The episode offers a deep dive into the most pressing issues facing the nation today, including an upcoming executive order that could redefine the Department of Education’s future. Senior counsel Kevin Theriault joins the discussion to examine recent court rulings affecting church-state relations. Engage in a comprehensive session exploring the transformative moment in U.S. history, characterized by fiscal challenges and the quest for religious liberty.
SPEAKER 20 :
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 08 :
Well, good afternoon.
SPEAKER 01 :
Happy Friday to you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome to this Friday edition of Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 01 :
I am your host, Joey Heiss, the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you so much for joining us today. We’ve got a lot to cover. Here are some of the highlights. It’s just one week before the government runs out of money. And congressional Republicans are working to extend the shutdown deadline with a temporary funding measure, also known as a continuing resolution, or more often, just a CR.
SPEAKER 07 :
We’re going to work toward getting that continuing resolution in a form where we can pass it just like we did last week. To all the people who said you could never pass that reconciliation bill with only Republican votes, wait until next week. We get another chance with the year-long CR.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was House Freedom Caucus Chairman Dr. Andy Harris speaking to the press on Wednesday after the Freedom Caucus had a meeting with President Trump.
SPEAKER 01 :
And with the slim Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate, how might this funding battle next week play out?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I’ll discuss all of this here in just a few moments with Congressman Michael Cloud. He’s a member of the House Appropriations Committee as well as the Freedom Caucus. And speaking of battles, a Seattle area church has been engaged in a five-year battle. A battle to stop the state from forcing them to cover abortions in their employee health care plan.
SPEAKER 06 :
We distinctly do not cover abortion because it’s the antithesis of who we are as an organization, what our beliefs are, how we live out our faith. What we are defending and standing for are the rights of people of faith to not be forced into being complicit to something that’s inconsistent with our faith.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was Jay Smith.
SPEAKER 01 :
He is the senior pastor of the Cedar Park Church in Bothell, Washington.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, yesterday, a district court issued a shocking opinion, and we’ll discuss that a little bit later in the program.
SPEAKER 01 :
And there’s a new executive order from President Trump.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s expected to come out soon, and it will likely abolish the Department of Education. And considering, quite frankly, the return on investment we’ve been getting from our students, that might not be such a bad idea.
SPEAKER 17 :
The one thing we’re doing well on, we’re number one on the list, is cost per pupil. We spend more money than any other country in the world by far. So I jokingly say the one thing we do well on is the cost. We spend more money, and yet we’re toward the bottom of the list.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, of course, that was President Trump.
SPEAKER 08 :
He was speaking to reporters yesterday in the Oval Office.
SPEAKER 01 :
And we’ll discuss this and more when I’m joined by FRC’s Meg Kilgannon, who actually served in the Department of Education during the first Trump administration.
SPEAKER 08 :
And then to close out the program and the week, I’ll be joined by David Claussen for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment to discuss many of the headlines this week and how we ought to be looking at them from the lens of Scripture.
SPEAKER 01 :
So we’ve got a lot coming your way today. You don’t want to miss it. Our website, of course, TonyPerkins.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
You want to keep that handy. All right, let’s jump into the issues, the details of tonight.
SPEAKER 01 :
To keep the federal government funded.
SPEAKER 08 :
To keep it operational, Congress has until next Friday, a week from today, March 14th. And by that time, they’ll either pass a final government spending bill or they’ll enact another temporary funding measure, better known as a continuing resolution or a CR, to extend the deadline. Well, according to reports, the House of Representatives plans to vote on a six-month CR next Tuesday.
SPEAKER 01 :
And, of course, that would be to avert a government shutdown.
SPEAKER 08 :
But given the slim margins in both the House and the Senate, what will it take for a CR to pass?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, joining me now to discuss this and more is
SPEAKER 08 :
is Congressman Michael Cloud.
SPEAKER 01 :
He serves on the House Appropriations Committee, as well as the Oversight Government Reform Committee.
SPEAKER 08 :
And he’s also a member of the Doge Subcommittee, as well as the Freedom Caucus.
SPEAKER 01 :
He represents the 27th Congressional District of Texas. Congressman Cloud, welcome back to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 08 :
Always great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, thank you. Good to be on with you again. Great to see you, Jody. So much going on right now. It’s exciting to see.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, it is exciting to see, man.
