On today’s program: Scott Perry, U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 10th District, discusses how the controversy over the Epstein files is gumming-up the legislative process. Micah Beckwith, Indiana Lt. Governor and Former Pastor, shares his
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from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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Numerous members of this committee and this subcommittee have called for answers and transparency. So let’s do something about it. We need the actual Epstein files to get the full truth. So I hope my Republican colleagues will join me in supporting a motion to subpoena the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
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That was Congresswoman Summer Lee. Her motion passed after three Republican members of the subcommittee joined Democrats in calling for the Department of Justice to release all of the Epstein documents. Welcome to this July 24th edition of Washington Watch, broadcasting live once again from Indianapolis, Indiana, site of SoConCon 2025. I’m Tony Burkins, your host. Thanks for tuning in. Coming up, Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, one of the Republicans who voted to subpoena the DOJ for the Epstein files, joins us in just a moment. Also today, the White House is rolling out new initiatives on artificial intelligence.
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America is the country that started the AI race. And as president of the United States, I’m here today to declare that America is going to win it. We will not allow any foreign nation to beat us. Our children will not live on a planet controlled by the algorithms of the adversary’s advancing values and interests contrary to our own.
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That was President Donald Trump. So what does this mean for the American family? We’ll get reaction from FRC’s Travis Weber a little bit later on Washington Watch. The SoConCon is an annual gathering of the Family Policy Alliance, which operates in about 40 states nationwide. And one of their key priorities is equipping and encouraging pastors and churches to engage in public life. Well, Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith, who answered that call as he was a pastor, is with us today to share his journey to the Lieutenant Governor’s office. And Bunny Pounds with Christians Engaged and the Family Policy Alliance will join us to preview an upcoming event FRC is proud to partner in. And you’ll want to take part in it as well. And former Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert, founder and president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, will stop by with a look at the positive legislative momentum happening in the states. All of that and more coming up on this edition of Washington Watch. Well, just hours before the House was set to adjourn early for its month-long recess to avoid tackling the Epstein file issue, a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee passed a motion to subpoena the Department of Justice for the full, unredacted release of the files related to the late and infamous Jeffrey Epstein. The motion was introduced during a hearing on unaccompanied immigrant children by the ranking member of the Federal Law Enforcement Subcommittee of the Oversight Committee, Democrat Congresswoman Summer Lee of Pennsylvania. It passed on a vote of eight to two, with three Republicans joining the Democrats. So what impact might this have on all of the drama surrounding the Epstein files? With me now to talk about this and more is Congressman Scott Perry, a member of the Oversight Committee, also a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. He represents the 10th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. Congressman Perry, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s great to be with you, Tony. And I would just say, look, when President Biden was the president, they weren’t interested. My friends on the other side of the aisle weren’t interested in this. At that time, many Republicans, including myself, were calling for the release so that the American people could understand what happened with Jeffrey Epstein. Merrick Garland wasn’t interested. I’ve called for a briefing from the Intelligence Committee, of which I’m a member of, early in the year. I’ve already called for the Department of Justice to release the information and appoint a special counsel. I’ve called for the release of the grand jury testimony that has been hidden from public view. And I’ve also called for the protection of Ghislaine Maxwell. So my position has never changed on this. I’m exactly where President Trump is, who’s ordered his Department of Justice to not only get the testimony from Ghislaine Maxwell, but to release the files. This is nothing new. This is theater by the Democrats that want to make something out of something that they weren’t interested in. Not only were they not interested in this when Joe Biden was the president and Merrick Garland was the attorney general, they also weren’t interested in over 400,000 unaccompanied minors, many thousands of which have been lost by the Biden administration.
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Congressman Perry, there’s no question that there is political theater here and both the Democratic Party and I would say the legacy media have seized upon this for political advantage. But I want to go to your second point and that is the consistency of your position and of many Republicans. I think That is the issue here, is that there is a lack of some consistency among some Republicans, because there was a promise that this information was going to be released. And all of a sudden, the public is told there is no additional information. The Department of Justice was not going to release it. And so I think it’s the issue of the lack of consistency of some that has made this more of an issue than I think would have been if it would have been released.
