Join Tony Perkins as he navigates through the contentious political reforms and reactions that are shaping the nation’s policies. Special attention is given to President Trump’s efforts in dismantling the Department of Education’s federal oversight in favor of state control, and the subsequent reactions from Utah Congressman Burgess Owens and Kansas Senator Roger Marshall. From education reforms to a deep dive into pro-life advocacy, this episode uncovers the nuances in political strategies and their implications for American society.
SPEAKER 05 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 02 :
We could have a procedural vote today to move to the debate on the bill and probably vote on it tomorrow. We’ve got to get it done by Friday. And it’s a very important part of President Trump’s agenda. We had the nominations. Then we had reconciliation. Now we have rescissions. I think we need to deliver on behalf of the American people and show we’ve got the guts to get rid of this wasteful spending and help restore trust again.
SPEAKER 15 :
That was Missouri Senator Eric Schmidt earlier today on Fox News. Will the Senate meet that deadline? We’ll ask Kansas Senator Roger Marshall in just a moment. Welcome to this July 15th edition of Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins, your host. Thanks for tuning in. The US Supreme Court gave a temporary green light yesterday to the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle what many call the Bureau of Indoctrination, officially known as the Department of Education.
SPEAKER 03 :
We had a big win with the Supreme Court on the Department of Education. As you know, we want to bring education back to the states, take the federal government out of it. A little tiny bit of supervision, but very little, almost nothing. We’re getting school choice approved all over the country. We just got it done in Texas, and school choice is the answer.
SPEAKER 15 :
That was President Donald Trump earlier today. We’ll get reaction from Utah Congressman Burgess Owens, who is a member of the House Education Committee. And speaking of education or indoctrination, the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, held its annual convention earlier this month.
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Diversity, equity, inclusion.
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We cannot allow this administration or anyone else reduce these three sacred values to a simple three-letter slur.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, that was NEA President Becky Pringle tripling down on DEI. We’ll hear from Dr. Corey DeAngelis, Executive Director of the Education Freedom Institute and author of The Parent Revolution on the NEA’s latest agenda and a push to revoke the NEA’s federal charter. And the woke indoctrination isn’t just happening in big cities. In my home city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a bivocational pastor was fired from the public library system for refusing to use pronouns that contradicted biological reality. That’s just the preface of the nonfiction playing out behind the card catalogs in libraries across the country. Pastor Luke Ash joins me later to explain all of that and possibly a bit more on this edition of Washington Watch. Be sure and download the Stand Firm app where you can have access to Washington Watch no matter where you’re at. You can also have the news and commentary that comes to you from a biblical perspective from the Washington Stand and my daily devotional, Stand on the Word. All of that is found on the Stand Firm app, plus lots more tools for citizens to be engaged in the process. So go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. Congress is staring down a Friday deadline to codify $9.4 billion in spending cuts requested by President Trump. The legislation includes rescissions targeting woke pet projects ranging from public broadcasting to international aid programs. However… However, today, following a meeting this afternoon with Senate Republicans, OMB Director Russ Vogt announced that the White House would accept a substitute amendment removing the proposed 5.6% cut to PEPFAR, the president’s emergency plan for AIDS relief. Why the concessions? You know, some senators seem more concerned about ensuring that taxpayer dollars continue to flow to fringe programs, including overseas grants that have funded projects like male sex workers learning to bake pastries. Is that where you want your tax dollars going? Well, here to give us an update on how the rescissions bill is progressing is Senate Secretary Senate Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, who serves on multiple committees, including the Senate Budget Committee. Dr. Marshall, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Hey, Tony, great to be with you. Now, I know you’ve been out there really championing these cuts, saying we don’t need these things. We need to cut the waste, fraud and abuse. But some of your colleagues disagree.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, we got some weak knees up here, Tony. You know, the big picture to me is that we’re $37 trillion in debt and we have an opportunity to start whacking away at some of that debt. President Trump gave us a $9.4 billion cut. I’m horribly disappointed to see that we’re only going to cut $9 billion. $400 million of this was in the HIV AIDS program. In Africa, but to your point there was mission creep what they were doing that muddy suddenly was funding Abortions they were funding transgender surgeries. They were funding LGBTQ type of programs as well. I wanted that all cut but some of my colleagues that leaned towards the middle, got that place back in. And I have all the compassion in the world for people with AIDS. I want to do everything we can to help those folks. But again, we’re already giving them $7 billion a year, and we wanted to cut out some of this waste, fraud, abuse, as we just described.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, and I want to put a fine point on this for our viewers and listeners because this is something that’s been around for almost 25 years. This goes back to 2003, and this is one of the benefits of being around for a while. I remember when this was created. And it started with a $1.5 billion annual allocation. The last allocation was $7.1 billion. I mean, that’s over a 330% increase in the annual allocation being given to this program. 5.6% is all President Trump was asking to be cut from this. And it’s not in the direct aid of the drugs and the essential resources needed to treat AIDS. This is, as you pointed out, frivolous, wasteful programs.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, Tony, we’ve done medical mission work overseas, in Africa in particular, and worked with Rotary to develop water and sewage disposal. We lose a million people every year in Africa to some type of waterborne illness. Think about cholera. About 350,000 children die every year in Africa from cholera or something to do with dirty water. or poor waste systems. Look, I have compassion for the people with AIDS. We know what causes that, but the poor kids that are dying because they don’t have clean water, that just would be a better use of this money. So I just think that sometime we don’t get, we can’t see the forest for the trees.