SPEAKER 08 :
You just don’t know which plate to try to keep spinning the most. But I saw you and others that met with the president this past week, members of the Freedom Caucus. Great to see you and the others that were there. Tell us what went on. How’d that go?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, anytime you get to meet with the president, of course, it’s a great time. He’s a lot of fun. Aside from being just a tremendously hard worker, we got the chance to meet with him the day after the joint session of Congress. And so he walked in, certainly applauded the great effort there, the bold and clear vision he set out for the United States. And then we got to work talking about what we’re going to do to address the funding deadline that comes up this week. And so I had some ideas thrown out there. It looks like we’re making progress and headway and certainly appreciate the president having us over and the leadership he’s bringing to this country at this moment.
SPEAKER 01 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
And I think he certainly saw the leadership that so many, particularly the Freedom Caucus, seem to lead the way on the resolution last week or the week before. So here we go. We’ve got a lot of fiscal hawks. Many of whom are in the Freedom Caucus, and many of them, I know, some never have voted for a continuing resolution, but there seems to be some shifts in Washington that maybe could change some of that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Can you speak into that?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I certainly can. I’m certainly no fan of CRs myself. The whole notion of Congress continuing to kick the can down the road, so to speak, is very troubling. And considering that this originally started as a budget under the Biden administration, could give one pause. But as we look to where we’re going, there’s a couple things at play here. One is Doge is doing some great work to uncover the waste, fraud, abuse, corruption that is happening in our federal government right now. But there’s a lot more work to be done. And we need to give them a little bit of time to finish the work so that we can take the lessons learned, the savings to be found for the American people, and to work that into the appropriations process. And so in the meantime, we’ve got to keep the federal government running. And for many of us, we can look at what the president’s doing, the tremendous team he’s put together, and how they’re being so responsible in pulling back the reckless spending that the Biden administration did on things that were wasteful, things that were wrong, some things that were just frankly evil, and to rein in that kind of spending and making sure that taxpayer dollars are not going to those things for all the executive authority that they do have. And then when it comes to the continuing resolution, you know, for me, We trust what the president’s doing. We appreciate what the team and the administration that he’s put together. And we just need to make sure that Congress is fully on board. Sometimes you’ll see Congress will come out and make these big, bold claims when it comes to campaigning. And we just need to make sure that we are set and ready to make those same and to really basically just codify into law into the next budget cycle. Things you hear the president talking about. He talked about in the joint session about, hey, we want to get back to a balanced budget. You hear Elon talking about finding $1 and $2 trillion worth of savings. Well, I think we can do that. We need to make sure that Republicans in Congress have the backbone when it comes down to making those cuts and finding that savings for the American people and actually putting a vote down that we’re going to have the votes to get there throughout the entire process, this being just the next hurdle in that process.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, and getting so many of these issues codified, as you said, I mean, that really is essential. I’m just going to throw this out to you. What’s your sense of what the Democrats are going to do on the CR? Will they be for it or against it?
SPEAKER 10 :
If we could just point to a couple nights ago when they couldn’t even applaud the First Lady of the United States or a 13-year-old boy who survived cancer, you could only say that maybe there’s just a handful. We had 10 people support the censor resolution against Al Green, who stood up waving his cane at the president. So there’s a good chance we’ll pick up a few votes. But it seems to be anything that President Trump is for, they seem to be against, regardless of what it is. So I can’t expect that we’ll see a lot of support. I do think that if we get it out of the House, that we will see support, the needed support in the Senate to get it across the finish line. And then, of course, the president would be able to sign it in law, and then we can continue the great work that’s being done in really making this a course correction. You know, all of us recognize, certainly all the Republicans recognize, and this is why you’re seeing, you’re seeing not necessarily unity ideas, but unity of purpose. And because of that, everybody’s working toward the understanding and the goal that this is a unique moment in history, certainly a once in a generational opportunity to truly make a course correction in our federal government. I think if you look through history, I don’t know if you can name a time where a country was virtually headed off the fiscal cliff not to mention all the other challenges we were facing with open borders and existential crises where you’ve seen a country be able to make a course correction so this is this is a unique opportunity that we have for us we are intently focused on that goal and because of that you’re seeing what may have seemed as trivial battles in the past kind of melt away in the context of of what of the moment in history and the leadership that president trump is bringing
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. Yeah, this really is a moment in history, an opportunity like none other. You brought up Congressman Al Green from your state of Texas, and of course he has now been censured, but there’s the effort now to strip him of some of his committee assignments or all of his committee assignments. What’s your take on his actions and the response?
