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In this episode of Washington Watch, host Jody Heiss steps in for Tony Perkins to delve into the pressing issues of today. The show opens with news on the potential conclusion of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, as House Speaker Mike Johnson expresses optimism about a crucial vote. The conversation then shifts as Casey Harper reports on international concerns, particularly the arrests of political figures in South Korea and ongoing religious persecution in China. Expert insights from Congressman Kevin Hearn provide clarity on the impact of these political maneuvers both domestically and abroad.
SPEAKER 01 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 18 :
I just wanted to come out and say that we believe the long national nightmare will be over tonight. It was completely and utterly foolish and pointless in the end as we said all along. I just want to apologize to any Americans who are out there who still have flight cancellations or delays today. I want to apologize to the many American families who were made to go hungry.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was House Speaker Mike Johnson expressing his optimism on the vote to end the longest government shutdown in American history. Welcome to this November 12th edition of Washington Watch. I’m your host Jody Heiss, an honor to be sitting in today for Tony Perkins, and thank you so much for joining us. All right, coming up, among other things, lawmakers are back in Washington. They are actually voting on a deal that could finally end the government shutdown. The House is literally casting votes right now, and Congressman Kevin Hearn will be joining us shortly live from Capitol Hill with the latest on this crucial vote. And on the international front, South Korea’s former prime minister was arrested today. This is raising concerns that the country may be sliding towards authoritarian rule, and Asia expert Gordon Chang will be joining us to discuss what this means for the nation’s future, as well as its Christian community. All right, after nearly two months of deadlock, Congress is moving to reopen the government. A stopgap funding bill, which, by the way, is backed by President Trump, is aiming to get federal workers paid to get food programs running and to get air traffic control back on track. And joining me now is Washington’s stand reporter, Casey Harper. Casey, wow, it’s been a long time coming. Is it actually going to get across the finish line tonight?
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, it looks like it will, Jody. So the House is expected to pass the stopgap funding bill and finally end the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Republicans, of course, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson, and as you said, with President Trump’s backing, are pushing this bill through the House.
SPEAKER 18 :
I just want to say that we’re very optimistic about the vote tally tonight. We think this is going to happen and we’re sorry that it took this long. So Republicans are going to deliver for the people. We’re ready to get back to our legislative agenda. We have a very aggressive calendar for the remainder of this year. There’ll be some long days and nights here, some long working weeks, but we will get this thing back on track. So thank you all. Stay tuned for more tonight.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, Johnson’s apologizing, but really, Senate Democrats have been the one holding the line here. But finally, eight of those Democrats broke with their party to support the bill. Now, the funding package would keep the government running through January 30th, through the holidays, thankfully. And it could be signed into law by President Trump, who did, Jody, call the Senate passage, quote, a very big victory.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. Well, you know, I’m actually hearing, Casey, that this issue itself could play a role in next year’s midterm elections. And so that political battle is already heating up. And this isn’t the only issue. There’s also the issue of redistricting, and there’s some more information taking place on that. What’s up?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, that’s right. We’re already in midterm season, and redistricting is a big part of that. Here’s a new update. A Utah judge overturned the state’s Republican-drawn congressional map. That judge said it gave Republicans an unfair advantage, but critics call the ruling judicial overreach. Now, the judge went ahead and replaced the legislature’s map with one of their own, drawn by outside voting rights groups. Now this new map creates a Democratic-leaning district that could actually flip a House seat to Democrats next year. Republican lawmakers defended their map, saying it fairly represented Utah voters and kept communities together. Now this ruling follows California voters’ approval of Prop 50, which offsets GOP gains made by redistricting in Texas. So the Utah ruling, Texas, California, it’s all part of this nationwide fight as courts in multiple states get involved as this rewriting of the maps and the redrawing of the maps happens ahead of next year’s midterms, Jody.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. All right, Casey, real quickly, let’s draw our attention to some international news. There’s reports that some pastors continue to be arrested in China as the Communist Party is ramping up its crackdown on Christians in churches there. What’s the latest?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, Jody, so three leaders of Xi’an’s unregistered Church of Abundance have been arrested by Chinese authorities on fraud charges. Now, these pastors were previously in prison for nearly three years and released on bail earlier this year. But one of those pastors, who’s actually 71, has serious health issues, and church members report he was physically abused during the arrest. Critics say these charges are baseless and just part of the CCP’s longstanding ongoing effort to control unregistered Christian churches. And of course, it just increases those concerns over religious freedom in China. In fact, last month, nearly 30 leaders and members of Zion Church were also arrested or went missing in a broader crackdown on house churches in China.