SPEAKER 15 :
Let me be very clear for our listeners and viewers that Senator Roger Marshall is on the right side of this. We’re having this conversation about this. You have been up there championing these these cuts because you’re a medical doctor. You there’s no one more pro-life in the Senate than you are. You’ve delivered over 5000 babies. So I just want to put that out there for the benefit of our listeners. But here’s my my sense on this, Senator, is that. It really is not the substance. It’s the fear that Democrats are going to take this and run with it against some Republicans saying they cut AIDS funding. And it doesn’t matter that it’s being used for something totally opposite. That’s not the point. The point is they’re afraid that it’ll be used against them politically.
SPEAKER 07 :
Tony, you nailed it. And it’s called courage. It’s called doing the right thing. And again, I just want to do the right thing. The left is going to lie about us no matter what. But our heart’s in the right place. We want to show compassion. We want to help the least amongst these. But we also want to be frugal, for lack of a better word, with taxpayer monies. And again, the left is going to twist it. They’ve lost their mind up here, as they’ve said. But we know what the truth is. And your listeners know the truth. America is much smarter now. than what the national media gives them credit for.
SPEAKER 15 :
Senator, you used a word that I don’t think has ever been heard on Capitol Hill, frugal. I can’t. $37 trillion in debt, frugal is not something that the Capitol Hill knows much about. All right, let’s go on. Let’s move on. Will the Senate meet the deadline and get this back over to the House?
SPEAKER 07 :
We will, but now we’re going to change the bill enough that the House is going to have to vote again on Friday. I think Friday’s the 18th. I got my date straight here. I think that’s the day that it all has to be done to the president or we lose this opportunity. And emphasize that we can do this with 50 votes. Very few things can you do on the Senate with 50 votes. We did our big, beautiful bill, the largest tax cut in American history, funded the border. This is something else we can do. We need to do $190 billion of these to work towards a balanced budget.
SPEAKER 15 :
Now, let me ask you, because there are other members of the Republican conference in the Senate were concerned about the cuts to broadcasting to the remote rule stations that were getting money from national broadcasting. Is that what’s going to happen with that?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I think that we’re going to go through with the cut for that, as far as I can tell. But I just want to emphasize that, look, in Kansas, it’s not a matter of if, but when a tornado is going to be close to your property. I think we’ve been hit twice by tornadoes in my lifetime alone. So we have emergency warning systems that come on in the middle of the night, much like a fire alarm. I don’t know anyone who listens to public broadcasting when it’s time for, when there’s local weather type of issues. That would be the main concern in rural Kansas would be weather. as well. So I think we need to go through with that. Kansans don’t want their taxpayer money being spent towards public broadcasting, which is just another extension of the left Democrat party. It is.