SPEAKER 10 :
The actions were despicable. They certainly were. You know, we’ve all seen outbursts in Congress before. You know, you like to think we’re at a place where we could appreciate the moment and what the people will refer to as the decorum of the House, so to speak. But I understand there’s high passions and to have an outburst, but… Once called to order and given the opportunity to correct, to continue to sit there and to wave, his cane, a metal-tipped cane in the face of the president was just… disgusting frankly uh… and i’m certainly happy to see that democrats joined us in centering him removing him off committees would be a great next step uh… and the you know this is what’s happened in the past we certainly saw the dems do that to members who did much republican members who did much less egregious things but for me this isn’t even an eye for i kind of thing what he did was just despicable it was wrong he had the opportunity corrected He didn’t correct it when it came back to the censor resolution. He did not accept a censure. He made a political show of it once again. And so you have an unrepentant heart here. It needs to be corrected.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. Well, hats off to you for continuing that. Real quickly, we’ve only got less than a minute, but your work on the Oversight Committee, the Sanctuary Cities with the mayors of the Sanctuary City mayors, what were your takeaways from that real quickly?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, it’s amazing to see mayors come in and try to defend what is indefensible. And they try to use a linguistic shell game to sort of conflate legal immigration with illegal immigration. And certainly specifically in their cases, all that they were doing, the issue or I should say the reason that they were there is because they’re refusing ICE detainers, meaning you have people who’ve already been arrested in their custody. and they’re refusing to hand them over to federal authorities. The fact that they were unwilling to do that and to follow federal law, federal law says it’s illegal to harbor people who are here illegally, which is exactly what they’re doing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this follow up. Tom Homans mentioned bringing criminal charges against them if there’s not an immediate course correction in this. And so there needs to be change. There needs to be action. They were on the record under oath. Absolutely. Recognizing they understand that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Congressman Michael Clout of Texas, thank you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Always great to see you and keep up your fantastic work. All right, friends, coming up next, a church in Washington state is being forced to fund abortions. You don’t want to miss this story. We’ll be back after the break.
SPEAKER 16 :
During these challenging times for our nation, Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we’re making an eternal impact. 2024 was a year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, DC. Last fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand published 2,000 articles of news, commentary, and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC’s outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere with the community of believers on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God’s intervention in America. In May, FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel’s peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Government. Available now on the Stand Firm app, this series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us in standing for faith, family, and freedom.
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SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Joey Heiss, and so glad to have you joining us today.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, yesterday, this is a story you may have gotten past you, but friends, you’ve got to hear this.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yesterday, the 9th U.S.
SPEAKER 08 :
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Seattle-area church must continue offering abortion coverage in its employee health plans. The Cedar Park Assembly of God of Kirkland argued that a Washington state law violated its First Amendment right to religious freedom.
SPEAKER 01 :
But catch this.
SPEAKER 08 :
The court ruled that the church didn’t even have proper standing to launch a lawsuit. How in the world could this be? And how will this ruling affect the fight against abortion and our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom?
SPEAKER 01 :
What comes next in all of this? Well, here to discuss these questions is Kevin Theriault. He’s the senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom.
SPEAKER 08 :
He’s a key member of the Center for Life teams working to defend pro-life speech and protect medical rights of conscience. Kevin, welcome back to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 04 :
Great to have you. Thanks, Jody. It’s good to be back.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is such a disturbing case.
SPEAKER 08 :
I still, I look at this, the headlines over and over and over, just shake my head in virtual disbelief. So this all goes back to a 2018 law in Washington state. So Kevin, why don’t you begin just kind of bring us up to speed.
SPEAKER 04 :
What does this particular law say? So Washington passed a law, as you said, back in 2018 that requires churches to cover abortion in their health care benefits plans for employees if they cover maternity. And of course, most people would agree that no one should have to be forced to pay for abortions, much less a church. But that’s exactly what this law does. If they have a health insurance plan, a group health insurance plan like they had before the law went into effect, that excluded abortion, they can no longer have that plan under this new law.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, so how? I mean, obviously a church, a biblically focused church, does not believe in this. So how in the world does the court say that the Cedar Park Church lacked standing in this case?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, that’s a great question. It’s difficult to understand, but they went through some, you know, jumped through some and did some backbends, basically, in order to avoid some, actually, some Ninth Circuit law that is governing. We represented some churches, Skyline Church being one of them in California. that challenged a similar law there, and the court not only said that it violated the church’s rights, but clearly that they had standing to challenge the law. And this court, the Ninth Circuit in this case, previously said that this law actually affects the church’s rights, which anybody just looking at the law could understand. Unfortunately, the court ignored some binding precedent in the Ninth Circuit and at the Supreme Court to come to this conclusion. Okay, so let’s go down that.