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. Well, a little bit later in the program, Casey, we’re going to be digging deeper into this issue and go further with the latest developments in China and South Korea. Asia expert Gordon Chang will be joining us. Casey, thank you so much for giving us the headlines. We appreciate it. All right, I want to go deeper into the government shutdown that could very well be coming to an end later this evening. Joining me now to discuss this is Congressman Kevin Hearn. He’s the chair of the Republican Policy Committee and a member of the Ways and Means Committee. He represents the 1st Congressional District of Oklahoma. Congressman Hearn, thank you for joining us and welcome back to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 20 :
Jody, it’s always good to be with you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, it’s great to have you. I know you’ve got a lot going on right there. A lot of plates are spinning. Thanks for taking time. I know votes are actually taking place. But walk us through, Congressman Herr, what’s it been like the last couple of days? It’s got to have been an absolute whirlwind there.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, it’s certainly been very frustrating to see that on September 19th, the House passed a clean CR. Every single Democrat voted against keeping the government open, with the exception of one, Jared Golden from Maine. And he’s now announced he’s not running again because the far left pressure on him has been intense. for doing the right thing. But again, every single Democrat on September 19th voted against keeping the House open. And now then, the Democrats in the House are trying to make excuses of why they’re going to vote again to close the government down. Every single Democrat, we expect, will vote against it. They’re debating the rule right now. We’ll be voting here in about five minutes. On the Senate side, we appreciate the eight Republican senators who came forward and decided the suffering, leveraging the American people, 42 million SNAP benefit recipients, the air traffic controllers, the military, the federal police officers, and so many others that protect us in this nation. The Democrats have held them hostage. They’ve used their own comments to say that they’re using that for leverage to try to repair the broken Obamacare that they passed in 2010. when they said it would fix all of our health care issues. And now they’re saying, well, we need other relief. We need more money. We need $40 billion or more a year. It’s really sad what they’ve done to the American economy, the American people over the last 42 days.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, it really is stunning to hear you say that you don’t expect any of them to vote to open the government. That’s shocking. So what does the rest of the evening look like? What do you anticipate is going to happen?
SPEAKER 20 :
So they’re debating the rule, which sets out the guidelines about what’s in the bill, what’s going to be voted on. That will happen here in about five more minutes, and then we’ll debate the actual bill afterwards. It should be finished around 7.30 tonight, 7.30 to 8. I have full confidence, as the speaker mentioned earlier in the opening comments, that we will get this passed. The government will be open back up tonight. All of the things will start unwinding that’s been closed down over the last few days, certainly since October 1st. And America will come back to normal. Hopefully we get everything back to normal before Thanksgiving. So it’s very sad for the American people. The suffering that’s occurred certainly shouldn’t have happened in any other time. It probably wouldn’t have. But the Democrats hate President Trump so badly that they were willing to sacrifice the American people for it.
SPEAKER 10 :
I saw that there’s a provision in the Senate bill that would allow Republican lawmakers that were targeted by Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost, which people are becoming more familiar with. But that whole investigation, these folks could receive compensation if they take legal action against the government. What’s your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER 20 :
certainly the american people are going to be very concerned about that that’s why congressman austin scott from georgia introduced is going to introduce an amendment to that next week that we’ll vote on i’m certain it’ll pass the congress that will push back on the senate for doing that i understand the frustration from the senators we actually have one house member congressman mike kelly from pennsylvania that also had his phone records tapped But it’s really kind of interesting that during this whole Biden administration, how they tried to weaponize the DOJ, how they protected Biden’s son, Hunter, and his involvement in China and Ukraine and other places around the world. You know, the Democrats love to tout the idea of a corruption in this government. There will be never an administration like the one we saw the last four years that had so much corruption from foreign intervention, whether it was the Russiagate from President Trump’s first time until what we’ve seen time and time again to leading up to what you’re referencing, which was called Arctic Frost and the involvement of Jack Smith and Judge Boasberg. Really scary for the American people. I’m sure what we all remember is Watergate that pales in comparison to what’s happened in the last 10 years.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. Well, I hope we get to the bottom of it all. And there’s got to be accountability. I’m sure that’s something that you’re working on and a topic for another day. I saw today, Congressman Hearn, that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has filed a discharge petition to extend the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare subsidies, those tax credits. Is there any traction for that, do you think? Is that going to go anywhere?