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I would tend to agree with you, and I can’t speak for other folks. I haven’t seen the files, and I understand that we want to make sure that we safeguard the names and the personally identifiable information of potential victims and folks like that. I certainly get that. But I think the American people are very curious to know if their government supported the essentially the kidnapping and raping of underage children for some kind of extortion against foreign leaders or something like that. They want to know if their government was involved in that and they want to know who ordered such a thing and why, what was so valuable that it was worth safeguarding Jeffrey Epstein from the long arm of justice in that regard. And I think that’s completely appropriate. And like I said, my position has never changed on that. And to the president’s point, where he’s called for the release of this information, I think that the president probably, and I can’t really even speak for him, but Just from what I know, he’s watched himself be persecuted by made-up information, what he calls fake news, over and over again. And I think that there’s some realistic concern that the Democrats, Merrick Garland, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Attorneys General, many have placed incorrect or misleading information in the files just to make sure that Donald Trump is dirtied up. And I think it’s a reasonable concern by the president and the administration.
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To that point, Congressman Perry, the American people was able to filter through that previously. Do you not think that they can handle that information again and sort fact from fiction, given that there’s a big distrust of the media and what the media puts out? But but here’s the polling data. And this is across the board with most polling entities is that only about seven, 16 to 17 percent of the American public agree that the administration is handling this well. And that would that would include the U.S. Congress. I mean, this is an issue of trust in government, which has been at an all time low during Joe Biden. And I think a lot of the hope was it was going to be restored. And this is a major setback, in my opinion.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I hate to agree with you that that’s true, but I think it is true. And like I said, I don’t have the files. I can’t release them because I don’t have them in my possession, which is why my position has always been the same. And I think the American people deserve to know what their government was involved in. And so… Regardless of the reason, I think the only way to restore the trust that you’re talking about is to be fully transparent, regardless of how embarrassing it is to the federal government and to the people involved, especially such accusations that are so horrific. We just need to see the information. The American people are smart. We can figure it out. and then move on from there. And this is a case where I think the intelligence community is out over its skis, is out of control and needs to be brought to heel because I suspect they might not want this information released. I’m not sure, but if that’s the case, then that goes to the trust issue, and it’s right that the American people should have these questions. If the information belongs to the FBI or the CIA or somebody like that, it’s not their information. That information belongs to the citizens of America.
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Final question on this, Congressman Scott Perry. In your opinion, does this issue go away without the release of the information?
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t think it does go away. I think that it’s exactly why I voted the way I did and why I have been consistent on this the whole way through. You know, we have called for the release of the information and Republicans are in charge of the House of Representatives, the Senate and the executive branch. So it’s on us. And I want to remain consistent for all the right reasons. And I think I’ve done so.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, and I don’t want to commend you for that. That’s why you’re frequently on this program. You are consistent in your positions. And I am grateful that you joined with the Democrats, even though they were motivated by political theater and using this as political leverage. Your consistency, I think, is in step with where the American people want to see Congress go. We’ve got about three minutes left, Congressman Perry. I want to shift gears to the international front. Steve Witkoff, the special envoy, for peace mission said his team of mediators is coming home from Doha because Hamas clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. I mean, this is something we’ve been hearing about 50 days. We’re going to get a peace agreement there. The president pushing hard Israel to move forward. Israel’s at the table. Hamas is not. Where does that leave Israel and the U.S. as they seek a resolution to the war there in Gaza?
SPEAKER 06 :
Unfortunately, Tony, I think that it leaves Israel, which I don’t think is surprised at this, but certainly people in the United States with the realization that Hamas has never been serious about a peace agreement. They’ve never been serious about relenting on their hatred of Jews and Israel and their interest and guiding principle of destroying and ridding the world of Israel, the Jewish state. they’re never going to do it. And all they’re doing is playing for time. It’s why they took the hostages as leverage. They don’t plan on giving them up. They don’t plan on relenting. Unfortunately, that is the reality of who Hamas is and who the Islamists are. And the sooner we understand and recognize and acknowledge and accept that, I think the better off we’ll be. While I would like a different outcome, it’s simply not realistic with the ideology of this barbaric, religious, anti-West, anti-Israel, anti-Christianity group of people. And that’s just who we’re dealing with.
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About a minute and a half left, Congressman Perry. In his statement, Mr. Witkoff also said, quote, we will now consider options to bring the hostages home. What might that entail? And should this scare Hamas, thinking that the United States is going to weigh in to get these hostages home?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I hope that Hamas will be convinced that it’s the right thing to do if they want to remain a part of life on this planet at this time. I think that that’d be well advised from their viewpoint. I think the United States and Israel, the people of Israel, of course, the families and the loved ones of these hostages are fed up with the game, the longstanding play for power here. And I think the United States is kind of at, unfortunately, our last resort. We always want to put diplomacy first and trying to work things out, come to some reasonable consensus between two differing bodies. Unfortunately, one is intractable. They are violent and they don’t respect the lives of others. They don’t even, let’s face it, they don’t even respect the lives of the people that they represent. They use them as political pawns and sacrifice their very lives. That that’s that’s who we’re dealing with. So, yeah, and I suspect that the United States is prepared to use means necessary to get the hostages out. And I hope they do. Congressman Scott Perry, always great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 16 :
Thanks so much for joining us today. Thank you. God bless you. All right. Coming up, we’re going to be talking to the lieutenant governor of Indiana. So don’t go away.