SPEAKER 08 :
So this decision reverses course, changes course, at least, on previous court precedents. So what were some of the details on this particular ruling from the Ninth Circuit? How did they depart from previous ruling?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, what they said was that this is no different than an employee getting their paycheck and going out and buying something with their paycheck from the church that would violate the church’s convictions, like if the church teaches against alcohol, if they went out and bought alcohol. But of course, that’s ridiculous. the law is actually requiring the church to participate in the process by buying the plan that facilitates their abortion. So that would be more like the church, the state requiring the church to give them a bottle of whiskey. That’s really what’s going on. So yeah, the court just got the facts wrong and construed the law in a way that is contrary to what the Supreme Court and what the Ninth Circuit has said, and that is that churches can’t be forced to fund abortion.
SPEAKER 08 :
So what kind of impact does this have potentially on religious freedom, on conscientious objectors to abortion? What does this mean long term?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, hopefully long-term, we’ll be able to get this overturned. We’re going to, we plan on asking the full panel of the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case and abide by the original rulings that the Ninth Circuit had in this case and in similar cases. But I think long-term, the Supreme Court’s going to have to take this up if the Ninth Circuit doesn’t fix it. And we’re obviously hopeful that it will. But if it doesn’t, and this stands, then not only churches, but any organization that doesn’t want to facilitate and help its employees get something that violates their convictions, like even, for instance, a animal rights group couldn’t be forced under the First Amendment to buy hunting licenses for their employees. But that right and that freedom is under threat if this case stands.
SPEAKER 08 :
I know Kristen Wagner, the present CEO and general counsel there at ADF, said that ADF is going to be exploring all legal options on behalf of Cedar Park.
SPEAKER 01 :
What does that mean?
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, what’s the most likely course of action do you think that ADF will take if you’re able to share that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, sure. Yeah, the first course of action will likely be that we ask the full panel of the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case. And I think there’s a good chance Judge Callahan wrote a very strong dissent that explains why the panel, the two judges that ruled against the church, were wrong. And we think that the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is likely to take this up and reverse course. And then, of course, if that doesn’t happen, then we can ask the Supreme Court to intervene.
SPEAKER 08 :
Have you heard any reaction from Cedar Park on this?
SPEAKER 04 :
I have. I spoke to Pastor Jay Smith. Well, I actually exchanged emails with him and let him know that we were disappointed in this result, but what the options were going forward. And obviously he was disappointed too, but authorized us to seek rehearing en banc because he agrees that churches shouldn’t be forced to pay for abortion. We need to do everything we can to fight this law.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you so, so much, ADF Attorney Kevin Theriault. Incredible insights, and thank you and ADF for all the critical work you do in defending the unborn and defending our religious liberties.
SPEAKER 01 :
God bless you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you for joining us on Washington Watch. All right, friends, coming up next, Meg Kilgannon will be joining me as we talk about President Trump’s highly anticipated executive order regarding the Department of Education.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stay tuned. We’ll be back.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, beautiful for spacious skies.
SPEAKER 13 :
For amber waves of grace At the 2025 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, hundreds gathered with Christian and government leaders at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., to pray for the nation and ask God to forgive us of our sins.
SPEAKER 09 :
The fruit is plain
SPEAKER 05 :
We gather here not to appeal to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are appealing to heaven. Today we make our appeal not in the authority of a political party or in the name of a denomination. We come in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ. who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and we have been commissioned to operate in that authority.
SPEAKER 03 :
Father, we pray in Jesus’ name for our complacency, our greed, our pride, our gluttony, our sloth, and tolerance of sin.
SPEAKER 18 :
Lord, your word is the food that can make America healthy again. May your word be exalted and believed in our nation again.