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, I’m certain every Democrat will sign on to that. It will take Republican votes. I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to remind our Republican colleagues that are not on the committee as a jurisdiction like Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means, of which I said, of how much work we’re currently doing on the health care issue. The reality is, is that. All health insurance costs are going up for everybody. People on private pay, almost $200 million on private pay where they’re working in a job and getting health insurance, they’re going to see rise of 10% to 15% to 20% in the private health care industry. But what the Democrats are latching on to is the Affordable Care Act. I mean, it’s in its name how unaffordable it really is. I mean, probably the biggest testament toward that last night was Hakeem Jeffries at 10 o’clock last night said in the Rules Committee that health care is unaffordable to the American people. Well, it’s their plan that they put together in 2010 where they assured the American people. And Speaker Pelosi then said, we’re going to pass the bill. Then you can read what’s in it. And they assured everybody that health care costs would go down. You could keep your doctors. Hospitals will be available. And none of that’s been true. It’s all been a lie.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. All right, so looking ahead, when all the dust settles that currently is floating around, how do you see the next couple of months playing out? What’s still ahead?
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, the House and the Senate will work diligently with the administration to work on reducing the cost, to find ways to the people that are struggling on the most difficult areas of health care, those on the lower income scales that are going to make it very difficult to take care of their health care costs, that we work on actually having structural changes to the health care system, working with the hospitals, working with the pharmaceutical companies, working with the insurance companies to come together I’ve had meetings today with two of these groups already. The president, you saw what he’s doing with the pharmaceutical companies and the most favored nation work. He understands, the president understands. He wants his legacy to be one that first and foremost, he kept taxes low for all Americans. This idea that somehow it’s tax cuts for the rich is not true. The tax cuts he gave additional to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act were to those blue collar workers out there. No tax on tips, no tax on overtime. The president wants to make sure that health care can be affordable to all Americans, not just those who are wealthy or in private pay.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thank you so much, Oklahoma Congressman Kevin Hearn. Always great to have you on the program. And thank you for taking time. I know you’ve got a busy night ahead of you. Appreciate you joining us.
SPEAKER 20 :
Thanks, Joe. You take care.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Next, next, we’re going to discuss China and South Korea. Asia expert Gordon Chang will join me after the break. So stay with us.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
For over 4,000 years, the Jewish people have had legal, historical, and biblical ties to the land of Israel, especially the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, which much of the world still calls the West Bank. To Israelis, Judea and Samaria is far more than a name. It’s the center of their ancestral homeland where nearly 80% of the Bible’s events took place. Abraham purchased property in Hebron, Jacob in Shechem, Joshua made an altar on Mount Ebal and led the Israelites into a covenant before God. On Mount Gerizim, overlooking Shechem, Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well about worshiping neither on Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth. Judea and Samaria is nearly a quarter of Israel’s current landmass, not a small strip of land on the Jordan River, but a vital and strategic part of the nation’s identity. The October 7th massacre, launched from Gaza, shattered the illusion that giving away territory brings peace. Gaza, which was once seen as the cornerstone of a two-state solution, became a launchpad for terror. Today, only 21 percent of Israelis support a Palestinian state. Trust in a two-state solution has all but collapsed. The Middle East is changing. Iran’s grip is weakening. New alliances are forming. But Western countries and some U.S. officials still chase the mirage of a two-state solution. History speaks clearly. The 2005 Gaza withdrawal, backed by the U.S., led not to peace but to a terrorist regime. Judea and Samaria are 24 times larger than Gaza, deeply woven into Israel’s geographic and spiritual fabric. To surrender them would not bring peace. It would invite conflict and existential danger. Family Research Council stands with Israel’s rightful claim to sovereignty. It’s time for America to do the same for history, for justice, and for lasting security in the Middle East.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am Jody Heiss. An honor to be sitting in today for Tony and thank you for joining us as well. All right. Over the past month, we have highlighted the crackdown that’s taking place on church leaders in China. And more surprisingly, that is happening in South Korea. And there’s some more troubling developments that would certainly suggest that what we’ve been seeing recently in the two countries may be the beginning of a very concerning sea change that’s taking place. And joining me now to discuss this is Asia expert Gordon Chang. He’s a senior fellow at the of Plan Red, China’s project to destroy America. And by the way, you can follow Gordon on X under the handle Gordon at Gordon G Chang. Gordon, welcome back to Washington Watch. A lot going on. Well, thank you so much, Jody. And yes, there is a lot going on. All right, let’s start with South Korea. I think this is probably taking a lot of people by surprise, but the former prime minister there and the former National Intelligence Service chief were arrested today. What can you tell us about that? What’s going on?
