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Join Tony Perkins as he navigates the intricate waters of contemporary American politics in this episode of Washington Watch. From discussions on economic sanctions and the impact of a rescissions package to the increasing pressures within the Democratic Party, this episode is packed with substantial content. The podcast also covers crucial humanitarian efforts in Texas, spotlighting the tireless work of organizations like Samaritan’s Purse. Tune in to explore the multifaceted nature of politics and policy through a biblical lens.
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from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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Doge has spent like $2 trillion of waste, fraud, and abuse over the last 20-some years, $190 billion of cuts that they would like to make through wasted contracts and NGO grants. So this is a chance for Republicans to stand up and do what we said we were going to do. Surely 50 of us can do the right thing.
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That was Kansas Senator Roger Marshall earlier today discussing the rescissions bill now before the U.S. Senate, a bill that would roll back funds previously allocated under President Biden. Welcome to this July 4th and 14th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. With the 45-day clock running, can the Senate beat this week’s deadline to pass President Trump’s rescission package? We’ll get the latest from Missouri Congressman Jason Smith, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Also, President Trump is turning up the pressure on Russia, threatening sweeping economic sanctions if Putin refuses to reach a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine.
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We are very unhappy, I am, with Russia, and we’re going to be… doing very severe tariffs. If we don’t have a deal in 50 days, tariffs at about 100%, you’d call them secondary tariffs.
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North Carolina Congressman Pat Harrigan will weigh in on the Ukraine situation and Iran’s curious offer to resume talks with the U.S. as long as the U.S. pledges not to bomb them. Sounds like a non-starter to me. And is the Democratic Party about to self-destruct or remake itself as young Marxist and socialist attempt to wrestle control of the party from what they call the gray hairs that are not radical enough? I’ll be joined by the Washington stand’s Suzanne Bowdy and Casey Harper for that conversation. And in Texas, the search continues for flood victims.
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We will maintain our operations to search and find everybody that we can, as well as ensure that we’re going to rebuild this community from Hunt to Katmistic to Kerrville down below. We are committed for the long run, not just to rebuild, but to rebuild in a better way.
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That was Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday. But Texas isn’t alone. Many hands are helping. We’ll hear from Edward Graham of Samaritan’s Purse on their relief work and how you can get involved. All of that and more coming up on this Monday edition of Washington Watch. Well, the House and Senate are back in D.C. this week, and the countdown clock continues to tick away on the rescissions package still waiting to be passed. The Senate has until Friday to meet the 45-day deadline or the rescissions package dies. Now, it only requires 51 votes, so this should be easy. It should be an easy matter. Cutting spending, right? No, it is the Republicans that are uncomfortable with the spending reductions, at least some. Joining me now to discuss this and more is Congressman Jason Smith, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He represents the 8th Congressional District of Missouri. Chairman Smith, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great to be with you, as always.
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Well, first, congratulations on being playing a key role in shepherding the one big, beautiful bill all the way through the House and onto the president’s desk. Now, it’s been 10 days since that passed and it was signed into law. But Democrats are still talking about it and they’re still spreading. Well, let’s just say false facts. Your message to Americans.
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So the Democrats are doing what they do best, and that’s spreading a lot of hogwash. And they’re just not being factual when it comes to the one big, beautiful bill. This is the largest tax cut for working families, small businesses, and farmers in the history of this nation. It’s also the largest mandatory spending. cuts in the history of our nation. It’s the largest one-time investment in border security. It creates the Golden Dome to protect all Americans. It’s the largest welfare reforms in U.S. history. It makes the 96 welfare reforms look like peanuts compared to what’s in this bill. That’s some pretty major wins within this bill. The Democrats will say you’re going to cut millions of people off health care. The millions of people, Tony, that they’re referring to is the 4.8 million people, according to the Congressional Budget Office, of individuals, able-bodied, healthy adults with no kids. who just choose not to work because we put a work requirement for Medicaid. That is what they’re talking about. Plus, there’s 3.2 million people that will not be on Medicaid because they’re illegals. We’re making sure they’re not on there. And then there’s 1.3 million people that’s within it that are currently on Medicaid that shouldn’t be on Medicaid because they’re not eligible. Those are the people that when you hear the Democrats talk about being cut off the system, those are the people that’s being cut off. People who’s not eligible, they’re illegals, or they’re just able-bodied, healthy adults that refuse to work 20 hours a week.
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Chairman, I want you to unpack something for just a moment as you talk about the largest tax cut. I mean, if not, if this wasn’t passed, as we’ve talked about in this program before, huge tax increase. But the Democrats, the left would say, well, you’re just taking the money out of the pockets of the working man and putting it into the wallets of the billionaires. Speak to that.