SPEAKER 21 :
Lord, we ask that you allow us to become that shining city on the hill once more for your love, your grace, and your mercy.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy. for the opportunity that you have provided us to heal our land. We ask you to do it, Lord. We ask you for the wisdom, discernment, and stamina to do the thing that you have called each one of us, all of us here, to do. May we be found faithful. We trust it, pray it, believe it all. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I am your Friday host, Jody Hayes.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 01 :
All right, President Trump continues to make waves in this first 100 days of his administration as he is just relentlessly attempting to weed out government corruption, fraud, inefficiency, and so forth.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, reports now suggest that the president may soon abolish the education department. He plans to do so through an executive order. And, of course, this is something he’s been talking about even while on the campaign trail.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, the expected move is drawing a lot of reactions, as you may well imagine, frankly, from both sides of the aisle. But what exactly is—why is he targeting the Department of Education? And what would happen if it actually is abolished?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, those are some good questions.
SPEAKER 01 :
And here to enlighten us on the matter is Meg Kilgannon. She’s a senior fellow for education studies here at FRC.
SPEAKER 08 :
She previously served at the Department of Education as the director of the Office of Faith and Opportunity Initiatives during the first Trump administration. Meg, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you.
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s so nice to see you, Jody.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, the Department of Education. I don’t know anyone who knows it any better than you. Why is Trump targeting this department?
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, it is just a department that does not have a track record of success, unfortunately. It was created in the Carter administration, and since its creation, sadly, student achievement has declined instead of increasing. And I think I really love the comments that Secretary McMahon made today in the clip on the news segment. She talked about the point isn’t to close the department. The point is to increase student achievement. The point is to deliver a quality education to America’s school children. We have the greatest country in the world, and our children should have the best educational experience in the world. And sadly, our scores are some of the lowest, even though we spend the most money of any nation. So something’s got to be here.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, something’s got to give. And like you, I was extremely impressed with her comments on that. I thought it was very mature and very focused on what the outcome is that we all want. And obviously, the Federal Department of Education is not accomplishing that.
SPEAKER 01 :
So let me ask you this, Meg.
SPEAKER 08 :
Give us some more details on what expectations there might be if this actually were to take place.
SPEAKER 19 :
Sure. Well, I think first and foremost, we need to remember that, of course, it would take an act of Congress to completely abolish the Department of Education. So we’ve had indications from the current Secretary of the Education Committee on the House side, Representative Wahlberg, that he’s up for this and he’s excited about it. I’m sure Speaker Johnson is. The question would be in the Senate, how do you get 60 votes? And so I think that there are a lot of ways that we can get to 60 votes in the process of tooling down the department, interestingly. I think that if you were to take, for example, the student loan department, that function, and send that to Treasury, That would be a much they’d be much better able to handle that issue. And that would be a real bonus for America. Then if you took the function of, say, the the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education now and you sent that to the Department of Justice, you could, you know, slim down the department and prove that. Kids are still going to school. Education is still being delivered, right? There’s nothing to panic about here. This is something that we can do in the states because I mean, in a way, all of the drama about getting rid of the Department of Education is really kind of insulting to the teachers and the principals and the state executives that are that are really delivering education at the state level and the state and local level. They are the ones who are responsible for getting the kids their education in the schools. Nothing that the Department of Education does from Washington, D.C. has a direct relationship to that delivery of learning, right? So it’s definitely possible. And I think that I think we could look at this as an opportunity for like a get out of jail free card for our educational system in America. Right now, we have these strings that are holding us back. that are coming from Washington and we could really unleash a whole new era of wonderful learning and student progress in this country by eliminating this department.
SPEAKER 08 :
so i agree this department was created by congressional action so it would take congressional action to abolish it but what you’re saying is the president could gut it so to speak in a lot of ways and slim it down significantly i think probably at the end of the day that that might be the way to go and i would also take from our discussion you an individual who worked at the department of education
SPEAKER 01 :
You would not be opposed to this abolishing or downsizing yourself, would you?
SPEAKER 19 :
I strongly support this move, yes. I think that it’s nothing against the fine people who are working at the department. I know that they’re there and they’re trying to do a good job. I think that it’s just something that is by its very nature and design, it’s destined to fail because the education of children is the purview of parents. And so that education has to be delivered and governed at the very closest level to the family unit that you can have, which is of course your locality. So the further you get a locus of control away from the parent, the worse the outcomes are going to be. And so it’s just time for us to do this.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow, and you’re not the only one. I know Tim Wahlberg, the chairman of that particular committee, as you mentioned, he supports us as well.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you so much, Matt Kilgannon, for your insights and for your leadership at FRC as a Senior Fellow for Education Studies.