SPEAKER 21 :
Yes, about 100 police officers swarmed the house of former Prime Minister Wang, and they were charging him essentially with what they charged President Yun before, and that is aiding an insurrection. Now, that’s ridiculous. This is a bogus charge. But what they’re going to do to the prime minister is essentially the same as the previous president, and that’s they’re going to hold him indefinitely under on charges, and this is going to be clearly persecution. And this is just a part of a broader crackdown on freedom and on religion in South Korean society. President Lee Jae-mung is a ruthless leftist, and many of his senior advisors are essentially communists.
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s so troubling and unexpected. I think for a lot of people, this is kind of blindsided. I think even more troubling is the new president has told his police force that hate speech and misinformation that’s shared on social media must be considered a hate crime that goes beyond the limits of freedom of expression. He went on to say that it’s a threat to democracy and that it deserves to be punished severely. What does that tell us about who this individual is?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, Lee Jae-moon is a leftist. There have been previous leftist presidents in South Korea before, three of them. But Lee is much more ruthless, he’s much more determined, and he’s probably much more of a communist than his predecessors. And what Lee was referring to there is essentially speech against China. People in the streets say CCP out, and they consider that to be hate speech. Now, you can say the worst things about the United States on the streets of Korea, and They’ll let you go. So demonstrations against the United States are permitted. Demonstrations against China are not.
SPEAKER 10 :
Is there going to be any cozying up to North Korea, do you think?
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, there will be because Yi is a leftist and they have actually started initiatives with regard to North Korea. And that has been true of previous leftist presidents in South Korea. But what Yi is doing, which is basically new, is really going fast to a relationship with Beijing. Now, previous leftists have had relationships with the Chinese, but Yi has gone much further. And that means we could end up with a military alliance with a country that is allied in effect with China.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow, a lot at stake here. So let me ask you this. We’ve just seen, just to kind of put a little perspective on this, we’ve just seen the Democrat socialist Mamdani elected as the new mayor of New York. Is what’s happening in South Korea a warning to us of what happens when you allow pro-socialism, pro-communism elements to infiltrate the government? Is this an example of what could happen?
SPEAKER 21 :
Oh, absolutely. And in South Korea, it’s even worse because what we have seen in national elections throughout this decade is severe cases of irregularities, widespread cheating. And because the leftists control the National Election Commission, there have been no investigations of this. So basically what happened in this year in the special presidential election was a lot of fraud. Lee Jae-moon was elected president. He is now using the levers of government to turn South Korea from a democracy into at least an authoritarian state. And Jody, this is the possibility that South Korea will become a totalitarian state. We just don’t know where this ends. And yes, we’ve seen the same thing in the United States with people who have been elected. You know, fortunately, we have more checks and balances in our country. We’ll be able, I think, to restrain Mondami. But in South Korea, there’s no restraining E.J. Moon and the communists that were elected along with him.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and it’s not just South Korea. I mean, we’re seeing more aggression in China, arresting more Christian leaders, recently an unregistered house church there. What do you know about that?
SPEAKER 21 :
About two weeks ago, there was a crackdown where 30 pastors were swept up. One of them was a large church, which was not part of the state’s church system. In China, they’ve got five so-called patriotic churches. And if you’re in, for instance, the Protestant patriotic church, when you go to services, you don’t worship Jesus Christ. You worship Xi Jinping. They have changed the Bible. They have replaced pictures of Jesus with those of Xi. This really is a takeover of religion. And that’s why people don’t go to the state churches. They go to the underground ones. And we saw the pastors from the underground churches being swept up this month.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. Less than a minute to go before a hard break, but there’s also a shakeup in the military in China. Real quickly, what can you tell us about that?
SPEAKER 21 :
Yeah, the New York Times says that it was Xi Jinping who’s been shaking up the military. We saw in the middle of last month, nine senior officers were removed. But there’s evidence to suggest that Xi Jinping’s adversaries have been sweeping up Xi Jinping’s supporters in the military, not Xi Jinping sacking his own people.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. Yeah, so it’s not only his people, but they’re a growing threat worldwide, something that we all obviously need to have a close, close pulse on. Gordon Chang, as always, it’s an honor to have you on here. Your expertise is always welcome. We appreciate it. Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute. Again, thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, it’s been my honor to talk to you, Jody, so thank you.