SPEAKER 15 :
You’re absolutely right. Senator, absolutely right. We’ve got about three minutes left, Senator. I want to switch gears. As I mentioned, You’re a medical doctor. You’re pro-life. You’ve delivered over 5,000 babies. When the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision overturning Roe, blue state officials and abortion providers have relentlessly sought to undermine pro-life state laws. I mean, many states have adopted strong pro-life laws. I think in total, 41 have some degree of pro-life laws, 13 really strong pro-life laws. The Biden administration put in place the Mifeprestone, the abortion drug protocol that allows the Comstock Act, refusing to enforce that protocol. essentially allowing abortion drugs to be mailed across state lines without any kind of medical consultation, that remains in place. And we’ve actually seen abortion numbers rise in the country since the overturn of Roe. What can the Trump administration do to fix this?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, Tony, several things. What I’ve advocated for is, in my medical opinion, it’s not safe to prescribe this pill through telemedicine. This type of pill, which kills the baby and then forces the uterus to push it out, kind of like a Pitocin drip, only stronger than that, it doesn’t work as well at 12 weeks or 14 weeks as it does at 8 weeks. And consequently, you’re asking a woman, well, how far along are you? And she’s going to guess. Based upon those 5,000 babies, on average, women are a month off. So I think that we can raise the standard that telemedicine doesn’t work, that we need to put our hands on a patient. And really, I think you need an ultrasound. The ultrasounds will determine how far along they are. These are category X drugs. That means that if the abortion pill doesn’t work, that that baby’s at a high risk for a fetal anomaly. So I think that they’re practicing below the standard of care. I was talking with this at lunch today with other senators. It’s just suddenly, if you mention the word abortion, abortion appeal, you’re allowed to practice below what I would call the standard of care. Let me make one point. Tony is, you know, the big reason they don’t want us to do ultrasounds on these moms, pregnant women is because half of women, when they see that baby’s heartbeat, they won’t follow through with an abortion because suddenly the woman says, Oh my gosh, they’ve been lying to me. I’ve got a live baby inside of me and they want me to kill this baby. So, so I think the standard of care is an ultrasound and I’m hoping that Dr. McCary looks at this and says, well, maybe that would be the right thing to do. He’s the FDA administration, a godly man. And I think they’ll be looking at raising that standard on how they would prescribe this pill. I wish we could outlaw it, but we can’t go there.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, we certainly can reinforce the protocols that were in place prior to the Biden administration. So I think you’re absolutely right. It can be changed in a heartbeat. Senator Roger Marshall, always great to see you. Thanks so much for taking time to join us today. Yeah, thanks, Tony. Thanks for your support. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, one of our fighters for faith, family, and freedom on Capitol Hill. All right, folks, the president can fix this. All right, he can fix this. I need your help to weigh in on this. Text the word LIFE to 67742, LIFE to 67742, and sign a petition that goes to the president calling on him to fix this so the abortion pill is not undermining pro-life states. All right, stick with us. We’re back after this.
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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.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
SPEAKER 09 :
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 13 :
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. All right, earlier this month, the National Education Association, which is the largest teachers union in the country, met for its 2025 representative assembly in Portland, Oregon. Good place for them to meet. Unsurprisingly, a litany of everything but improving reading, writing, and arithmetic scores was on the agenda.
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Diversity, equity, inclusion.
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We cannot allow this administration or anyone else reduce these three sacred values to a simple three-letter slur.
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Here now to break down all the troubling resolutions that passed is Dr. Corey DeAngelis, who is the Executive Director of Educational Freedom Institute. He’s also the author of the recently released book, The Parent Revolution. Dr. DeAngelis, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, thanks for having me, Tony.
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All right, what were some of the most egregious resolutions that passed during the NEA meeting?
SPEAKER 10 :
i’ll just start none of them had anything to do with education and i will say becky pringles an unhinged lunatic the lady that was just on the screen she’s the head of the largest teachers union in the country do you want this person educating your child this is free advertising for homeschooling it’s free advertising for school choice and their teacher of the year the person that they elevated to to give an award at their annual convention said the quiet part out loud. That person, their teacher of the year said that her job teaching is quote unquote, deeply political. Talk about letting the mask slip. And if that didn’t say it enough, In their resolutions that I leaked to the public, a union member who didn’t like them, look, the teachers don’t even like this. It’s the leadership not representing the will of the people, not representing the teachers. Some of their resolutions were so insane that they called to spend thousands of dollars basically to label their political opponent, Trump, a fascist. And get this, Tony, it gets worse than that. In their resolution, they misspelled the word fascism. This is supposed to be the union representing educators, and you almost can’t make this stuff up. They misspell a word that they’re trying to label the president, the duly elected president of the United States. It gets worse from there. I mean, there’s so many resolutions that are just off the wall, and it really just goes to show you this is a political organization.
SPEAKER 15 :
Any resolutions regarding education?
SPEAKER 10 :
No, but they did have one a couple years ago. They used to make these public until, look, sunlight is the best disinfectant. You start to expose these people. They run away like little cockroaches because they’re doing the wrong thing. They want to hide it behind closed doors. And what happened in 2019 was they failed to pass a resolution to rededicate themselves to being about student learning. I mean, you can’t make that up either. Look, they were going to pass a resolution, or at least they tried, some members, to pass a resolution to be about education, not indoctrination. They defeated that measure soundly. And so it’s so obvious. They are a left-wing organization. They are basically a money laundering organization for the Democrat Party. And Becky Pringle, the lady on the screen, she’s still an at-large member of the Democrat National Committee. There’s an incestuous relationship between these two groups. We should revoke their federal charter. I have no idea why any labor union should have one. They are the only one. They have this special privilege, this backing by Congress. We need to yank it because they should not be elevated over other groups.