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The family is the oldest, most tested, and most reliable unit of society. It is divinely created and sustained. And yet, there are those who are always tampering with its values and structure. That’s why we need organizations like the Family Research Council that can effectively defend and strengthen the family.
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Family Research Council began over 40 years ago, like all great movements of God, with prayer. Today, rooted in the heart of the nation’s capital, FRC continues to champion faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
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FRC is one of those bright lights that helps us focus on true north. And I shudder to think had they not been here that it could have been worse, worse, worse.
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The Family Research Council is key. It’s one of a handful of groups that I think will determine whether our children live in a country that enjoyed all of the freedom and all the opportunity that we enjoyed in this great land.
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It’s just a wonderful parachurch organization that doesn’t seek to take the place of the church, but it seeks to assist the family and the church as we try to move forward successfully, not in a defensive mode, but in an offensive mode as we seek to live our lives according to the Holy Scriptures.
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FRC is not going to be whooped. You know, we’re going to fight. We’re going to take a stand.
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And again, we don’t retreat. 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.
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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Family Research Council invites you to join our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan as we reflect upon the life of Jesus, the Word who dwelt among us. Come with us and discover the glory of the Word. Read the Gospels and witness the life-changing story of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. Come read how Jesus transformed the lives of common people and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come with us for 10 to 15 minutes a day and read the entire New Testament before the new year. Find our Bible reading plan in daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc.org slash Bible. Join us in Stand on the Word.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch as we broadcast live from Indianapolis, Indiana for the SoConCon 2025. Now, the SoConCon is a gathering of influential conservative policy leaders from all across America, and everyone brings with them different experiences and perspectives. Well, my next guest is someone who probably never imagined he would find himself where God has led him today. He thought he’d go into business with his parents or into the dairy industry. Then he went into the ministry. He was a pastor. And then COVID came and COVID, well, it shut a lot of doors. It opened some other doors for him. He’s now the Lieutenant Governor of Indiana. And that was after serving his 15 years as a worship leader and campus pastor. And so how did he get to where he’s at today? Well, he’s here to tell us the story. Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith. Micah, thanks for joining us. Tony, thank you for having me. Thank you for all you’re doing. Appreciate it. Well, it’s great to see you. We, I guess our paths crossed a decade or so ago when you were working here in the state with the now equivalent, the Family Policy Alliance representative here working with pastors.
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I was. So working with Indiana Family Institute, I was the director of the Hoosier Leadership Series. And I was really feeling a burden to get the church off of the bench into the game when it comes to biblical citizenship, stewardship of America. And I was talking to a lot of pastors and they would say, well, you know, separation of church and state. Oh, well, we don’t get political. And I just remember thinking, well, didn’t Didn’t Jesus say in the Great Commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Last time I checked, politics is part of all the world. So I just, I could never understand this disconnect. And so I started researching it and I realized America’s foundations is rooted in the scriptures. And if the church doesn’t stand up, who will? So that’s what kind of led me.
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Well, and that lack of standing up led to an erosion of religious freedom, which really became… so front and center during the COVID crisis. Because we saw, you know, abortion clinics, bars were open, but churches were closed.
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You know, Romans 1 says, you know, he gives them over to their own foolishness, right? And, you know, like Isaiah talks about what was once considered, woe to those who say good is evil and evil is good, right? And I think 2020 really was the codification of that in our culture. And we looked around and said, oh my goodness, what is happening? And I think the reason is because the church has been largely silent on these issues for the last 50, 60 years. And we haven’t been pushed out. We exited on our own. And so when 2020 hit, as a pastor, I said, listen, my job is to defend liberty, whether it’s in the spiritual or in the natural, I’m a shepherd. And so when evil comes, I should stand in the way of evil and the sheep. And so I started writing religious exemptions for people, started pushing back on tyrannical lockdowns. And when even our state in Indiana, which is a good state, we were doing things that were unconstitutional. I said, listen, government, you can’t do this. God hasn’t given you that authority. And I just started speaking out and my name ID and influence started growing. And I would have never thought in a million years I’d be here today, but God moves and opens doors and here we are.