SPEAKER 10 :
All righty. All right. Coming up next, we’re going to keep the pedal to the metal. We’ve got a lot to discuss on the issue of election integrity. Should mail in ballots be counted even after Election Day? Well, the Supreme Court is looking into that question and we’ll discuss it next. So stick around. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 04 :
Three years ago, the Supreme Court issued its historic Dobbs decision, a ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade, which for nearly 50 years imposed abortion on demand, silencing voters and bypassing the democratic process across the country. The Dobbs decision was a huge step forward against abortion, but it didn’t outright ban it. It returned the power to the people. Now, 29 states have laws on the books protecting life. However, there’s a catch. Abortion numbers since Dobbs have actually gone up with an increase of 12% since 2020, climbing from 930,000 to over 1 million in each of the most recent years. So how can this be? The answer is simple, the abortion drug. Today, over 60% of US abortions involve abortion drugs, many of these without medical oversight. In 2021, the Biden administration quietly removed bare minimum longstanding safety protocols for the abortion drug that have existed for 20 years to protect women from life-threatening risks and ensuring informed consent. The Biden DOJ then declared that they would not enforce the Comstock Act, which prevents the mailing of anything that causes an abortion. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. A study shows nearly 11% of women who take the abortion drug end up in the emergency room with serious complications. Unless the Trump administration reverses these reckless Biden-era policies, pro-life laws will remain largely symbolic. Without a full review and repeal of Mifepristone, unborn lives will remain in grave danger, and pregnant mothers will remain at risk. Let’s stand for life and end this mail order abortion drug pipeline. Sign the petition urging the Trump administration to take action at frc.org slash stop chemical abortion.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hope you’re having a great day. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss sitting in today for Tony. All right. Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case against Mississippi’s law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted even if they’re received after Election Day. Mississippi is one of 16 states, together with the District of Columbia, that accepts mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked on or before Election Day. But those who have been fighting against these type of laws argue that this type of setup is in direct conflict with federal law, and it certainly also undermines trust and confidence in our elections. So the question is whether or not the Supreme Court will agree with that. Well, joining me now to discuss this is Cleta Mitchell. She is a senior legal fellow at CPI, the Conservative Partnership Institute, and also she is the founder of the Election Integrity Network. Cleta, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s always an honor to have you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Always an honor for me to be asked to be with you, Jody. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, thank you. All right, so I know all this mess started with COVID-19. In fact, I was there as a member of Congress in the Oversight Committee watching all of this unfold right before our very eyes. In fact, I’ve written about it in my book, Sacred Trust. But, Cleta, if you would, go back and remind us, what happened to election policies during that time of COVID?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, Jody, the Democrats and the left – took to heart what Rahm Emanuel famously said, never let an emergency go to waste. And so they took the opportunity under COVID to completely upend America’s election laws in state after state after state. Mark Elias and the constellation of left-wing anti-integrity voting groups sued state after state to get rid of all the safeguards that had been protecting our elections for a century, really. And so one of the ways that they did that was to… And they had been moving to get states to accept ballots after Election Day. It originally started, Jody, when they wanted, they said, military voters, overseas military voters. We need to accept ballots received after Election Day because of the delay in getting ballots from military voters. But that’s just, that’s not even, it’s a pretext. And COVID was a pretext. They want to be able to get ballots. Some states, it’s up to 14 days. And it’s really, I will tell you that in the state where I live, North Carolina, they can accept ballots. It’s supposed to be only from the military, but they stop categorizing whether it’s military or non-military. and they just accept ballots. And in Pennsylvania, they have defended and started counting ballots with no postmark. So you don’t know if it’s postmarked before. You don’t know if it was sent before or after the election. So these are really big problems. I’m so glad the Supreme Court hopefully will say that… to United States Code Section 7, which says the election day shall be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. It says that’s the date of the federal election of even-numbered years. So let’s hope that the Supreme Court will just uphold that law.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. So let me ask you this. It’s going now to the Supreme Court, as you’ve mentioned. Could a final ruling from them come in time to have an effect on the 2026 midterm elections?
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely, because the court will no doubt, they’ve accepted the certiorari for this term. Arguments will be sometime between now and say the end of April, and the decision would come no later than June 30th. So the decision will be made before the November 2026 election. And I just hope that they will uphold election day. Now, then the next thing we have to do is get states to stop having election season and start saying that if you’re, you know, some early voting, maybe seven days, maybe eight days, but having like Virginia has 45 days of early voting. They started voting for the November election on September 19th. It’s time to stop all that nonsense.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. All right, Clayton, real quickly, while I have you here, one more thing I wanted to hit on. There’s a provision in the funding bill that’s being voted on right now to end this shutdown, allowing some Republican lawmakers who were targeted by Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation to receive compensation if they take legal action against the government. We’ve only got about a minute or so, but what’s your thoughts on that and this whole fallout from Arctic Frost?