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So I would ask the question, how many billionaires get paid on tips? How many billionaires work overtime hours? That’s not the case. The majority of this bill affects people who make less than $400,000 a year. This is a bill, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, tax relief for seniors. huge, huge wins for working families, expanding the child tax credit to $2,200 permanent. That’s a huge win for 40 million families across the United States. You could go on and on, whether increasing the benefits in the adoption tax credit to The 199A small business deduction, that helps so many small business pass-throughs to make sure that they have certainty in their investment. These are things that affect working Americans, small businesses. The Democrats are just simply not being honest whenever they say it’s helping the billionaires and the millionaires.
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All right, Chairman, final question on the reconciliation, then we’re going to move to the recisions. So what’s going to be the acid test for the consumers, for the voters, for the people out across America, that as they see this unfold, they’ll know who was telling the truth?
SPEAKER 03 :
They absolutely will. And what’s different about this bill than what happened in the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act is that it’s taking effect January 1st of this year. So this year that everyone is in, they have no tax on tips. They have no tax on overtime. And so whenever they file their taxes next spring, They’re going to see the benefits of a higher child tax credit, no tax on tips, no tax in overtime, lower tax rates. They’re going to see the fruits of those spirits before the next election.
SPEAKER 10 :
Good enough. We’ll be watching. And there’s nothing that you feel more than when you get your check and you see that the government’s hand is not in it. That’s a pretty good acid test. All right, let’s talk about another. Fiscally prudent move initiated by the Trump administration, approved by the House, now sitting over in the Senate. And it’s a part of the 1974 Budget Act, which allows for the administration to kind of claw back, if you will, money that was previously allocated. $9.4 billion in this first rescissions package. House passed it. It’s over in the Senate. They have until Friday to approve it. But there’s some Republicans that are getting a little timid about cutting.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, Tony, we had those same issues a couple weeks ago in the House of Representatives when we were trying to pass the rescissions package. But they got there. This is a very common sense, fiscally smart rescissions that the administration has asked Congress to do. The House delivered. I sure hope the Senate will deliver. um this shows this shows how difficult passage of the one big beautiful bill was um because of these razor-thin majorities in the house and the senate we cut 1.5 trillion dollars in in the one big beautiful bill this is a rescissions package of 9.4 billion Billion. They should be able to deliver on this. I hope the Senate follows through. Hope they get the 51 votes.
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Let’s talk just for a moment about process, because under the Budget Act, they have 45 days once the administration submits it. It has to be approved by Friday in the Senate, or what happens?
SPEAKER 03 :
Or it would have to be another another proposal. It’s within the guidelines they have within the 45 days to do. That’s why we acted several weeks ago in the House of Representatives. And they just need to get the job done.
SPEAKER 10 :
Are you concerned that they’ll do something similar to that they did on reconciliation? They’re going to wait to the 11th hour, approve it. After they amend it and make changes, there’s some that want to restore funding to NPR, some that want to restore funding to PEPFAR and send it over at the last minute to the House where the House has no options but to approve it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Then it likes to do that, Tony. You know that. That’s exactly how the nature of the Senate is. But if they amend it, it would only be to decrease the $9.4 billion. The $9.4 billion is a very common sense rescissions package. The administration, I expect them to send more rescissions to congress that congress needs to act but this is a very basic one i think they should be able to deliver on it but it would not surprise me tony by any means if they would amend it at the last hour and then pop it over to us on thursday
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Chairman, just got a couple of minutes left. Over the weekend, President Trump said he would slap 30 percent tariffs on goods imported from the European Union beginning the 1st of August. They met today. They are discussing their options in terms of a response or a negotiated settlement. Your thoughts?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the European Union needs to be a good trading partner. Their non-tariff barriers that they put on U.S. products, U.S. agriculture products is absolutely unacceptable. And let me just give you a couple notes. OF THE COUNTRY OF HONDURAS, 10 MILLION PEOPLE. THEY PURCHASED MORE PORK FROM THE UNITED STATES THAN THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN UNION COMBINED, WHICH HAS A POPULATION OF NEARLY 450 MILLION. THE POOR AFRICAN NATION AT PURCHASES MORE CHICKEN FROM THE UNITED STATES THAN THE ENTIRE EUROPEAN UNION COMBINED. AND WHY IS THAT? THESE NON-TARIFF BARRIERS THAT BASICALLY ELIMINATE OUR U.S. FARMERS FROM SELLING THOSE AG PRODUCTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION. THESE ARE REASONS WHY THIS ADMINISTRATION IS LEVERAGING THESE TARIFFS. THEY WANT THEM TO OPEN THEIR MARKETS FOR OUR FARMERS, OUR MANUFACTURERS, AND ONCE THEY DO THAT, those tariffs will definitely go down.
SPEAKER 10 :
Sounds like a level playing field.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s exactly what we’re asking for, is to make sure our farmers and our manufacturers are treated fairly on the world stage.
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Chairman, as always, great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us today. Have a great week.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, Tony. Always good to see you.
