is very prominent on this case is that all the medical organizations are for transient kids. you know, we also address that in our brief and talk about how, you know, we could spend a lot of time on this, Tony, but there are a lot of systems at play that really need to be addressed because just like as the representative said in our earlier, that I cited in our earlier segment, there’s no room for these discussions. So you can imagine how that plays out in the academic space, in the scientific space when people are competing for money, For tenure, it’s on and on. And so we do address that in our brief along with many other groups that you can’t trust the medical profession on this topic at this time.
SPEAKER 11 :
Unfortunate but true. I’m sure we’ll be talking about it more as we approach December the 4th. Dr. Bowens, thanks for joining us. Always great to have you on the program.
SPEAKER 19 :
Good to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, folks, stick with us. Back with more after this.
SPEAKER 11 :
Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But do you know the Bible talks about four institutions of government? Do you know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing, separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 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 worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They’re disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn’t begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. but that won’t happen if people can’t recognize a lie and don’t believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release, and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 11 :
Join us for Operation Prayer Shield as we pray for our nation during this transition time. As you’ve heard, you’ve been listening to the entire program, we’ve got a lot of threats internationally. The world is on fire and it becomes more dangerous when We don’t have a steady hand at the wheel. So let’s pray. Pray for our leaders. Pray for the incoming administration. We’re going to give you some specific prayer points and alerts when things occur. So if you’d like to join us, text the word SHIELD to 67742. That’s SHIELD to 67742. And join us for Operation Prayer Shield. Our word for today comes from 2 Kings chapter 15. In the 38th year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam, reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord. Then Shalom, the son of Jabesh, conspired against him, struck him and killed him in front of the people, and he reigned in his place. If you read that chapter, there’s a rapid succession of five kings in just over 20 years in Israel. And it underscores the instability caused by sin and rebellion. As Proverbs 28, 2 states, because of the transgressions of the land, many are its princes. You see, violence and lawlessness only perpetuate themselves. as seen in the conspiracies and assassinations that plagued Israel. This principle remains true today. Lawlessness cannot be overcome by more lawlessness. Restoring the rule of law requires working within the law, even when others don’t. However, lasting stability cannot be achieved through laws alone. True transformation begins with the heart. Through faith in Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, individuals are empowered to live righteously, influencing families and communities for good. Join us in our journey through the Bible. Text BIBLE to 67742. Earlier today, two subcommittees in the House Homeland Security Committee held a joint hearing titled Trafficked, Exploited, and Missing Migrant Children, Victims of the Biden-Harris Administration. The hearing was heart-wrenching and laid bare the human toll the Biden-Harris Administration has had on illegal immigrant children, as well as the Americans tasked to deal with the unabated surge of illegal immigration. So what were the takeaways? And what might the incoming administration do to correct this course quickly? Join me to discuss this. Congressman Josh Burkine, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, as well as the House Budget Committee. He represents Oklahoma’s second congressional district. Congressman Burkine, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to see you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you, Tony. And I think you left out the district that I was born in.
SPEAKER 11 :
That’s right. That’s right. So we’ve got that connection, that Oklahoma connection. And by the way, congratulations on your reelection to Congress. Thank you. So let me get your thoughts as you set through today’s hearing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you used the word gut-wrenching. That’s what it was. When you hear that we’re not only talking about children that are being abused sexually, but we’re also talking about the organ harvesting that’s occurring where a child had an eye removed and the payment was $15,000. These are children that are without parents, without true guardianship, and they’re America is one of the largest consumers of child pornography. And then to hear that we’ve got livers being purchased by U.S. citizens taking from minors south of the border on their way into the United States. You know, glaring part of the testimony was when my colleague from Louisiana asked the witnesses, well, how do you solve this moving ahead? We’ve got a mandate now with the Trump administration. And out of the witness’s mouth, shut the border down. Stop the enrichment of the cartel that is preying upon these innocent victims.
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, Josh, we’ve talked a lot about this from a standpoint of the foundation of our government being Christian principles. This nation was founded upon that for years, has guided this country. The scripture speaks to how we address this issue. People say it doesn’t talk about the border.