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, we’ve just got the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, with Arctic Frost. It was a massive spying and investigative, tyrannical authoritarian investigation of President Trump and everybody who was associated with him. It is typical, Jody, isn’t it, that the United States Senate would take care of nine U.S. senators when there literally are hundreds and hundreds of individuals such as myself. I’d learn from the documents that they obtained my credit report from three different credit reporting agencies. You tell me why. I don’t know. But there are hundreds of people, individuals. There are dozens of conservative groups and Republican Party groups and committees and all of the Trump campaign committees. So I just hope that they’re going to provide for compensation and reimbursement, that they’ll take steps to do that for everybody and not just the senators. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Cleta Mitchell, founder of Election Integrity Network, a great mover and shaker. And we’re always thrilled to have you on Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thanks so much, Jody, for having me.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Coming up, I’ll be joined by financial advisor David Bonson to talk about a couple of ideas from President Trump that he’s floated, hopefully to address the affordability issue out there. So don’t go anywhere. We’ve got a lot to cover and we’ll do so right after the break.
SPEAKER 14 :
Our founding scripture for this is Ephesians chapter six, verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore.
SPEAKER 12 :
Family Research Council’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit 2025 brought together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action.
SPEAKER 14 :
We are equipping the body of Christ to understand that what is happening around us is not just political, it’s not just cultural. At its heart, it is spiritual.
SPEAKER 06 :
We gather in a nation that has torn the foundation apart, and we have separated our governing documents from our divine source, Jesus Christ. We need truth now more than ever to guide us.
SPEAKER 17 :
I’m believing, God, let this be a testimony of the American church, that we become so full of the fire of the Word of God that we cannot contain it. We have to tell people about it. We have to make disciples.
SPEAKER 19 :
The idea of America was the idea that our rights don’t come from governments. They come from our divine creator, right? Government’s main job is to protect those rights. And because that was the foundation of America, we’ve enjoyed over the last 250 years, more freedom, more prosperity, more stability than any other nation anywhere in the world. And that should be celebrated.
SPEAKER 08 :
We are living in a moment. What’s that moment? It’s a prophetic moment on God’s timeline. That’s right. And so he needs the church more than ever to act biblically for the blessing of our political leaders and of our nation.
SPEAKER 02 :
The number one issue facing America domestically, which is the epidemic of fatherlessness. 40% of all American children today enter the world without a father in the home married to the mother.
SPEAKER 15 :
We cannot win the pro-life fight without acknowledging that this is the pro-family fight, that this is the pro-marriage fight. We’re never going to end abortion if we do not secure and shore up marriage.
SPEAKER 11 :
We pray that this would be an opportunity, Lord God, for you to use us mere little mortals, but we possess the name of Jesus. God, use us mightily. We pray in Jesus’ name and all God’s people said, amen.
SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, an honor to be sitting in for Tony today. All right, for those who have not yet joined us on our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan, we wanna invite you to come on board with us. We’ve been going through Paul’s prison letters and we’re almost finished, but we’d still love for you to join us. And we’ve got a great resource that goes with this part of our journey through the Bible. It’s a study guide for Paul’s prison letters. Paul’s Prison Letters, and it’s available in print or digital. To find out how to get a copy, simply text the word letters. Now that’s plural. Text letters to 67742 and get your copy and come on and join us as together we stand on the word. Okay, this week, President Trump introduced a new idea to address the issue of home affordability. He suggested a 50-year mortgage loan. Now, for those of you who are homeowners, you, I’m sure, are already aware that most first-time homebuyers in the U.S. take out a 30-year mortgage loan. And so now we’re talking about the option of a possible 50-year mortgage. And some are saying this could be a complete game changer, at least as described by the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. What might the effect be of a 50-year mortgage and some other ideas the president is tossing around? We’re here now to discuss this is David Bonson. He’s a founder and managing partner and chief investment officer of the Bonson Group, one of the top financial advisory groups in the nation. David, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s an honor to have you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you so much for having me. Good to be with you.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, so let’s start with how the Trump administration thinks this whole thing might go. What are they trying to do exactly?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I do think this is coming more from Bill Pulte, who you mentioned is the director of the FHFA. I’m hoping that cooler heads will prevail and President Trump will be talked out of the idea. But the idea coming from Pulte is… that with a longer amortization, 50 years instead of 30 years, spreading out payments longer, it brings the amount of the payment down and that makes things more affordable. I think it’s mistaken on a couple of fronts that are important. The first thing I need to say is I’m all for it. If a borrower wants to borrow for 50 years and a lender wants to lend for 50 years, I don’t think it’s my business or the government’s business. But the government pushing it as a policy solution to affordability, I do think is mistaken. Interest rates are higher for 50-year borrowing than 30-year borrowing for obvious reasons. So it’s going to push the interest rate higher, but though the monthly payment may be lower, it just means the banks get more money and it costs the borrower a lot more money to pay off the home. But then even that lower monthly payment gets priced into the sticker price of the home. And Americans that take a mortgage are largely buying a monthly payment, not a sticker price. So it really doesn’t even do anything about the affordability of the sticker price of the home. It doesn’t change down payments, which is actually the biggest thing keeping first-time home buyers from entering the market, is that the down payment is the difficult thing to come up with.