SPEAKER 15 :
Now, is there something underway? There’s something underway to do just that, is there not?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, there’s a bill in Congress right now in the House to strip that federal charter. That’s a fantastic idea. Again, they’re the only labor union that actually has one. They’ve had one for over 100 years. And maybe you could have made the argument in 1906 that when they were small, they were really about securing educators’ rights and trying to get more money into the classroom. Well, they failed to do that. Their outcomes for students are horrendous. We’re an international embarrassment. We spend more than any other country on earth and we’re failing. We have only a quarter of kids proficient in math on the nation’s report card and we spend $20,000 per student. They’ve gone far from their original purpose. It is all about politics. It is not about education at all. And so, look, we need to stop this one-sided political organization, this incestuous relationship between Democrats and the teachers’ union’s Randy Weingarten is just insane. She looks like she’s jumping behind a podium every time she speaks. And this is why we have school choice on the rise right now, because these people have started to inject their politics into the schools. Not all teachers are doing this, but you have their leadership. These people who make over half a million dollars a year, they’re embarrassing the profession. And teacher salaries have been flat over time because the unions, what do they fight for? They fight for more people in the system. That means more dues-paying members, more money to go towards their political pet projects, not to teachers, not to kids. So let’s abolish the Department of Education, return it to the states, and not give these unions any special privileges anymore.
SPEAKER 15 :
Now, Corey, you said sunlight is the best disinfectant. But the fact is that from COVID, you know, parents got a kind of a window into what was happening in education. And many of the parents didn’t like it. And so we’ve seen this revolution really in education, school boards being taken over by concerned parents and such. But it appears to me that. that NEA and others have actually doubled down on their craziness, their unhingedness, as you described it earlier.
SPEAKER 10 :
They’re basically like, hold my beer, let’s see how stupid we can become. And Randy Weingarten and Becky Pringle are just duking it out to see who can be the most unhinged teachers union president. But they’re losing. And hey, if they don’t recognize it now, that’s fine. Every time they speak, it’s basically an in-kind contribution to the school choice movement. I agree. We’ve had 17 states pass universal school choice in four years, and I dedicated my book to Randi Weingarten for overplaying her hand and awakening a sleeping giant. Parents are upset, they’re making their voices heard, and the political winds are finally shifting in our favor. If the teachers unions don’t want to come along, fine, we’ll keep winning.
SPEAKER 15 :
I think they’re a large part of why the Trump administration is going after the dismantling of the Department of Education, because of the groundswell of support that came up post-COVID that was a key part of this past election cycle.
SPEAKER 10 :
Exactly. And Trump won the parent vote by nine points. That is a seismic shift to the right. He also won on education. That basically never happens. We saw it with Glenn Youngkin in Virginia against Terry McAuliffe. And Trump won, according to Atlas Intel polling. He beat Kamala Harris on education. That is a never the right thing to do.
SPEAKER 15 :
Never happens, Republicans beating Democrats on education, but it’s gotten so bad, the American people are ready for a change. Corey, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate the work that you do. Very quickly, we’ve got 20 seconds left. Where can people get a copy of your book?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, you can go to Amazon, you can go to anywhere. Just look up The Parent Revolution. And if you want to check out my work at the American Culture Foundation, just go to AmericanCultureFoundation.org.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, keep it up. We appreciate what you’re doing. All right, on the other side of the break, we’re gonna continue our conversation about education. Congressman Burgess Owens joins us next, so don’t go away.
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The Center for Biblical Worldview’s all-day workshops delves into the formation of a worldview, what it is, how it’s formed, when it’s formed, what that means to them personally and their churches and communities.
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My hope for people when they come to these worldview workshops is that they will come away better equipped to engage the people and the ideas that they’re living with and around. And our goal is to give people more confidence in the gospel and the fact that what God said to us actually is true, actually is the path to happiness and human flourishing for all of us, but also more confidence in their ability to have these conversations and help lead other people to the truth.
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for Bible-believing Christians to know what God’s Word says on these issues and to learn how they can apply it to their lives. And we believe that the more Christians that we equip, that’s how we’ll change the nation.
SPEAKER 19 :
Hey, fam, listen, Pastor Sammy here at Lighthouse Church, and I cannot tell you how equipping, how empowering, how… incredibly educating this conference has been. And so I just want to encourage anybody that either has not been part of or is thinking about hosting this event, certainly to pastors, leaders, even CEOs for that matter. This conference is lights out. Stand behind it myself. I can’t commend it enough. We’re going to be talking about this for some time to come.