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Chairman Jason Smith, Ways and Means Committee, chairman from Missouri. When we come back, North Carolina Congressman Pat Harrigan joins us to talk about the latest White House announcement concerning the war in Ukraine. We’re also going to talk about Iran’s offer to restart talks if we promise not to bomb them. Don’t go away.
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The family is the oldest, most tested, and most reliable unit of society. It is divinely created and sustained. And yet, there are those who are always tampering with its values and structure. That’s why we need organizations like the Family Research Council that can effectively defend and strengthen the family.
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Family Research Council began over 40 years ago, like all great movements of God, with prayer. Today, rooted in the heart of the nation’s capital, FRC continues to champion faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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FRC is one of those bright lights that helps us focus on true north. And I shudder to think had they not been here that it could have been worse, worse, worse.
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The Family Research Council is key. It’s one of a handful of groups that I think will determine whether our children live in a country that enjoyed all of the freedom and all the opportunity that we enjoyed in this great land.
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It’s just a wonderful parachurch organization that doesn’t seek to take the place of the church, but it seeks to assist the family and the church as we try to move forward successfully, not in a defensive mode, but in an offensive mode as we seek to live our lives according to the Holy Scriptures.
SPEAKER 01 :
FRC is not going to be whooped. You know, we’re going to fight. We’re going to take a stand. And again, we don’t retreat.
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You will never see in front of this building here in Washington, D.C., a white flag flying. We will never step back. We will never surrender. And we will never be silent. Hello, friends, this is Tony Perkins. You know what? We just finished our 21 day family Bible challenge through the book of Matthew. And if you joined us, I pray that it has already borne fruit in your life and in your home as you place the Lord and his word at the center of your home. Now, our journey through the Bible doesn’t end here, though. The challenge was a part of our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. And from here, we’re going to cover the rest of the New Testament. And now that we’ve finished the book of Matthew, let me ask you, would you consider joining us for the rest of the journey through the Word of God? In 10 to 15 minutes a day, you’ll see how the good news of Jesus transformed the lives of common people, people just like you and me, and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. I invite you to continue the journey with me and discover the life-enriching power of the Word of God. Visit frc.org slash Bible for a reading plan. That’s frc.org slash Bible to learn more. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I hope you have the Stand Firm app. If you do not, go to the App Store and get the Stand Firm app and download it. That way you can have Washington Watch with you no matter where you go. You can also have access to the Washington Stand, our news and commentary from a biblical perspective. And it’s pretty much cancel-resistant. So when the left starts flipping switches, you can still get Washington Watch. All right. Earlier today, President Trump made a major announcement regarding the war between Russia and Ukraine. During an Oval Office meeting with the new NATO Secretary, General Mark Rutte, the president announced that he was giving Russian President Vladimir Putin 50 days to reach a peace deal with Ukraine or face steep secondary tariffs on Russia’s trading partners. He also shared that our European allies plan to buy billions of dollars U.S. military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country’s supplies of weapons. This is a big turnaround from what we saw just weeks ago. Joining me now to discuss this, Congressman Pat Harrigan, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, as well as the House Science Space Technology Committee. He represents the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina, and he is a former Special Forces in the United States Army. Congressman Harrigan, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. It’s always great to be with you. Thanks for having me. This is kind of a big shift, I think, where it looks like President Trump has finally run out of patience with Vladimir Putin.
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Perhaps, I think it’s definitely a inflection point in the conflict, but I don’t know that that inflection is actually moving our strategic interests forward. I think that President Trump has negotiated what’s really a fantastic business deal for American defense companies. I don’t know that it changes the overall strategic trajectory of American strategic interests vis-a-vis Ukraine. I think that this has really turned into a quagmire. I think we all understand that this conflict is not one that President Trump started. It has fallen to him to finish. And he’s tried to finish this conflict in earnest. But a very recalcitrant Vladimir Putin simply doesn’t seem like it. It’s in Russia’s best interest to end this conflict, and now that requires a different American response, which I think President Trump is very understanding of at this point in time, but certainly it’s an incredibly dynamic situation.
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Well, you use the word quagmire, and I don’t think any American, at least not very many, want to get sucked into another failed military engagement where we do not have the political will to finish. But there’s economic levers. The president making reference to sanctions in the Senate. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, introduced really steep secondary sanctions on those who buy Russian oil, trying to put the squeeze on them. Really kind of a model that was utilized with Iran back when President Obama was in office that brought them to the table to negotiate over their nuclear program, at least initially. Do you think we can get to where we need to be using the economic levers?
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I sure hope so. And I think the president certainly hopes so, too. I think there’s a difference between 100 percent tariff on Russian goods and actually sanctioning their bread and butter that drives their economy, that fuels this war effort in Ukraine, which would be sanctioning their fuel. So far, that is something that Europe has been unwilling to do because it will increase their per capita costs for energy, both cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. I think that’s something that the president should push 100 percent here because at the end of the day, if you want to starve Vladimir Putin’s military, you’ve got to cut off their revenue stream. Gas and oil is the way to do it.