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. So I get it. I hear exactly what you’re saying and agree with you. But there are some who are saying that people could indeed benefit from this. For example, although they may never, ever actually own the home with a 50-year mortgage plan, They might have payments that are less than they could even have renting someplace. Does that part kind of creep in here as a potential viable option for affordable housing?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, you notice what we start doing there is we start rationalizing somebody buying a home they can’t really afford. And does that sound familiar to a lot of listeners, what we did as a country from 2002 to 2006? If someone needs financial gimmickry or engineering, in this case, a 50-year amortization, and what a lot of people have said this week is, well, they can just refinance it later. But if they’re just going to refinance it later, why take the highest interest rate option up front? The highest interest rate option is 50 years, not 30, 10, five years. So the idea of refinancing it later doesn’t make sense. But what I think you’re describing speaks to someone who maybe is not in a position to afford that home and coming up with government interventions or financial gimmickry to make someone afford something that they maybe can’t afford, I think it’s financially unwise. And historically, it’s gotten us in some trouble.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. There’s another idea that’s being floated from the president that a lot of folks are talking about. And that is the so-called tariff dividend, if you will, where low to middle income families can receive about $2,000 per person. What’s behind this idea? And what’s your take on that?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there’s so many things you could ask me where I’d be really complimentary of the president and some of the policy. I’ve been such a big supporter of deregulation, of getting DEI out of the corporate environment, of energy independence. So forgive me that the two things you bring up I happen to be critical of, but this is really a very bizarre idea. The Biden administration did it. A lot of people on the right went crazy saying this was what was creating inflation. giving people $2,000 irregardless of what their input was. You know, the tariffs are largely being paid by American small businesses. And now to just go give $2,000 to lower and middle class Americans, well, we on the right have always called that income redistribution because that’s what it is. And so they’re not giving anyone money from tariffs, it’s borrowed money. We’re running $1.8 trillion deficits right now. We have $37 trillion of national debt right now. We don’t have $2,000 to give to lower and middle class. American families. But if the left did this, we would be hopping mad about it. So I’m critical of it. I know where it’s coming from. It’s a desire to try to put a little spark in the economy as we definitely see affordability challenges and the job market is soft. But this isn’t the way to do it. And I’m just a traditional Reaganite conservative when it comes to economics.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, thank you so much, Financial Advisor David Bonson. Look, I want you to know from my perspective, I didn’t bring you on here to be critical of the president either. These are just two items that are out there, and you’re such an expert, and I appreciate so much you joining us on Washington Watch and giving your take on this. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you. God bless.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, and speaking of affordability, the government shutdown put a huge spotlight on the so-called Affordable Care Act, which most people simply refer to as Obamacare. But while the Democrats may have been hoping to save the government health care program by shutting down the government, they might have inadvertently dug a grave for it. And here now to explain why is Mark Tapscott. He’s a senior congressional analyst at the Washington stand. Mark, welcome back to Washington Watch. Congressman, it’s good to be here. How are you? I am doing great. Good to see you. And I’ve been looking forward to getting your take on this very, very interesting perspective that you’re coming up with. Now, you’ve been around Capitol Hill for a long, long time. Few years. Let’s start off a few years. So let’s start off with a little bit of history on Obamacare. What did it set out to do and how has it succeeded or not succeeded?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think probably among the most memorable words spoken by any of our most recent presidents were when President Obama promised us all that if we got Obamacare passed through Congress and into law, that, as he said, if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan, period. And if you like your doctor, you can do that, unquote. And he also promised that we would all save about $2,500 a year on health insurance. The exact opposite and even worse has been the result. And especially in the last three years since the COVID pandemic, The wraps have been taken off, and the truth about Obamacare has become very clear. As Congressman Josh Brackeen, who I just talked to about this, he’s from Oklahoma, one of my fellow Oklahomans, he said people now realize it’s the Unaffordable Health Care Act. That’s the bottom line.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and that’s what’s so interesting to me when we connect the dots between that and the whole battle over the shutdown of the government here. We heard demands, demands, demands, one after another from the Democrats over this whole thing. What is it that they actually wanted? Because obviously Obamacare was not— producing what it was promised to produce.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. One of the experts that I talked to for my story that came out this morning on this was Brittany Madee over at the Economic Policy Innovation Center. And she observed that, you know, if Obamacare was so affordable, why did it have to have subsidies to get people to participate in it? And that’s the nub of the problem and the issue in the shutdown. the tax subsidies which put billions and billions of dollars of tax dollars directly into the coffers of the health insurance industry were scheduled to be terminated as of december 31st of this year schumer and the rest of the democrat leadership said we’re going to shut down the government if you don’t president trump and congressional republicans agree to extend those subsidies. And the cost of doing that would have been hundreds of billions of dollars, and it would have, rather than helping consumers by lowering their premium costs, for example, it simply would have put more money into the coffers of the health insurers. That was the issue at the shutdown, though Senator Schumer didn’t really want to talk about that.