SPEAKER 24 :
The culture is kind of squeezing in on us as God’s people, forcing those of us with biblical views to change those views or to suppress those views. It’s forcing us to engage with issues that we’ve never had to engage with. And so what this teaches us is what those issues are, what the Bible says about those issues, and then how we can critically engage our culture on these things in a way that is committed to biblical principle.
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Visit frc.org slash worldview for more information.
SPEAKER 15 :
This is Washington Watch. I’m Tony Perkins. Be sure to get the Stand Firm app where you can have access to Washington Watch no matter where you go. Go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. Well, yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause an order by a Massachusetts federal judge issued in May that would require the U.S. Department of Education to reinstate Nearly 1,400 employees who were let go earlier this year as a part of the administration’s DOGE effort. Now, what’s next in President Trump’s plan to dismantle the department? And how will congressional Republicans aid in the effort? Joining me now to discuss this by phone, Congressman Burgess Owens. He’s vice chair of the House Education Workforce Committee. He represents the 4th Congressional District of Utah. And the House is in votes right now, so he joins us by phone off the House floor. Representative Owens, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 04 :
Tony, first of all, I’m looking forward to chatting with my friends. Some good wins here. I can’t wait to talk about it for sure.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, let me get your reaction to the Supreme Court that gave a temporary green light to the Trump administration and what they’re doing at the Department of Education.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I’m excited to see that we’re treating our government the way that a business should be treated. Keep in mind, executives… The executive is supposed to make decisions about how to move forward, get a good return on investment, cut waste, and bring on help when you need help. That’s the way any business runs. So we finally have a chance to see that that’s the way that the Department of Education and every other piece of the government should be looked at. And if President Trump comes in with the right idea, he understands that the system right now has been broken for decades. They’ve proven that they could not get it right with the lack of successful out-kids. So we’re now going to have to push the power and the money down for the parents in the district where people can be held accountable. I’m so excited about this, because we can do everything right. We can make sure everything, inflation is right, gas is right, the border seal. But we do not teach our kids how to think and appreciate our country’s capitalism. Then we’re going to lose it all at the end of the day. So I’m excited about where we are right now.
SPEAKER 15 :
So, Congressman, the school year right around the corner, the left is going to be fearmongering that with the potentially dismantling of the Department of Education, that education is going to suffer. But in reality, in reality, very little money. actually makes its way into the classroom from the federal government. In fact, it’s under 10% in most states, but it comes with huge obligations that a state has to meet from the federal government. I think, based on my experience working in education in Louisiana and the legislature, is that this is going to free up education at the state level to do what works.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, Tony, I think the most important thing, keep in mind, we’re no longer talking hypotheticals. What the left does, they love to fear-monger. They love to get people exorcised and angry and hopeless. That’s what they do best. But we now have a bill that’s been passed through, the one-digit bill, that people get to see exactly how it works. So all the things that they’ve been saying over the months and will continue to say, They will start to see the American people see more money in their pockets, more opportunities to educate their kids. They’re going to see a safe border. They’re going to see businesses that can grow and thrive. They will experience what truth feels like, which means that the Democrats have even less power if they realize that we’ve been lied to when it comes down to what that party’s done. So I’m excited about the fact we’ll no longer talk about hypotheticals. This bill passed. miraculously passed the way it did. The American people are going to benefit from it, and they’re going to feel the difference, and we’re going to continue to grow in that process.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I’m excited about the fact that parents are going to be empowered when it comes to the education of their children. I want to switch gears, Congressman Owens. Earlier today, you took part in the committee’s hearing on anti-Semitism in higher education. It was entitled Examining the Role of Faculty Funding and Ideology. What were your takeaways from today’s hearing?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, the takeaway is that we’ve been under attack for quite a few decades, and the way that the Marxists do it, they go at the most vulnerable. They go in places where they have no risk, and that’s what education is. So if they teach our kids not to think, not to articulate themselves, not to understand capitalism, not to understand that it’s okay to disagree, but as long as you’re confident in yourself, you can have great conversations. Well, now that we see what they’re doing, we’re turning this around. And part of it is that we’ve been under attack in terms of the hatred of the Jewish people, the Jewish race. Antisemitism has been thriving in the educational process, in particular higher education, for a long time, and now we’re holding them accountable. The great thing about President Trump is very simply this. Either you do it the right way or find someplace else you can get funded. We will not be for the American people. And I love the fact accountability is here. And you start to see them beginning to maneuver to show that they are changing their ways just to make sure we hold them accountable and not let them out of doing the right thing.
SPEAKER 15 :
About a minute left, Congressman Owens. What do you think is behind the anti-Semitism on college campuses? What’s driving it?