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So you began moving around the state. Yeah. challenging the laws that were closing down the churches and silencing the voice of the church at a time when it was needed more than ever. As you recall, the same time as George Floyd and the violence in the streets all across America. And I think a large part of that was because the churches were closed.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, 100%. And if the church doesn’t do their job, we will lose liberty. Liberty is God’s idea. It’s not man’s idea. And, you know, our founding fathers in the Declaration of Independence mentioned God four times. You know, the creator who has endowed us with these inalienable rights. Well, they use creator with a capital C. They’re speaking of God. In Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God created. That word Elohim means creator. They’re making the parallel. They’re saying the God of the Bible is the God who gives us our liberty, this Elohim, this creator.
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get this, then we will lose liberty. And if the church doesn’t speak up about it, the politicians aren’t going to get it. They’re not going to know it. So let’s talk, Lieutenant Governor, about the process here in Indiana, if I’m not mistaken. There’s a nominating convention that takes place.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. So the Republican Party, every four years, will have a nominating convention that will nominate the Lieutenant Governor. But for the history of Indiana, we’ve never had a competition. We’re always told as delegates who to vote for for the Lieutenant Governor’s race.
SPEAKER 16 :
And the gubernatorial candidate kind of picks who that running mate will be?
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly. And so it’s more of a rubber stamp. The delegates come in, rubber stamp whoever the gubernatorial primary winner says.
SPEAKER 16 :
Didn’t happen this time.
SPEAKER 11 :
Didn’t happen this time. So Governor Braun, while him and I have a great relationship. And he’s a good guy. He is a good guy.
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He was frequently on this program when he was in the Senate.
SPEAKER 11 :
He’s doing a great job as governor. People always ask, because it was sort of an arranged marriage, how’s it going? And I can tell you right now, it’s going really well. He’s a fantastic governor. I’m honored to serve alongside of him. But over the last few years, I realized, okay, we’ve got to have an independent voice in that lieutenant governor’s office so that What we saw during COVID never happens again. And so I started getting churches involved. Hey, do you know what a delegate is? Do you know the process? You know, Hosea 4.6 says, my people perish for lack of knowledge. I said, we don’t have the luxury of being ignorant. We need to know. And so we started getting churches involved and a lot of Christians came out and said, okay, I’ll run for delegate and I’ll be a state convention. We’ll support you, Micah, down at the convention. And there were two churches primarily that really took a big interest in this. And they taught people what the delegate process was. They encouraged their congregants to run. And between those two churches in Indiana, they got 63 delegates elected to go to the convention. Well, wouldn’t you know it, when the vote total came back, I won with exactly 63 votes. So it was two churches in Indiana that made the world of difference.
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I mean, just think about that across this country. And every system is a little bit different, but the reality is if churches engage, they can make a difference.
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It was literally just two churches. Imagine we have 300, David Barton and George Barna did a study. We have 300,000 churches in America. 300,000 churches. And out of those 300,000 churches, only 38% of them have a biblical worldview. And out of the 38%, less than 3% actually engage in what we call politics. And I don’t think anything’s political. I think it’s all biblical. Right. Especially today.
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These issues that are moral, biblical issues have been turned into political issues. And the church is told to back off.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. If the church does their job, America will go on and be the city on the hill, will be a beacon of liberty for the whole world for many more years to come. If the church doesn’t do their job, we will lose this very quickly.
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Lieutenant Governor, we just have about a minute left. As you are now in office, what do you see as your biggest challenge? You also preside over the Senate, so what is the biggest challenge you see that this state, and by extension, the country’s facing?
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Yeah, it’s strategy, right? People ask me, how can we pray for you, Lieutenant Governor? And it’s so hard to know what to pray for, because you don’t even know the challenges you’re going to be up against tomorrow. So what I’ve said… We’ve got to be like Solomon. The church, Christians have to be like Solomon. Solomon didn’t know the problems he was going to be facing tomorrow, but he knew what to ask. He asked for wisdom and knowledge. And so if you go to, I think the Chronicles passage says he asked for wisdom and knowledge. And the knowledge piece is the strategy piece. And that’s what we need. We need wisdom from heaven and God’s strategy.
SPEAKER 16 :
In the Hebrew there, it even means the heart. A heart to lead, a heart to understand the people and what they were facing. Lieutenant Governor Beckwith, thank you so much for joining us today. What an amazing story. Thank you for your faithfulness and the inspiration. I know you’re going to be to pastors all across this country. Thank you, Tony. Appreciate it. All right. Folks, stick with us. On the other side of the break, an exciting event coming up that you’ll want to be a part of. So don’t go away. More Washington Watch straight ahead.
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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.