SPEAKER 05 :
I loved your intro. I loved your intro.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s spot on. We’ve got to get back to those biblical truths because the rule of law is actually an issue of justice. And what we’ve seen at the border is injustice, and we’re seeing it play out with these children. The most vulnerable among us are being abused because we lack the fortitude and the understanding and the moral foundation to uphold the rule of law. Am I right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, look, Ecclesiastes 8, I looked at it again today just thinking upon this. It’s a scripture I should have put to memory. I’ve thought upon it often throughout the years, but it says when the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the heart of the people is enticed to do more evil. I think it’s Ecclesiastes 8.11 if I looked it up correctly and started to put it to memory. But lawlessness compounds lawlessness. And I’m excited about what I believe, what just happened in the election process with the swing states and with the popular vote, that there is a great awakening happening in this country and people’s hearts are stirred for order and righteousness and an end to lawlessness in this nation.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, going back to what I said at the beginning of this segment, we can’t think that our responsibility to restore the moral foundation ended on November the 5th just by voting back in an administration that’s going to uphold the rule of law. It’s going to take more than the rule of law.
SPEAKER 05 :
Look, I’ve got a great senior pastor of my church, Dwayne Sheriff, and on Sunday he talked about that, you know, absolutely, that politics is downstream of the culture that the church for years in America was the leading influencer of. And as the pulpits have stopped flowing, you know, flaming with righteousness. So people have began to not know what was up and down and left and right. And where we begin to, as Isaiah talks about, substitute good for evil, evil for good, bitter for sweet, sweet for bitter, light for dark. And so when the pulpits, when we don’t have hirelings in the pulpit anymore, people are more concerned about their tithe coming in And they’re more concerned about being, as I think Ezekiel 33 talks about, being a shepherd that is not shearing the sheep, but is really a watchman on the wall. I know you guys have an entire program devoted to that. It comes from Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33, if my memory serves me. That you are truly watchmen on the wall. then as I think Ezekiel 34 talks about, then these pastors resume the right standing to shepherd the people. And as a result, the people can really see clearly. I think there’s also a scripture in Proverbs that talks about don’t remove the ancient boundary which was set there by your fathers. Right. That’s an agrarian, agricultural thing for those of us that grew up in the ranching or farming industry. When those boulders are big enough, you don’t take the time to move them because, I don’t care what GPS says, it was too hard to move those boundaries. And yet we’re moving the boundaries of what our founding fathers set in place and even above that scriptural truth.
SPEAKER 11 :
But what you saw today, Josh… shows, I mean, I wish more Americans could see the result of the failure to adhere to the law, to hold the rule of law. And we’ve been told, and I know we don’t believe it, but many Americans do, for the last four years, oh, we’re trying to be compassionate. This is the compassionate approach. Let people to come in. They’re wanting to escape chaos in their own countries and so on and so forth. We’ve pushed them right into the arms of despair, destruction through the cartels and children. I mean, think about this. The most vulnerable among us now being trafficked as a result of this policy.
SPEAKER 05 :
Look, the witnesses today, one of them who is a leading expert on human trafficking said, I think it was their testimony, but they were in agreement when someone said, we are pushing them into the hands of criminals and pedophiles. And this administration, this current administration, the Biden administration revoked a policy that had been in place for a number of months to years that said that when someone presents himself as a sponsor for a child, an unaccompanied minor, then we’re going to do a DNA test to make sure that they’re actually who they say they are. And they disbanded that. And the problem with that is that they cited a case recently where a minor child showed up trying to go along with the narrative that this person wanted to be their sponsor is not the result of all the bruising and what they later discovered, this child had been raped. And they talked about eight-year-olds that had STDs, Tony, at the border. Talked about 12-year-olds pregnant. I mean, it’s just heinous. And again, they were asked, what would you do to change all of this? And they said, shut the border down. This is enriching the cartel.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, the DNA testing, actually, I was in a meeting with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions with a group of pastors at a crisis point before the border was under control in the first Trump administration. And that idea was given to him. through someone who did the DNA testing for bodies that were being found and said this could be done in a rapid form within 24 hours. Of course, it’s been enhanced even more since then. And so the administration started doing that. So it was being done back then. This administration drops it. And now we have children that have just disappeared that have been… 300,000. Yeah, so what information came forth today on those children that have been lost by this administration?