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Well, and a lot of this is connected to China. They have their shadow fleet that they’re selling a lot of their oil to China, and that’s where they’re making a lot of their money.
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There’s no question about that. And if you look at what President Trump did by allowing China to continue to purchase Iranian oil, I think we can only come to the determination that that is to actually continue to put pressure, downward pressure on the price of Vladimir Putin’s oil and his gas as well. And so, look, the president is taking a very wise, full spectrum approach to this. We unfortunately are just in a situation where, as we learned at West Point, the enemy always gets a vote. And just because you want to end a conflict does not mean your adversary wants to end it. And we have to be responsive to their decisions.
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Right. And we’re not really a party to it. We’re just trying to bring about a resolution. We just have about a minute, two minutes left. You mentioned Iran. Let’s talk Iran for just a moment. Intel coming out suggesting that the strikes there were pretty extensive, more information coming forward every day. Iran now saying, you know what, we’re interested in talking. You know, we want to have some conversations again, but we want assurances that it’s not going to end up like it did last time. You’re not going to bomb us, basically. I mean, that should be a nonstarter. We shouldn’t agree to any terms. They don’t have any leverage over us at this point.
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That’s right. I mean, between the actions that President Trump took, sending B-2 bombers over there to set the nuclear program back by a number of years. And let me just state for the record, too, after going through the classified briefing, the end state of my receipt of that briefing was, Tony, I was proud to be an American. We got some incredible guys that did some absolutely incredible things on the ground over there in Iran. We got in. We got out. Israel has obviously been effectuating their own strategic outcomes in Iran. And America and Israel have been working together to create the scenario that we have today, which is Iran actually wants to come to the table. And that’s exactly what President Trump was trying to accomplish. And so, no, I think we hold all the cards. There should be no preconditions to this discussion moving forward. to the negotiations. And I don’t think President Trump is the type of leader that is going to acquiesce to that anyways. And so I think we’re in a really good place with Iran right now, and we should continue to be and make sure that they are not a nuclear-armed power moving forward.
SPEAKER 10 :
Speaking of that, Congressman, just a minute left. What’s the sense of how much their nuclear plan program has been set back? Are we talking months, years, decades?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think it’s in years. And also understanding from a cultural perspective, just a practical perspective with how Israel was actually able to systematically pick apart and eliminate their senior leadership, completely infiltrate their government from a source perspective. They have to question any movement in that direction moving forward in the future.
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Scared of their own shadow, I would think. Yes, 100%. Congressman Pat Harrigan, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER 09 :
Great to be with you, Tony. Thanks for having me.
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All right. Have a great week. All right. Coming up, more heavy rain hit flood ravaged Texas over the weekend. Edward Graham of Samaritan’s Purse joins me next to share about their relief efforts.
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The Center for Biblical Worldview’s all-day workshops delves into the formation of a worldview, what it is, how it’s formed, when it’s formed, what that means to them personally and their churches and communities.
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My hope for people when they come to these worldview workshops is that they will come away better equipped to engage the people and the ideas that they’re living with and around. And our goal is to give people more confidence in the gospel, in the fact that what God said to us actually is true, actually is the path to happiness and human flourishing for all of us, but also more confidence in their ability to have these conversations and help lead other people to the truth.
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for Bible-believing Christians to know what God’s Word says on these issues and to learn how they can apply it to their lives. And we believe that the more Christians that we equip, that’s how we’ll change the nation.
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Hey, fam, listen, Pastor Sammy here at Lighthouse Church, and I cannot tell you how equipping, how empowering, how… incredibly educating this conference has been. And so I just want to encourage anybody that either has not been part of or is thinking about hosting this event, certainly to pastors, leaders, even CEOs for that matter. This conference is lights out. Stand behind it myself. I can’t commend it enough. We’re going to be talking about this for some time to come.
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The culture is kind of squeezing in on us as God’s people, forcing those of us with biblical views to change those views or to suppress those views. It’s forcing us to engage with issues that we’ve never had to engage with. And so what this teaches us is what those issues are, what the Bible says about those issues, and then how we can critically engage our culture on these things in a way that is committed to biblical principle.
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Visit FRC.org slash worldview for more information.
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Thanks for tuning in to Washington Watch. I’m your host, Tony Perkins. Well, just nine days ago, after the flooding in and around Kerrville, Texas, killed at least 129 people, the devastated area was hit again yesterday with heavy rains, hampering rescue efforts, recovery efforts. As with many disasters that happen here domestically or internationally, Samaritan’s Purse has been working to assist victims and show the love of Christ to those who are hurting deeply after this tragedy. Here now to share more on what they’ve been doing in Texas is Edward Graham, the Chief Operating Officer of Samaritan’s Purse. Edward, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for taking time to join us.
SPEAKER 22 :
Hey, Tony. Thanks for always having us on. I appreciate highlighting what’s happening in Texas.