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Hey, fam, listen, Pastor Sammy here at Lighthouse Church, and I cannot tell you how equipping, how empowering, how… incredibly educating this conference has been. And so I just want to encourage anybody that either has not been part of or is thinking about hosting this event, certainly to pastors, leaders, even CEOs for that matter. This conference is lights out. Stand behind it myself. I can’t commend it enough. We’re going to be talking about this for some time to come.
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The culture is kind of squeezing in on us as God’s people, forcing those of us with biblical views to change those views or to suppress those views. It’s forcing us to engage with issues that we’ve never had to engage with. And so what this teaches us is what those issues are, what the Bible says about those issues, and then how we can critically engage our culture on these things in a way that is committed to biblical principle.
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Visit frc.org slash worldview for more information.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch as we broadcast live from Indianapolis, Indiana, the site of the 2025 SoConCon. All right. In less than a year, America will be celebrating the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth. Man, that’s something. And I can remember the 200th in 1976. I was a kid, and I remember just the big celebration. I can only imagine what 250 is going to look like. But in recognition of this milestone, there will be a week-long event next April that seeks to remind the American people of the foundational role the Word of God played in the launching of this nation. Announced just today, America Reads the Bible will be held April the 19th through the 25th at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. It is an initiative of the Great American Media, Christians Engaged, whose founder, Bunny Pound, joins me now here in Indianapolis. Bunny, welcome to the program.
SPEAKER 27 :
It is great to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, this is an exciting program or initiative that you have developed, and we’re honored to be able to partner with you at the Family Research Council. Share a little bit about what this is and where it came from.
SPEAKER 27 :
Yeah, two years ago I was walking around the Museum of the Bible and I just finished a draft of a new book coming out on the leadership of Nehemiah. And it hit me in that moment as I was looking at Ezra reading the Torah and reading the scroll in front of the Israelites during, you know, touring the Museum of the Bible, that it really took Ezra reminding the people of Israel who they were, the promises of God, the miracles of God. And so often You know, those of us in this space, we’re trying to get American Christians to go out and run for school board or be leaders in their community. But they’re sitting binge watching Netflix all day and not reading the Bible, right? And so it hit me that it really takes a depth of discipleship for us to know who we are in Christ and to walk out into the spaces of influence. And so I thought, wouldn’t it be awesome if our national leaders all humbled themselves and said, Hey, I’m Tony Perkins. I’m the President of Family Research Council. I’m Mike Johnson. I’m the Speaker of the House. I’m Scott Turner. I’m the HUD Secretary. And I need the Bible every day to make it. And you, the American people, need the Bible every day to make it. And what if we read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation together as 420 leaders in the backdrop of the 250th birthday of America? And that’s what we’re going to do next year, Tony.
SPEAKER 16 :
See, Bonnie, I think it’s the right time for this. As you look at the culture and you look what is happening, and unless we have an understanding of who we are in Christ and what he has called us to do, there’s no way we stand. Right. And so in order to stand, and we have a Bible reading plan called Stand on the Word, you can’t stand on the Word unless you know the Word. And that’s why we have people reading the Word. And so I think as a nation, reminding people, connecting people to our foundation, to the foundational Word of God is so, so critical. So what’s this look like for our viewers and listeners? How can they be a part of this? How can they connect with this?
SPEAKER 27 :
Well, we have an opportunity for 14,000 people to come to Washington, D.C. in this week and experience the Bible reading live in the theater. We’re going to have our own art gallery of my friend Mindy Oden’s amazing 66 paintings of the Messiah showing up in all 66 books of the Bible. We’re going to be signing people up for Bible reading and discipleship programs. One of them is yours, Tony. That’s why we wanted to partner with you on this. But the goal of this is for millions of people to watch the live stream through PureFlix, for churches to open their doors for seven days. Can you imagine pastors watching? preaching around Bible reading and opening up their doors and calling all their members to experience the Bible. We know that most people have never read the Bible all the way through. Can you imagine the presence of God touching people when we’re reading Leviticus and Ezra and Proverbs? And they’re like, oh, wow, I didn’t know that I could interact with God around that. It’s going to be an amazing thing, but for people to see our national leaders say we need God and we need scripture every day, I think it’s going to stir not only Christians that frankly don’t read their Bibles outside of their 20-minute service on Sunday, but also American people that are like, wow, I think the Bible did have something to do with our Constitution lasting 250 years and law, liberty, and justice.
SPEAKER 16 :
I think the controversy from the left will help draw people into the program even more, because I’m sure there’s going to be some whose heads are going to be exploding, that we’re going to have leaders reading the Bible around the clock for a one-week period of time.