SPEAKER 04 :
Marxism. Marxism, this country is based on our ideal Christian values. of freedom, of a God in heaven. Marxism is just the opposite. They hate faith, family, free market education. So if there’s anything they can do to destroy that, and they do that through our educational system. But again, the American people, our DNA says we don’t want to go in that direction. And November of last year, we proved that we’re going to make sure we make big changes. So I’m excited about it, and we’re going to bring back our country to a faithful country that loves our country and loves our kids up. We give them a great legacy.
SPEAKER 15 :
Congressman Burgess Owens, always great to talk with, my friend. Thanks for stepping off the House floor to talk with us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Tony. All the best, my friend. Take care.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, Congressman Burgess Owens of Utah. You know, to go a little deeper on the anti-Semitism, it is ultimately, as he said, Marxist ideology that’s infiltrated our college campuses. But at the root of that is a hatred of God. And we see this throughout the case of the Jewish people in history. And I think it’s extremely important as Christians that we understand God’s redemptive plan for the Jewish people and how He’s used them from the start and He’s gonna use them all the way to the finish. And we need to be in alignment with the Word of God. All right, don’t go away. More Washington Watch on the other side of the break.
SPEAKER 22 :
Family Research Council is committed to advancing faith, family, and freedom from the East Coast to the West. So FRC is going to Southern California for this year’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit, October 17th and 18th at Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. Join us for this powerful gathering of Christians desiring cultural renewal and spiritual revival. The Pray, Vote, Stand Summit brings together Christian leaders, issue experts, and government officials for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action. Together, we will seek God’s guidance for our nation and engage in meaningful discussions on the intersection of faith, government, and culture. If the spiritual foundations and the cultural walls of our nation are to be rebuilt, we all have a role to play. May we each find our place on the wall as we build for biblical truth. Register now at PrayVoteStand.org. That’s PrayVoteStand.org.
SPEAKER 08 :
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 06 :
There are so many different audiences that can benefit. The first one are counselors themselves, because we have some material in there where we really address the gender dysphoria diagnosis and what is wrong with it. We have information for people who are wanting to go back to embracing God’s design for their life.
SPEAKER 08 :
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 06 :
And we brought all of that experience to the table. We want to see people walking in the fullness of who God has called them to be and not a false identity.
SPEAKER 03 :
Order today at embracethedesign.com.
SPEAKER 21 :
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 15 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in and being a part of this Tuesday edition. Our word for today comes from Luke chapter 14. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? Lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Jesus never hid the cost of following him. He lays out three clear terms of discipleship. Love him above all, including family. He’s not telling people to hate their family, but saying he must be first. Be willing to lose your life. You can’t truly live until you’re ready to die. Bear your cross daily, a call to embrace sacrifice. Following Jesus isn’t casual. It’s costly, but it’s worth everything. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text Bible to 67742. That’s Bible to 67742. All right, COVID gave, as we were talking about earlier, COVID gave parents an unexpected window into public education as children attended classes from home. And what they saw sparked a mini revolution in education, one that provided the catalyst for the Trump administration’s current efforts to dismantle the Department of Education. Well, now, as more Americans take a closer look at what’s happening behind the shelves of their local libraries, they’re discovering something disturbingly similar. Drag queen story hours, sexually explicit books marketed to children, and an increasingly intolerance for anyone not baptized into the Church of Woke ideology. My next guest knows this firsthand. He’s a bivocational Baptist pastor serving right here in Louisiana, in Baton Rouge, where I live. And last week, he was also a library, at least until last week, he was a library technician at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library. He was fired for refusing to use preferred pronouns instead of biologically accurate ones. Joining me now in studio is Pastor Luke Ashe, who is the lead pastor of Stephen Dale Baptist Church here in Baton Rouge. Pastor Ashe, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me, Brother Tony. So let’s talk about what happened last week, what brought you to this program today.
SPEAKER 14 :
So last Monday, July the 7th, I was in a conversation with a coworker about someone that she was training, and I did not use preferred pronouns in that conversation. That coworker corrected me, said that the person that she was training preferred to be called he, and I refused to use those preferred pronouns. The next day, I was reprimanded.
SPEAKER 15 :
by my supervisor and the head of reference and uh thursday morning i was i was fired for so they they said all right did they give you an option of from there forward using the incorrect biological pronoun and playing the game sure yeah you said i said i’m not going to lie you can’t do it i cannot do it i will not do it and that was the reason they terminated you yes sir
SPEAKER 14 :
So let’s talk about you. You’ve been there for how long? I’ve just been back in town. I was a truck driver in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I might have some truck driving friends listening.
SPEAKER 15 :
You were a listener of Washington watching when you’re driving that truck, you told me.