SPEAKER 08 :
Have a great weekend. All right, friends, coming up next, I’ll be joined by David Claussen for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment. You won’t miss it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Stay tuned.
SPEAKER 08 :
We’ll be back in just a second.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
The world is hurting. Streets are filled with crime. Families are broken. Sin is celebrated. And God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God’s will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn’t impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can’t do that. It’s not that you don’t love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God’s opinion more than your neighbor’s opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you’re the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that’s not all. They’re also engaged in our government. They’re voters. They’re more likely to be involved in their community, and they’re making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can’t do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That’s what we’re working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That’s S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m your Friday host, Jody Heiss. So glad to have you joining us today. All right, listen, before I get to my next guest, I wanted to make sure that you’re aware of a new book that’s about to be published. It’s by FRC’s very own David Claussen. David’s book is entitled Life After Roe, Equipping Christians in the Fight for Life Today. And Friends, I received my advance copy last week, and it’s a terrific book. Basically, it looks at abortion and the whole life issue from a theological, a biblical, historical, and a political perspective, all of this wrapped up in one volume. And here’s the exciting part. Washington Watch viewers and listeners can get a 40% special discount. It’s just simply using a code. So go to Lifeway.com. That’s where you can get the book, Lifeway.com, and just do a search for Life After Roe, and then use the code WashingtonWatch at checkout. That’s WashingtonWatch without any spaces, just WashingtonWatch, and you’ll get 40% off. I hope you will take advantage of this. It’s a great, great book. All right. Speaking of David Claussen, it’s been another big week in Washington and around the country. And as always, we like to end the week and the program by thinking about all the headlines through a biblical worldview lens. And joining me now to talk about some of those issues is David Claussen himself. He is, of course, the director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at FRC. David, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you. Happy Friday.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, happy Friday. It’s a joy to be with you as well, Jody.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. So, listen, we’ve got a lot to talk about, as we always do on Fridays. And I do want to get particularly to President Trump’s address to Congress. But before we get there, David, I want to ask you about a story that’s related to abortion. It occurred just a couple of days ago in the state of Idaho. Can you bring us up to speed on that particular decision that the Justice Department made in relation to abortion in that state?
SPEAKER 11 :
Absolutely, Jody. And really, this is just the latest evidence that the Trump administration, as they’ve found their footing very quickly, has moved to overturn many of the decisions of the Biden-Harris administration. Now, Jody, during the Biden-Harris administration, you and I had many conversations on just how aggressive the previous administration was on pushing abortion on demand wherever they could, whenever they could. And so the case you’re referring to is out of Idaho. So the long story short is once Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022, many pro-life states, including Idaho, had laws that were allowed to go into effect. And so Idaho’s law specifically was called the Idaho Defense of Life Act, which protected unborn children. Unfortunately, the Biden administration moved to sue the state of Idaho for And it’s interesting, the argument they used, they used a 1986 law signed by President Reagan known as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. This is legislation, again, that President Reagan signed that simply said that pregnant women and their children, regardless of the ability to pay, if they show up in an emergency room, they need to be provided care. The Biden administration said, argued that that federal law from 1986 required emergency rooms to provide abortion services, which is insane. Nowhere in the original law was this part of that. This went up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court actually declined to hear the case on the merits. They sent it back to the lower court. And so as this was about to go to trial and kind of go through the case, the Trump administration notified the court that they are changing position, which, so again, long story short, Jody, this shows us that the Trump administration very clearly is sending a signal of they’re going to respect states’ rights when it comes to the life issue. They’ve already taken federal actions, you know, protecting the Hyde Amendment, reinstating the Mexico City policy, reentering the Geneva Consensus Declaration. And so this is just the latest signal that under the Trump administration, specifically this is the Justice Department, pro-life policies are being honored and pursued. We have much to be thankful for.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. We really do. That’s huge news. And probably a lot of our listeners and viewers didn’t catch that. That’s one of those things that’s just kind of gone under the radar. So thanks for bringing us up to speed on that. If I can’t switch gears with you, David, you know, I think probably obviously the most important event of the week in Washington this past week was President Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress. And I want to get to a couple of specific questions for you. But before we get to that, just kind of your overall reflection on the speech. I know you’ve had time to think about it over the last few days. So what’s your general reaction? And also, you know, what did you think was the impact of the speech?