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Well, this one’s getting a little more attention, and the attention is staying focused on it because of the tragic loss of life of these young girls. But you were there on the ground last week, and Samaritan’s Purse has been there almost since the water first started to recede. Give us a sense of what you saw there.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, you know, the destruction is unbelievable. And as you said, there’s so much hurt and pain there. There’s a lot of brokenness. So right now, if you’re people that are watching, you have to pray for Texas. Remember to pray, have your families praying. Nothing we say or even our volunteers that are out working, mucking out homes can do is really gonna solve the problem of their hurt and brokenness. But prayer will. And so that’s what I ask your viewers to do. But what I saw is, a very narrow channel path think of like a tornado path that just came through and it’s mostly just to the river valley is where the destruction is but it’s unbelievable it is you know they’ve never seen destruction like this they’re used to flash floods out there but not to this level not to this height there’s people there that didn’t have they’re in areas where you would never think to have flood insurance because you’re that high and that far away from the river But it came that far. You’re talking to homeowners and this one lady was telling me, you know, she heard a gurgling noise about four in the morning and she looked and she saw water under her door. And she said within seconds her bed was in the air and her head was hitting the ceiling. They didn’t have time. But there was no one there angry and talking about you hear the politics of the early warning, not having early warning. That’s not what they’re talking about. They weren’t angry about that. They are just hurting for their neighbors, and I saw Texans helping Texans. They’re getting after it. There’s heavy equipment, skid steers, excavators everywhere, and volunteers out serving. Texas is a wonderful place, and they’re loving on one another.
SPEAKER 10 :
You mentioned how rapidly this water rose in a very narrow place coming down through the Guadalupe River. Is that similar to what you saw with the flooding in North Carolina after the hurricane?
SPEAKER 23 :
Yes, sir. You know, Helene happened. It was a little later in the morning and we watched the water rise up in daylight. So a lot of people were able to see the water get to higher places. The thing with Helene, it was widespread. It took over all of western North Carolina and it was every creek, river and valley flooded. From what I saw there, yes, there was other areas that had flood damage, because if you’re not familiar with the hill country of Texas, it’s very rocky. That water has nowhere to go, and it goes down these old washes into the Guadalupe River. But in this case, it was mostly funneled into the Guadalupe River, and that’s where all the damage was predominantly that we saw. I saw a couple other areas, but nothing like Helene, and just, I would say, the rapid rise of it was faster in that part, even than it was in Carolina.
SPEAKER 10 :
You know, having gone through a flood like that, and ours was slow in rising, so you had time to respond and make a decision and get out by boat. But in the middle of the night, when you’re disoriented anyway, because you’re asleep and all of a sudden you see water coming up like that so rapidly, There’s very little warning that could have been done to alert these folks to this.
SPEAKER 23 :
There was very little warning. I need to be careful. Those people that live in parts of North Carolina where it did rise, there’s places that entire communities were destroyed. Asheville, on the backside of Mount Mitchell, it was rapid. Every storm’s different, but to the person that lives it or the people that lost, it’s horrific. I’m very careful when I talk about and compare storms. Everyone’s different and everyone has their challenges.
SPEAKER 10 :
So let’s talk about responding. As you mentioned, prayer, number one. In fact, so many families all across the nation touched because of the camps that they were there. There were kids from all over that were at these camps. So we’re praying. In fact, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had challenged our viewers and listeners to pray for 30 days. Keep praying because the pain is going to be ongoing of the loss. Let’s talk about work that Samaritan’s Purse is doing on the ground and how folks can be a part of that.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, you know, people always want, what can I do? How can I get involved? And we’ve already talked about prayer. That’s what I always ask for first. But if you would like to volunteer, we definitely need like day laborers, people that can come locally because our actual volunteers to sign up and overnight are booked for a couple of weeks. And that’s good. And I appreciate that. But we’re not going anywhere right now. We’re doing muck outs and mud outs. We’re cutting back debris. We’re mudding out the homes, we’re taking the drywall, we’re cutting it back, we’re spraying the solution to prevent the mold from going in there. And so there’s several homes that we gotta do. There’s some trailer parks that washed away, but we’re gonna help with rebuilding as well. So for those people, we’re looking at people that even lost their cars we’re looking at people that lost their mobile homes or stick built homes we will work there we already have assessors for that part of the rebuild on the ground matter of fact the community that you’re just seeing that i was in that we’re muddying out right now we’re actually going to set up a tent in that community in a neighbor’s yard and we’re going to start going through and assessing where people are as far as their insurance and non-insured and underinsured and we’re gonna help get people back in their homes quickly. There’s some camps that we’ll help out with as well. This will take a while. This is not something that’s gonna be quick. No rebuild is. But at the end of the day, I do ask your volunteers to stay engaged. If your listeners wanna get involved, I’m gonna need volunteers for a while. So when the news cycle moves on to something else, just remember, Texas will still be hurting, and Samaritan’s Purse will need your prayers but the volunteers.