SPEAKER 27 :
Yeah, we’re going to have Hollywood celebrities. We’re going to have people from different spheres of influence, CEOs, police officers, Border Patrol agents. goat farmers, you know, all of it. America reads the Bible, all demographics, all denominations, all 50 states.
SPEAKER 16 :
And so you’re hoping the churches will open up during this one-week period and be playing the live stream 24-7 as it’s going on?
SPEAKER 27 :
Yeah, we’re going to have an opening celebration, about a 90-minute show from Washington, D.C., where we all humble ourselves around that. You’ll be speaking at that. And then the live stream will be going on for seven days. So people can come to churches. They can pray. They can interact. They can just sit there and read the Word together as they’re watching our national leaders read it. And then they can take it home while they’re doing dishes and hanging out with their kids and keep it on in their families. Christian businessmen and women can open up and have it going on TVs in their businesses. It’s a perfect way to say, this is our 250th birthday. We’re celebrating as Americans by reading the Bible together. As citizens.
SPEAKER 16 :
Great idea. How can people find out more about this?
SPEAKER 27 :
Yeah, americareadsthebible.com. We have tons of groups that you can join in. Help us mobilize churches, Gen Z, prayer and intercession folks. Help us fund it. All of that is available at the website, the promo video. Just go to americareadsthebible.com and sign up to be there live in person or join the live stream.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, folks, I want to encourage you to be a part of this because I do think it is fundamental as we reach this milestone of 250 years as a nation that we return to what this nation was built upon, and it is the word of God. So, Bunny, I want to thank you for taking the leadership on this, for bringing forth the idea, and excited to be able to partner with you on this.
SPEAKER 27 :
Oh, honor, Toni, and I’m giddy about introducing you tonight, too, so that’s a blessing.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, Bonnie, thanks for being with us. All right, folks, don’t go away because we have more Washington Watch straight ahead as we broadcast from Indianapolis, Indiana. Don’t go away.
SPEAKER 24 :
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 19 :
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 05 :
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 19 :
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 05 :
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 18 :
Order today at embracethedesign.com.
SPEAKER 23 :
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 16 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch as we broadcast live from Indianapolis, Indiana, the site of SoConCon 2025. Well, if you’ve not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you to do so. That way you can have access to Washington Watch no matter where you are. You can also have access to our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, the Washington Stand, and my daily devotional, Stand on the Word. All of that can be found in the App Store on the Stand Firm app. Well, speaking of the word, our word for today comes from Mark chapter two. Then they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven you. Faith is not a passive belief, but an active force. And Jesus noticed it. Mark says, when Jesus saw their faith, he responded. Whose faith did he see? Not only the paralytics, but the faith of his four friends who refused to be deterred by the obstacles. They tore through a roof to get their friend to Jesus. Their determination was visible faith that helped create the moment that changed everything. Sometimes our greatest witness is not in what we say, but in what we’re willing to do for others. Is your faith visible? Is it persistent? Does it inspire those around you to believe that Jesus is worth pressing through every barrier to reach? To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, here at the SoConCon, social conservative policy leaders are focused on how to increase our impact in government and culture. And that applies not only to the national level, but more so even to the state level. So what are some of the notable movements and developments that we’re seeing in states across the nation? And what do they tell us about the direction of the countries? Joining me now to highlight some of these, Jason Rapert, founder and president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. He’s retired from the Senate in the state of Arkansas, and he joins me here in Indianapolis. Jason, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s good to be here. It’s good to be in Indianapolis with all these conservatives. It sure is. It absolutely is. Yesterday on the program I had Troy Miller of the National Religious Broadcasters, who we were all together in Israel just a couple of months ago. He gave a quick update on their lawsuit regarding the Johnson Amendment that frees the pastors to be able to speak to issues across the country. Let’s talk about some of the what you’re seeing in states across the nation in terms of what states are doing, because I think really the states are the laboratory of a policy experimentation.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. Well, thank you for asking. And I appreciate Troy Miller and his leadership in that suit. which is really going to set things back in order in my opinion, and free up our pulpits. And I just want to say on that, that no pastor has an excuse not to address the issues. And this is really going to set the tone for that. But as you know, and thanks to you, by the way, for serving on our national advisory board, You were one of the first, I think it was this program actually, or your radio program that we spoke on in 2018. But the National Association of Christian Lawmakers is made up of local, state, and federal elected officials. And our leadership around the country in the 50 states, primarily right now, the largest contingent are the state senators, state representatives, because they were really the foundational start. And one of the primary unique functions of NACL are the standing committee functions. It’s important for folks that are in the policy arena to know. So they have eight standing committees. They have a family committee. They have a state and federal relations committee. They have a life committee. They’re focused on different areas of policy. And they debate and