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s correct. Yes. Two years driving, driving truck up in Fort Wayne and. Austin and Jalil might be listening right now to us. I got an opportunity to baptize Austin as a result of the ministry of the word. Just a month or so ago, I went back up to Indiana and was able to baptize him. Sorry, I got off the train.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, no, no, it’s fine. You’re here in Baton Rouge now pastoring a Stephen Dale Baptist Church, bivocational. You’ve got four children.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 15 :
And you’re trying to provide for your family. Yes. And you thought that being in the library might be a little more regular routine.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes. Yes. So I wanted to do everything that I could to I got a truck driving job once we moved back in February. So we haven’t been back long. And I actually started the library on March 21st, I believe. So I thought that the library would be probably better for the hours so that I could give more of my time to the church and to my family.
SPEAKER 15 :
Did you have any idea what you were going to encounter behind the cover of the library? You know, they say don’t judge a book by its cover. What did you think going into the library? Sure.
SPEAKER 14 :
I knew that There may be some things that I would not approve of, but I don’t think I could have imagined this happening. I was thinking long-term about having a pension and that sort of thing there with the library.
SPEAKER 15 :
So this wasn’t just temporary. You were wanting to go to work for the library.
SPEAKER 14 :
Sure, yes. I thought it was an opportunity to, you know, part of the job of a pastor is to disseminate information, and so I was going to… still play a part of that in my tent making job.
SPEAKER 15 :
So let’s talk about that for just a moment. I want to get more into what you saw there within the library because there’s a lot more going on than most people see or realize. But let’s talk about this from a Christian standpoint. I mean we we are to love everyone The word is very clear on that, but that doesn’t mean we affirm every choice. That’s correct And so how did you make this did you even have to think about this decision? What was the process?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, there are several times that I things that were happening at the library to make me know that this was not a place that was necessarily hospitable for a Christian or even a conservatively minded person. But I just kind of kept my mouth shut and just tried to do a good job and respect everybody that came my way. But as Jordan Peterson kind of famously said in a thing that went viral, there’s a difference between Telling me what I can’t say and then telling me what I have to say. Correct. And so that was when… So that was the line for you? That was the line for me at that point. That, you know, I didn’t think that there would be any way of developing a relationship out of that and trying to have a conversation.
SPEAKER 15 :
So you weren’t trying to correct other people. You just say, look, you can’t make me say this. Correct. Yes. So what was your role as a library technician?
SPEAKER 14 :
So I was in the interlibrary loan department. And so if there were books that the East Baton Rouge Parish Library didn’t have or in some cases may have refused to have, then we could potentially get that book from outside of the parish.
SPEAKER 15 :
So let me ask you about those books. I doubt my book is on the shelf there at the library. Talk about some of those books that they didn’t have and why they didn’t have them.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, my first day of training with the library, the person who is training me ended up being the person that I had the conversation with about the pronouns, about preferred pronouns. And somebody just said in passing something about getting a Pete Hegseth book. And she said, I’m so glad that we don’t have that book here that have to get it from somewhere. Who is it? Oh, St. Tammany or Livingston. Somebody that she thought was beneath her and beneath her education. So they just wouldn’t carry the book? That is what I’ve found from working at the library. They’re very clever. They think it’s a sin to ban books, and if you talk about banning books, putting a book on a list, then that’s well within their wheelhouse to call you a Nazi or whatever. But they’re banning books. But they’re absolutely limiting access to books by which books they decide to purchase for the library. Or… even on the promotion of access, to have books displayed. So there’s a continuum of access. It’s not just about putting a book, banning a book on a piece of paper. If you can pretend that that book doesn’t exist, that’s even more effective.
SPEAKER 15 :
Let’s talk about a lot of people. I mean, I read books all the time now, but I generally do audio books and I because I can do multiple things at one time. I can do it on my bike when I’m running. But I also I have a I have a book by my bed every night because I read for 10 or 15 minutes and fall asleep. So I’m a big book reader. I’ve always been reading. So I’m a big supporter of reading books. But increasingly, there’s not that many people to read. That’s declining. But yet at the same time, we see libraries raise. I mean, this library here in East Baton Rouge Parish, which is a pretty conservative parish, sitting on about $140 million. And they got another tax increase coming up or another tax extension they want to continue. At the same time, access or people going into the library is declining for getting books, but they’re doing other things now. They’re trying to justify their existence. This library, this library system doing drag queen story hours?
SPEAKER 14 :
I don’t think that the East Baton Rouge Parish Library has tried to get into that because there was things that were happening at the Lafayette Parish Libraries that maybe have scared them away from that.