SPEAKER 10 :
SamaritansPurse.org. And I know for a fact that Samaritans Purse will stay there until the work is done long after everyone else has left. Edward, always great to see you. Thanks for joining me, my friend.
SPEAKER 23 :
No, thanks for having us. Remember, the reason we go is to tell them and love them, tell them the story about Jesus Christ and what Jesus did on the cross.
SPEAKER 10 :
Amen. Edward Graham with Samaritans Purse. Check out the website and help if you can.
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Family Research Council is committed to advancing faith, family, and freedom from the East Coast to the West. So FRC is going to Southern California for this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. Join us for this powerful gathering of Christians desiring cultural renewal and spiritual revival. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit brings together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action. Together, we will seek God’s guidance for our nation and engage in meaningful discussions on the intersection of faith, government, and culture. If the spiritual foundations and the cultural walls of our nation are to be rebuilt, we all have a role to play. May we each find our place on the wall as we build for biblical truth. Register now at PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
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Jennifer, it’s so exciting to be here with you today talking about our new book, Embracing God’s Design. Who is actually going to benefit from reading this book in your view?
SPEAKER 04 :
There’s so many different audiences that can benefit. The first one are counselors themselves, right? Because we have some material in there where we really address the gender dysphoria diagnosis and what is wrong with it. We have information for people who are wanting to go back to embracing God’s design for their life.
SPEAKER 15 :
This is really magical to have the therapist and the individual who suffered come together and write about why this is happening and why we’re seeing this.
SPEAKER 04 :
And we brought all of that experience to the table. We want to see people walking in the fullness of who God has called them to be and not a false identity.
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Order today at embracethedesign.com.
SPEAKER 13 :
How should Christians think about the thorny issues shaping our culture? How should Christians address deceitful ideas like transgenderism, critical theory, or assisted suicide? How can Christians navigate raising children in a broken culture, the war on gender roles, or rebuilding our once great nation? Outstanding is a podcast from The Washington Stand dedicated to these critical conversations. Outstanding seeks to tear down what our corrupt culture lifts up with an aim to take every thought and every idea captive to the obedience of Christ. Whether policies or partisan politics, whether conflict in America or conflict abroad, join us and our guests as we examine the headlines through the lens of Scripture. and explore how Christians can faithfully exalt Christ in all of life. Follow Outstanding on your favorite podcast app and look for new episodes each week.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Just to follow up on that last segment with Edward Graham. You know, there are a lot of there are a number, I should say, of ministries that are out there doing relief work, different religious denominations. And I applaud all of them. The reason I have Samaritan’s Purse on so often is because I’ve worked with them many times in my home state of Louisiana. through floods, hurricanes, and they’re some of the best. They are well-organized, and if you volunteer to work with them, you will have no wasted time, no downtime. They’re heavily organized, and they do a great job. SamaritansPurse.org, pray, you can give, and you can go. SamaritansPurse.org, highly recommend them. I’ve worked very closely with them many times. Also coming up October the 17th and 18th. Go ahead and mark your calendars now because it’ll be here before you know it. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit. All right, we’re doing something different this year. We are going to Southern California. We’re actually going to be at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino Hills, California. Pastor Jack Hibbs will be hosting us there. We’ll be there October the 17th and 18th. So we’re taking Pray, Vote, Stand on the road. Check it out, prayvotestand.org. Go ahead and register now. Our word for today comes from Luke chapter 12, where Jesus addresses a fear that often hinders believers from fully experiencing the life God intends for them. And I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. The fear of man is paralyzing. When we fear people more than God, we surrender to cultural pressures and we compromise our convictions. Jesus reminds us that earthly threats are temporary, but God, he holds eternal authority. That misplaced fear has consequences, as Jesus continues to say. He says this, For whoever confesses me before men, him, the Son of Man, also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. The fear of man leads to the denial of Christ. But reverent fear of God empowers boldness, integrity, and eternal reward. Whom we fear determines whom we follow. So choose wisely. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, as I was talking about earlier in the program, this week the rescissions package is set to hit the Senate floor. And as I mentioned, if it’s to be passed by the deadline, it has to pass by Friday. This package calls back billions of dollars in federal funding that have been going to public broadcasting, foreign aid and various woke priorities, some of them in PEPFAR, as we talked about last week. But will Senate Republicans be able to overcome opposition within their own ranks? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Suzanne Bowdy, editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand, and Casey Harper, managing editor for the broadcast at The Washington Stand. Suzanne, Casey, thanks for joining me today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Let me start with you, Suzanne, because, you know, we’ve been hearing a lot from celebrities, pop stars and even Christian influencers about PEPFAR, the presidential the president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief. Give us an update on the status and what’s at stake this week.