discuss all of the major issues that are in the country from a biblical worldview openly and promulgate policies. And that sets up to tell you a little bit about the states. They’ve done 51 models dealing with life at conception, dealing with the App Store Accountability Act that we’ve heard our friends at Digital Childhood Alliance talk about. They even passed, as we were in Israel, last month in June, they passed the Judea-Samaria Model Act based on a bill that Representative McAlendon, one of our members, passed in Arkansas, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed. They’re working on any number of these different issues. And we could go into a ton of these, as we said earlier, but a couple of the real ones that I want to point out is that in every single state in the country, we’re dealing with the protection of children and minors. And I want to add my voice here at this conference. The Digital Childhood Alliance talked about four or five states that have passed some form of the App Store Accountability Act. And so they had asked us on our website at christianlawmakers.com, there is one particular page dedicated just to the App Store Accountability Act. And what that says is that teenagers can’t just go download an app where something bad might happen without a parent being involved in that. And I remember for our conservative friends, I had one of them tell me in the state of Alabama, and, you know, they discussed that case here today. In the state of Alabama, this gentleman came up and said, hey, Jason, we’re here, you know, championing freedom. I said, we’re protecting kids first, and that’s something that we need to balance in government.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, liberty is different than freedom. That’s right. And we have ordered liberty, and that’s what we protect under our Constitution, not the freedom to do everything that would be destructive to our society. And by the way, if I’m not mistaken, the Supreme Court recently had a case that upholds the ability of the states to do this in terms of protecting children from this content. The exciting thing about the Christian lawmakers is that there’s no other group like it. And that’s one of the reasons I was encouraged that you started it, is that there’s ALEC, that is a legislative gathering. historically more conservative, then you have a more liberal kind of democratic oriented one. This is focused from a biblical perspective. And so you get these Christian lawmakers together from across the country sharing policy ideas. And then it’s like being in a big huddle break and they go back into their states and they begin to initiate these policy ideas like the 10 commandments, like the chaplains in the school program. I mean, these are exciting things that are making a difference and being enacted into law.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, anecdotally, on that issue, Rocky Malloy, you know, heads the National School Chaplains Association. And to let people know how that works, he came to me and they passed a bill in Texas. That was the first state to ever pass that school chaplains bill. And he said, how can we help get this word out? I said, put it into the model process. See if we can get it endorsed as a national model. They did that. And they came, introduced that model at NACL. Senator Dennis Baxley took the idea back to Florida. Guess what? They passed a bill there. Senator Mark Abraham in your home state in Louisiana, our chair there, he passed it in Louisiana. At that point, they had handled a few things they wanted to straighten up in the bill. They came back to the table, and that became their model. Rocky Molloy just told me four weeks ago in DC, Jason, he said 29 different states have actually filed some version of that model bill. Same thing with Kevin Freeman, our friend on the gold and silver transactional currency. They couldn’t pass a bill. He came to an ACL. They dug in on it. You had got people talking and thinking about it. They passed that model act. Representative Mark DiRazio has now passed it in Texas. It’s passed in Florida. It’s passed in Louisiana, Arkansas, and the state of Missouri. And so the faith-based community now has a tool that we had not had, which was that type of policymaking entity. So I’m very proud of all of those lawmakers that have helped bring that to fruition.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right, so give out the website again. So we have lawmakers that listen across the country, but we also have people who might want to ask their legislator, hey, are you a part? Absolutely. So give out the contact information.
SPEAKER 12 :
So you can reach us at christianlawmakers.com. That’s the easiest place for people to go. They literally can become a member right there.
SPEAKER 16 :
And you also take outside, not just lawmakers, but others that are concerned about policy and want to be involved and support their work.
SPEAKER 12 :
Two major things. The armor bearer supporting members. That’s the people say, hey, I’m not an office, but I want to support what you’re doing. But you know what else we created? We created a track for the former elected official because some of them term out very quickly in their states and it keeps them engaged. They got a ton of wealth of inspiration and knowledge and experience. And they come and participate. In fact, I want to say, you know, we’ve got members in all 50 states, but I’m very proud. State Senator Tanya Storer of Nebraska just became our 40th actual state chair.
SPEAKER 01 :
She was here.
SPEAKER 12 :
She was here. So con con. She walked up and she said, I want to join. And we’re very proud that just like Senator Storer. We want you to be engaged. And what’s awesome about it as well is that when any of our members face that gauntlet, when they get attacked nationally, as you know happens, we’ve got a ton of people and resources that we immediately bring to their aid so they have a voice. You are one of those voices that allows them to come on to speak truth back into a situation when they’re getting truly attacked sometimes by the leftist media.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, one final thing for you, Jason, before I let you go. You have 40 state chairs. That means you have 10 states that are not yet covered. I’m going to put a challenge out here. Give me three of those states and see if we can’t get you some contacts there.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely. Delaware is one of those states. Hawaii is one of those states.