SPEAKER 15 :
I do go into the library when I go vote because they have early voting is in one of the libraries. But I notice they have special sections for LGBTQ and Pride Month and celebrations like that, kind of the whole woke ideology. Sure.
SPEAKER 14 :
And depending on what month it is, you’ll get more of that. And I would say… Take a walk through the teen section in your local library and see what books are promoted by the ones that are displayed or not, which ones are buried in the collection, if they even make it to the collection. That’s a way of limiting access. The library is increasingly seeing like what you said, even though like you and I, we might listen to our books. You know, when I was driving a truck, I think I listened to 60 books in two years. But they’re trying to pivot so they can still continue to have a purpose for existing as a community center. They’re doing a lot of other things besides books and reading. And in a lot of ways, it’s… It could be seen that they are trying to replace the local church as a community center. The main library in East Baton Rouge Parish has stained glass in it. Instead of doing vacation Bible school, we have summer reading program. Obviously, we want our children to read, but we don’t want the library to be taking the place of the local church.
SPEAKER 15 :
Interesting. So, Luke, let me ask you this. What was the most shocking other than, you know, put the pronouns aside here for a moment. What was the most shocking thing that you encountered during your time there that shows that this is clearly moving in a different direction than the general public?
SPEAKER 14 :
I think some of the training that they have, the online trainings that they do, microaggression training, anti-racism training, trans-affirming training, those kinds of things, the public would have no way of knowing that sort of thing. But other than that, just the disdain that there is for anything that would be considered conservative or Christian. Donald Trump’s book was called Icky. as it was passed around the interlibrary loan department. So did they purchase a copy of Trump’s book? I think maybe they had it before he was elected. So the library’s been around long enough to have some of his books before. I don’t know.
SPEAKER 15 :
So when you had this encounter, you refused to use the pronoun. They just said, you can’t work here?
SPEAKER 14 :
yes basically they told me that i can either get on board with what they were doing or they were going to have to talk to the administration and after they spoke with the administration it was very clear that i was going to just be dismissed and so that and that was it the pride that comes along with the environment there is also something that is shocking, that there’s no mindfulness or respect for somebody who may have a dissenting opinion in a place. What do you mean? You mean they’re not tolerant? Right. In a place where diversity, equity, and inclusion, they also have training for that. It includes everybody but people who don’t agree with it. Absolutely. Yeah.
SPEAKER 15 :
So were there any other conservatives that you encountered in the library during your time there?
SPEAKER 14 :
There were several Catholic friends that were working there and others, but I think And this is tough because I was brand new coming back into the library. I didn’t have a 401k building up over years and years and years to have to make a decision. But Jesus said you have to serve God or mammon. And a lot of times there is a fork in the road and we decide to compromise for the sake of mammon. And I think that we’re very good at being lawyers to ourselves and deceiving ourselves into saying, you know what, what I’m doing is actually the more loving thing. If I just concede on this thing, I’m actually being more loving. And I would just say, no, the loving thing is to tell the truth. Jesus said that he’s the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through him. And so if we back off of the truth, then we back off the visibility of anything at all, but especially Jesus.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, the truth is what makes us free. Absolutely. And if we’re afraid to speak the truth, how will they hear the truth?
SPEAKER 14 :
How will they know? How will they know unless somebody tells them? And sometimes we have to have difficult conversations. But the library made their decision that they would rather have a difficult conversation with me than for a transgender person to hear something that they didn’t want to hear.
SPEAKER 15 :
It’s interesting. We’ll see how this plays out because the library has a renewal of a millage that’s coming up this fall. November 15th. Yeah, November. And as I mentioned, they’re already sitting on over $100 million, about $140 million. Why do they need more money when they can’t even figure out the right pronouns? Well, Luke, I want to thank you for joining us today, but also thank you for… taking a biblical stand on this position. We’ve got just about 30 seconds left. What would you say to others that are faced with a very similar choice? Because it’s becoming very real in many different places.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, I would just say something that’s been very encouraging to me. There are those who would say, you know, you’re going to have to choose a lane between being a culture warrior or a pastor or a culture warrior and a Christian. And I would just say we’re Don’t go out looking for a fight.
SPEAKER 15 :
Agreed.
SPEAKER 14 :
But those who desire to live godly will suffer persecution, and whenever it comes time to fight, find a group of happy warriors and go to battle.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, my dad used to tell me, son, don’t you ever pick a fight, but don’t you ever run from one either. Amen. And I think that was godly advice. Luke, Ash, thank you so much, Pastor, for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Folks, You know what the Apostle Paul says, pray and stand. And we have an obligation to stand for truth. So I leave you with those encouraging words once again. Pray, plan, and stand. Until next time.
SPEAKER 05 :
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.