SPEAKER 18 :
what’s at stake is 9.4 billion dollars in savings as you outlined just then and a lot of those savings are coming from aspects of this program that are absolutely woke and unnecessary and what we’re hearing surprisingly even from conservatives or republicans i should say not conservatives and some members of the church is that this is really threatening life-saving care in africa which is absolutely not true In fact, on the contrary, what it’s threatening are the woke programs. A tiny, tiny sliver of PEPFAR is what’s included in this rescissions package, about $400 million, which is only about 5% of the program. And these are aspects of PEPFAR that the African countries themselves have objected to over time, very pro-abortion, pro-LGBT, cultural imperialism. that the Biden administration instructed PEPFAR to start including when he was in office. This is just clawing back that and respecting the African nations who say, look, we come from a value system that supports life, that supports natural family. We appreciate all of your lifesaving care, your health treatments, the education you’ve done in our countries, but we’d really like to stick to the mission at hand. And unfortunately, we’re seeing some people like Senator Susan Collins from Maine who are saying, This is terminating the entire program. Absolutely not true. Nothing in the rescissions package would terminate PEPFAR. This is a haircut, as you’ve said in prior episodes, and not at all threatening the program at large. It will continue. And unfortunately, for the country that puts no stock in the media’s credibility, they seem to be taking the headlines seriously that this is going to really impact PEPFAR’s mission, and it’s not. It’s actually going to return PEPFAR to the mission at hand.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, folks, we’ve got more on this on PEPFAR, but let me go ahead and give you this. PEPFAR, text PEPFAR, P-E-P-F-A-R, PEPFAR to 67742, because you need to weigh in on this like right now, because the Senate’s going to be taking this up and amending it. I want to unpack a little bit more about what Suzanne had to say because, Suzanne, I dug into this last week pretty deep because this goes back to 2003 when I actually came to the Family Research Council. So this is one of the benefits of longevity is that you can remember these things. Well, most of the time you can remember the things that happened. But this was initially introduced with an annual allocation of $1.5 billion. billion dollars a year. And this was to address an emergency mainly in the Caribbean and the African continent dealing with AIDS. Well, it has ballooned to where the allocation last year was seven point one billion for the year. So it’s grown tremendously, but along the way, it’s lost its mission focus, and now it’s promoting abortion, LGBTQ priorities. And as you mentioned, this is just 400 million out of 7.1 billion. It’s not even 6%. And I mean, how the Senate Republicans, not the Democrats, the Republicans are opposed to just dialing last year’s allocation back. Less than 6%. This is crazy. And I applaud the Trump administration and Russ Vogt over at the Office of Budget Management that is actually driving this. This is, as you said, a small, small baby step in getting this program back to where it originally started. I would add one caveat to this, Suzanne, and then I’m going to go to Casey, that the original plan, it was called an emergency. It was designed to hand this off at some point to those nations where they, through training and helping equip them, could take this over. We need to get out of this business. We need to help and we need to leave.
SPEAKER 18 :
and we need to stop listening to people like Bono who are spreading lies and start listening to the African people.
SPEAKER 10 :
Can you repeat that? Can you repeat that?
SPEAKER 18 :
As a former YouTube fan, former, emphasis on the former, yes, we need to stop listening to these people spreading lies and actually be intellectually curious enough to look at the bill, look at the language, and look at what Trump is trying to do. We need to be listening to the African people. You know, in 2023, when Biden started making these radical changes, One hundred and thirty three leaders from Africa, mainly religious leaders, wrote to Congress and said, hey, look, you guys need to back off from this woke stuff and get back to helping. They don’t want it. No, they don’t want it. Yeah. Fifteen countries were on that letter. And who are we listening to? We’re listening to people like Russell Moore and Bono and Susan Collins, who obviously haven’t read what the president is trying to do.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, first off, people need to read the bill and they need to look at the track record of PEPFAR. And we actually have documents on that. We tracked it. It really, really got off track during the Obama years and then the Biden years. But I’ll also add another Christian celebrity who has been out there. I guess she’s still considered in that genre. Amy Grant. Actually, one of the first concerts I ever went to as a kid in high school. But that beside the point, she’s out there. Many of these Christians are saying, oh, this is the compassionate thing to do. No, it’s not. To fund abortion, to keep the, I mean, a program that is $7 billion a year that promotes most values that are antithetical to biblical teaching, that’s not Christian. That’s not compassionate. OK, I got to get off my soapbox. Let’s move on. Casey. All right. A Democrat super PAC united the country, released Unite the Country is the name of the super PAC, released new polling. Tell us about this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Sherman, this is a mammoth poll. If you’re working in Democratic politics, you’ve got to be talking about this poll today. A couple things about it. One, as you mentioned, it’s a Democrat poll. And it’s pretty critical of Democrats. And so this is not, as we get into it, this is not like a far-right poll or some GOP poll that’s saying negative things about Democrat. It’s coming… It’s coming from their own mouth. So that’s important thing to note. Secondly, this is polling people in battleground states, 10 battleground states, 21 battleground counties. And so these are the coveted swing state voters. We talk about them ad nauseum every election year. And so here’s the question, what did they say when Democrats asked them? Well, they didn’t say nice things about Democrats, it turns out, even though Democrats were asking them. So for instance, with white men and Hispanic men and really just working class voters, their approval rating has dropped down to below 35%, which is a number, it’s really hard to come back from that number, Tony. So below 35%. But I’m not sure there’s any wonder. I mean, you just had some lawmakers on talking about it. But the Democrats just voted against no tax on tips. They voted against no tax on overtime. You know, I used to work on a survey crew. and with, you know, construction guys. And overtime is a very serious deal. You cannot touch someone’s overtime. And getting a lot of overtime is like getting a refund. So I think there’s a little bit of out of touch with the working class.