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, Jody, I’ll be honest. I really enjoyed the speech. I know when you were a member of Congress, you got to sit in and actually watch some of those speeches in person, which must have been an awesome experience. But watching the speech on Tuesday, it was history-making. It was the longest speech of its type, one hour and 40 minutes. And I think it’s clear, Jody, that President Trump has a mandate. He won all seven swing states. He increased his margin across almost every demographic imaginable, whether it’s African-Americans, Hispanics, young voters. And President Trump has moved swiftly in these first couple of weeks in acting on the agenda that he ran on. And I think in this speech, he just made it clear that he feels that he has this mandate, whether it’s on immigration, whether it’s on foreign policy, whether it’s on the economy. And clearly, he feels that he has the support of the American people. And so, you know, there was a lot of issues. And I think we’ll get into some of the specifics, Jody, that those of us who are social conservatives that care deeply about creation order issues, specifically the issue of gender ideology. It’s just interesting that he’s specifically chose that issue to really highlight. And I guess one other general comment, Jody, is it was regrettable, in my view, to see the reaction of the Democrats. This is the party of democracy, and they just seemed intent on debasing democratic norms even further. That was regrettable. But overall, I think most Americans who tuned into the speech we’re probably encouraged that Trump is clearly pursuing the agenda that he ran on.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, 76%, in fact, with a CBS poll afterwards, we’re in agreement with that. So let’s get to some of the specifics you’ve mentioned. President Trump highlighted, as you brought up, the issue of transgender ideology. I want to play a clip of one of the comments he made specific on that issue and get your reaction to this.
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Shortly after taking office, I signed an executive order banning public schools from indoctrinating our children with transgender ideology. I also signed an order to cut off all taxpayer funding to any institution that engages in the sexual mutilation of our youth. And now I want Congress to pass a bill permanently banning and criminalizing sex changes on children and forever ending the lie that any child is trapped IN THE WRONG BODY. THIS IS A BIG LIE. AND OUR MESSAGE TO EVERY CHILD IN AMERICA IS THAT YOU ARE PERFECT EXACTLY THE WAY GOD MADE YOU.
SPEAKER 08 :
THAT’S POWERFUL STUFF. DAVID, GIVE ME YOUR RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT TRUMP USING REALLY THE BULLY PULPIT THAT HE HAD AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, Jody, it is just refreshing after the last four of those speeches that President Biden gave where it was the opposite, where kind of the LGBTQ plus agenda was just continually being pushed front and center, being shoved down the throats of tens of millions of Americans that don’t agree with that ideology. to hear President Trump just speak with, you know, common sense. That’s a word that President Trump and many in his administration have been using a lot. And I’m going to go a step further and say these are issues of creation order. These are Genesis 1 and 2 issues. And, you know, so much has happened in Washington, D.C. in just these first six or seven weeks that I think, you know, the avalanche of news, whether it’s the immigration stuff, whether it’s the economic information. But for those of us who are social conservatives, and one of the reasons— you know, Washington Watch exists is to make sure that sage cons, these spiritually active governance engaged conservatives are in the know. And one of the things we’ve talked about is these executive orders and specifically what President Trump was doing right there was highlighting two specific executive orders that he signed within the first week of his presidency. There was one executive order, Jody, that specifically prohibits any tax dollars to go to the mutilation of children. And what does President Trump mean by that using that very clear language? This would be cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, or physical surgeries that, of course, irreversibly harm and castrate children. This is something the Biden administration pushed. Trump has drawn a clear line in the sand. And the other executive order he was referring to was one from January 29th. It’s entitled Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling. And it specifically in the executive order prohibits schools, you know, under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education. This would be all public schools in America from using gender ideology or DEI as part of the curriculum. And so and so much has happened in D.C. I’m grateful that the president decided to use his primetime speech to underscore some things that I think every social conservative in America should be grateful for.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. And he did it with such precision and clarity. Refreshing, the words you use, just so spot on with that. Elsewhere in the speech, David, President Trump discussed another issue related to the whole transgender issue, but that’s about women’s sports. In fact, he invited Peyton McNabb, who’s a woman’s volleyball player, to sit there with the first lady. But McNabb is the one I think most people probably remember. She gained attention. She was a volleyball player, got hit in that face with a volleyball that was spiked by a man, biological man, and experienced traumatic brain injury. I want to play a clip again for you from that portion of the speech and get your reaction to this.