SPEAKER 10 :
So for those who may not be familiar with how all this works, you’ve mentioned subsidies several times now. Explain what those are and how they work, particularly as it relates to Obamacare.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, they’re basically tax credits. There’s a complicated formula, as there is with every government program, whereby the percentage of the tax credit that you get is determined basically by your level of income. The less income you have, the more the tax credit is. And what most people do who claim the tax credit, and that’s pretty much everybody on Obamacare, they allow the government to pay a monthly percentage to their insurer. Some of them do at the end of the year. They take the whole tax credit at the end of the year. But most people do it on a monthly basis, and that sends the money directly to their insurer. That’s what the insurers don’t want to lose. That’s a tremendous income source for them.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I’m sure it is. Okay, so you were saying as the Democrats were fighting for these subsidies to keep breath in Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, that they could be actually digging a grave. Explain that. What do you mean by that? How could that happen?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, the fundamental fact became very clear very early as I reported several weeks ago when the shutdown was still pretty young. It opened the door to public examination and discussion of the many failures of Obamacare, the most obvious one being if it’s such a great program, why do you have to have these billions and billions of dollars of subsidies to get people to participate in it? It’s like Congressman Birkin said, it took the wraps off of the truth. Without these subsidies, the premiums would really go up, and the Democrats are right about that. Without the subsidies, the premiums will go up. But that illustrates the fact that Obamacare has always been based on a false promise. Government cannot deliver better health care for less cost than it really does cost.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and that’s really why it belongs in the free market to work through all of this.
SPEAKER 09 :
But go ahead. That’s exactly what President Trump and a number of Republicans in Congress are talking about is let’s put the power back in the hands of the consumers so their choice is what determines how the insurance companies provide services.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, so we’ve only got a couple of minutes left. So let’s go down that path. Is there talk, are you hearing, particularly among the Republicans right now, since they’re in the majority, is there talk of coming up with solutions? This appears to be a golden opportunity for Republicans. So how should they proceed?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, what they’re going to have to do is there’s going to be a vote. Supposedly there’s going to be a vote on whether or not to continue the Obamacare tax subsidies here in the very near future. Republicans had better have a viable alternative, one that people can quickly understand and quickly see. That would be a better way to do this than to continue with Obamacare. Senator Bill Cassidy, for example, who is the chairman of the Senate HELP Committee, which deals with Obamacare issues, health care issues. He’s talking about having pre-funded health savings accounts. And people that I know who have dealt with health savings accounts in the past have found them to be a very, very good way to work with your health care expenses. I think that probably will be in some sense the nugget of the Republican proposal. And I think it has great prospects for passing. There will be some kind of compromise that will keep the subsidies maybe for another year because you have to have a transition.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. I wonder if any of those subsidies could potentially go toward people starting a – health care fund of their own.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s pretty much what President Trump said. Yeah, instead of giving it to the health insurance people, why don’t we give it to the consumers and then they can use those funds to decide how they’re going to have their health care.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow. Well, you know, if all this comes out, as you said, it looks like the Schumer shutdown was all for naught and actually could go against everything they supposedly were fighting for. Thank you so much, Mark Tapscott, Senior Congressional Analyst at the Washington Stent. All right, friends, that wraps up yet another day of Washington Watch. Fascinating discussions. An honor to bring you the news, and we’ll be doing it again tomorrow right here on Washington Watch. Have a great evening. We’ll see you tomorrow.
SPEAKER 01 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit TonyPerkins.com.