SPEAKER 05 :
The Government Accountability Office was involved today. They had reports going back a number of years saying, what are we going to do to be able to track these young adults? One of the things that GAO recommended was a virtual, I’m sorry, not a virtual, a live visit at least three times to make sure that the child was attending school, to make sure the child was in a safe environment. There was a third element I’m forgetting. But I had the very same question. I didn’t get a chance to ask the GAO. They were saying that Homeland Security is starting the process to adhere to that. The problem is, Tony, as I heard today in testimony, the cartel has learned to take these… They found a five-year-old’s passport purposely discarded at the border. They don’t want these children… really identified, they want their true identity discarded so they can rename them, and they make someone, you know, without the ability to be tracked. And then this is how they slip through, and this is how they remain anonymous, and this is how they become just a number. So even though GAO is, and I hope in a new administration, that they fully fulfill the obligation to go and do these three site visits, We’ve got to make sure that we really know who these kiddos are. So going forward. Because of the mass exodus from South America, they’ve been so overburdened. They just want to sweep this aside and speed up the placement process with sponsors because they didn’t like the embarrassment of the visual at the border.
SPEAKER 11 :
So Congressman Burkine. You mentioned the number one thing to stop the flow is to close the border, and we know that can be done because the Trump administration did it the first time. I was there shortly after they did it. It was like a ghost town. People weren’t coming across. How do we get a handle then? What are the next steps that need to be taken to find these children, rescue these children, and stop what was started under this administration?
SPEAKER 05 :
Tony, that’s a big question still hanging out there. Because these are children, a lot of them were sent a notice to appear. One of the things that was talked about is criminal punishment for the people who sign up as sponsors and yet are defrauding the federal government, that are lying to the federal government.
SPEAKER 09 :
Which is a crime.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. But there’s got to be a consequence for that. Someone who signs up as a sponsor and then the child is untraceable, untrackable, and And they’re complicit in that. This has to be more than, uh-oh, you know, I’m sorry.
SPEAKER 11 :
But I just, I want people to, this is a prayer issue, frankly. I agree with you. Because, I mean, I just want, we talk about numbers, and we lose the fact that each one of these 300,000 children.
SPEAKER 05 :
100,000 a year, Tony. It was 100,000 a year coming across the border, these unaccompanied minors. And so, you know, we don’t really… Statistics, right? Someone say 98% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I think about that. And I think that’s probably, you know, tongue in cheek. That’s kind of what I think maybe even that 300,000, that’s sad.
SPEAKER 11 :
Even if it’s three dozen, these are each children that have a future that is, you know, think about it with what they have gone through, what they are presently going through. And I mean, who would want their child going through that? Really sad. I mean, this, this is in America bears responsibility for this. I know it was the Biden Harris administration, but we’re all a part of this and we’ve got to fix it and we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there, there was a document, there was a communication sharing and even up until this administration where health and human services in coordination with Homeland security and the apparatus of placement ice, et cetera. they were communicating. That longstanding agreement, I think it goes back even to 94, was discarded. So there’s lots of information sharing that’s not been taking place. I mean, it’s just really astounding. There’s so much. You hate to just question people’s motives. That’s between them and God. But other than for power and control and what it means for census and long-term becoming US citizens to gain access to the vote. You kind of wonder what’s really been going on.
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, they know it and they know this. This is not hidden. This information has been coming forth for a number of years now. They would sacrifice these children in order to gain political power through the manipulation of the census. And of course, I mean, they were aborting them. They want to abort them. That was their number one policy for the Democratic Party. So I guess trafficking kids to them is really no different.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, as it came up in this committee, someone said, look, if the sexual assault and the sexual abuse that we know is taking place, some in the room among the Democrats were questioning the truthfulness of this organ harvesting. And the witnesses came back and said, absolutely, it’s happening. I mean, if you can’t think that people that are heinous enough to be okay with sexually abusing kiddos might not also want to profit off of organs, you’re not understanding the reality of evil and it compounding upon evil.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, Josh, it makes it very difficult for us to point our fingers at a place like China that is doing organ harvesting from minorities when we’re allowing that to occur from children. It’s tragic. Josh Perkin, I want to thank you for joining us and sharing the insights with us today. Always good to see you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tony, always honored to be with FRC. God bless you.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. And folks, do put this on your prayer list. We need to pray that these children are identified, they’re found, they’re rescued. We bear the responsibility for this. This is tragic. All right, we’re out of time for today. Thanks for joining us. Until next time, I leave you with the words of the Apostle Paul, where he says, when we’ve done everything we can do, when we’ve prayed, when we’ve prepared, And when we’ve taken our stand, we just need to keep standing.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