SPEAKER 17 :
And if you really want to see numbers, just take a look at what happened in the women’s boxing, weightlifting, track and field, swimming, or cycling, where a male recently finished a long-distance race five hours and 14 minutes ahead of a woman for a new record by five hours. Broke the record by five hours. It’s demeaning for women, and it’s very bad for our country. We’re not going to put up with it any longer.
SPEAKER 08 :
Demeaning for women. All right. Again, your response.
SPEAKER 11 :
Again, how encouraging it is to have the commander in chief, the president of the United States, looking out over the most powerful people, the decision makers in this country, and speaking with such candor and clarity. And what’s so interesting, Jody, and we remember this from the first Trump administration, you know, Donald Trump is the master performer. You know, he cut his teeth, so to speak, not only on real estate, but reality television. And so he’s done this for a key individuals who will sit there with the first lady, and then he weaves their personal stories and he connects it to policy. And what President Trump did brilliantly on Tuesday was to highlight some American stories of Americans who were negatively impacted by Biden era policies. And again, The story of this young woman, traumatic brain injury. She’s hit with a volleyball spiked in her face by a man masquerading as a woman. It’s a horrific story. Her career is over. But again, highlighting this issue using the bully pulpit of the presidency. And again, it’s not just been words. It’s been actions. February 5th, he signed an executive order simply titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports. Again, I just imagine if my grandfather was alive today and I had to explain to him that the president of the United States was having to take an executive action to keep men out of women’s sports. Any other generation would not have understood these conversations. It just shows how radical our moment is with transgender ideology today. So again, Jody, how encouraging to, again, have a president who understands the issue. He knows the voters are with him and is just moving to make a difference on this issue in the face of all those Democrats who he knows just a couple days earlier had killed a bill that would have codified his executive order. So again, you see courage and clarity.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, David, I do want to get to I want to give you opportunity to speak about your book. And but I got one more real quick question. You mentioned the Democrats earlier about them not standing. Give me your reaction that we don’t have time for another clip, but I want to just get your reaction to that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it’s regrettable that even on some of those stories where you have a police officer’s widow or you have a young man being admitted into the military academy, you know, stories where, again, a brain, a child brain cancer survivor who’s deputized as a member of the Secret Service, you know, these stories that you think everyone could get behind. And the Democrats refuse to even honor that. It shows the partisanship is at an all time high. And I think I just, as a Christian, and as someone who looks at things through the lens of worldview, it shows the worldview divide. We’re dealing not just with ethanol subsidies or tariffs, we’re dealing with those issues, but we’re dealing with creation order issues. And again, that’s why these conversations are so important, because these get to the very nature of ontology and being. It’s really important. And unfortunately, we see that divide in our parties.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely, we do. All right, David, we’re about out of time, but I mentioned your book coming into this segment. Again, can you just remind folks briefly what the book is about and where they can find it? Outstanding book.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, that’s kind, Jody. Life After Roe, it looks at the abortion issue. It looks at the value of human life from a whole range of issues, whether it’s polling that FRC has done, where I unpack where the church stands today on the issue, what the Bible teaches, what the church has taught for 2,000 years. And then I also look at some of the challenges facing the pro-life movement. You know, Jody, overturning Roe was never the end goal for the pro-life movement. We want to make abortion unthinkable as well as illegal, but there’s challenges in the way. And so the book looks at all of those issues, and my prayer is that it will serve pastors, church leaders, and Christian parents. And again, you can go to lifeway.com, enter the title of the book, Jody, and then use that code, Washington Watch, just one word, Washington Watch, and you get 40% off. Grateful for my publisher giving that to the viewers and listeners of this program.
SPEAKER 08 :
And yes, we are grateful for it as well. Everybody loves a great buy, but when you have a great buy on a great product, I mean, that’s just a double blessing. Thank you so much, David Clausen, Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview here at FRC. Always, always, I look forward to Friday afternoon and our discussion on the news from a biblical perspective. Have a great weekend. All right, friends, that wraps up this week and this edition. of Washington Watch. Hope you have a fantastic weekend. We’ll see you next week right here on Washington.
SPEAKER 20 :
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.