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, the good news for Democrats, though, with an approval rating that low, they can pick up the profession of used car salesman and actually make an improvement. Right. Not to offend any of our used car salesmen who are listening. You’re not getting overtime if you’re a used car salesman.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s true.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s true. So let’s unpack this a little bit more. Is the Democratic Party on the verge of imploding? Because you’re seeing now these Marxists, like we have in New York, and then we have a lot of young people who are saying, you know what, I’m not waiting for these gray hairs to get out of the way. We’re taking them out. And they’re coming with a very—I wouldn’t even use the term progressive. I mean, it is Marxist, socialist— Can the Democratic Party survive this?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I mean, that is I think they’re asking the same question right now. You’ve seen a few things happen over the recent months. The November election really, you know, when Trump’s first win was earth shattering for the Democratic Party, it caused a lot of introspection, a lot of reflection. How could this happen? They did a lot of talking. They put Biden forth because they thought he was kind of a working class guy and it sort of worked for a little while. But that was just a stopgap measure because the Democratic Party has deep, you know, like subterranean problems. And it’s twofold. One, they’ve built the party now on identity politics, and they built it on far-left economic policies. And the identity politics half of the party was totally rebuked and just pushed back and voted down by Americans in November. You know, Kamala Harris in a lot of ways was a diversity pick. Biden said as much and she was rebuffed. And, you know, people like Joy Reid, who are spewing a lot of racism on TV every night, they lost their show. And so now the party is a little bit aimless. They have an identity crisis. And so they’re reaching out for the other half of the party, which is far left sort of Marxist economic policy. But it’s very aggressive. It’s Mamdani. It’s AOC. It’s Bernie Sanders. It resonates with young people. But the average American is just not ready to go that far. And for good reason. And so I think this is a good opportunity for Republicans to restate their identity.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, but I think it requires them to be anchored to transcendent truth and unchanging priorities. And that requires a party platform, which is where I think the Republicans went wrong in the last Republican convention. Suzanne, I think we’ve seen this on full display, even within the Democratic Party structure. David Hogg being ousted, he for wanting to go after in primary Democrats that he didn’t think was progressive enough.
SPEAKER 18 :
And I think the Democrats have spent a lot of money on autopsies and strategy meetings and focus groups to find out why they lost in 2024. And they’re ignoring all of them, which say you’re woke, you’re weak, you’re out of touch. And instead, what we see is that they’re just, as Casey said, aimless. And really, at this point, I mean, this isn’t about finding better messaging, crafting better messaging, finding better activism. They really need to find out what their policy goals are. Right now, there’s no agreement on which direction the party should go. And that means there’s an opportunity for Republicans to create a clear contrast by emphasizing those things that Americans care about, the common sense things about life and human dignity and marriage and not having boys and girls sports. This is an opportunity for Republicans as much as it is a criticism of Democrats. But in the short term, Democrats can run on the Trump derangement syndrome. That’s going to be really helpful for them. They have Trump for another few years, but after that, the party’s really going to have to grapple with, where do we go from here if we don’t have Trump to beat around anymore? Right now, the party is about 35 percent optimistic about their future, down from 57 last year. That’s a huge drop in confidence in the party, and a lot of it is because they have no direction. And once Trump is out of the way, I really don’t know what they do if they don’t come back and sort of have a reckoning within their party to move to the middle.
SPEAKER 10 :
Casey, you just have about a minute left. What’s the risk for Republicans during this time as Democrats are trying to find themselves?
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, sometimes Republicans get in a political bubble. And so when Democrats move far to the left, you know, they know these Democrats and they say, oh, there’s a new center. And so the center moves to the left. And so they feel a temptation to move to the left themselves. But they’re actually doing sort of the opposite of what they should do when when people like Mom Donnie question things as fundamental as, you know, taxing based on race or property rights. This is the time to make the case as a Republican Party for who it is that they are, you know, property rights, rejecting world politics, you know, traditional values, that kind of thing. And if they do that, I think they could be successful.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, Casey Harper, Suzanne Bowdy, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, folks, and text PEPFAR to 67742 and weigh in. That’s PEPFAR to 67742. Until next time, keep praying, keep standing. and keep voting when you have the opportunity.
SPEAKER 17 :
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.