SPEAKER 16 :
I volunteer to go over and find you one there in Hawaii.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, and Connecticut. And what’s interesting is that we actually have elected official members, but in some of those states they get attacked so much. So I just pray that they’ll step up to take that leadership.
SPEAKER 16 :
We’ll see. We might have a lead in Delaware.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’d be great. Folks, you heard it. Give those states again. Hawaii? Hawaii, Delaware, Connecticut, and I will throw out also New York is there as well. We have 10.
SPEAKER 16 :
We’ve got to pray hard for New York. Throw it out there. If you’re listening and you are a legislator or you have a relationship with a Christian legislator, reach out to Jason and see if we can’t get that established in your state as well. Jason Rayford, I want to thank you for joining us today. Thank you for your leadership. Appreciate it. We appreciate you and we’re praying for you, Tony. All right. Thank you, brother. Well, folks, a lot of different ministries here that are engaged in the public policy front, all worthy of your support, certainly of your prayers. And we didn’t get into it, but I do want to mention that one of the issues they’re working on is the life issue. They’re continuing to advocate for the sanctity of human life. And this is something I’ve been talking about a lot on the program. And I want to mention it one more time because, well… I shouldn’t say I’m going to mention it again because I’m going to talk about it more than once. But this is what’s happening in this country right now with abortion, with the Trump administration allowing a Biden-era policy to remain in effect that allows abortion pills to be mailed into states all across this nation, even if they have laws against it. That is through the policy by the FDA that allows these pills to be prescribed with no in-person consultation and the failure of the Department of Justice to enforce the Comstock Act, which does not allow abortion materials to be sent through the mail. That’s not being enforced. As a result, abortion rates have skyrocketed in this country after the overturn of Roe. So join us in voicing a concern to the White House. Text the word life to 67742. That’s life to 67742 and join that petition. All right, to wrap up our final few moments here at the SoConCon, I want to invite Travis Weber, Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs at the Family Research Council to join me. Travis, thanks for joining me. Thank you, Tony. All right, I want to… very quickly jump to an issue, and then I want to get your takeaways from the conference here. But the White House making a statement of an announcement of a policy regarding AI. Talk a little bit about that, its impact upon the family.
SPEAKER 08 :
So Tony, at a family conference, you know, why are we talking about this? Because the threats from AI will impact the family, right? So the announcement this week is the announcement of their AI action plan. It’s very focused on innovation, technology, the way ahead, competing with China. But what’s devoid in the plan and what we as Christians must raise, being biblically grounded Christians, we were talking about the announcement of reading the Bible next year. The Bible is our solution. It holds the key to these challenges. The plan is devoid of that. The plan is devoid of recognizing the threats to children, does not define human flourishing in the context of family and relational flourishing. So we have to point these things out and call our nation’s attention to address them.
SPEAKER 16 :
And doesn’t that not validate the concerns that we expressed during the reconciliation process where in the very last moment there was a provision stuck in there that put a moratorium on the states from addressing AI for 10 years, leaving it solely to the realm of the federal government. And the first policy we see post that debate is a policy devoid of the moral aspects of AI.
SPEAKER 08 :
And this announcement specifically says, it expresses displeasure at states that might regulate AI, because it wants to streamline and smooth the path ahead. At one level that’s understandable, but we have to call out the fact that this needs to address human flourishing and family.
SPEAKER 16 :
There’s an underlying issue here. I am supportive of 90% of what this administration does. I mean, it is night and day different from what we have. But we have to understand and be willing to speak to the fact that this administration is approaching everything through the lenses of business and not through the lenses of Scripture. And that’s where the church comes in, and the church cannot be afraid to speak to those issues.
SPEAKER 08 :
Exactly. And even in this plan, they recognize jobs will be taken. So they say, we’re going to incentivize job creation, but it’s all about supporting this giant AI infrastructure they want to build. So is the dignity of work that God has outlined in Genesis 1 and 2 going to be about not cultivating the creation that he has put us in, but rather supporting a giant machine infrastructure? We have to at least raise these questions.
SPEAKER 16 :
There has to be a strong moral and ethical component to our approach to AI. Exactly.
SPEAKER 08 :
Fully agree. You know, and Tony, I mean, it’s interesting reading the plan because they talk about certain things. They recognize we don’t want bias. We want free speech at some level. Okay, that’s understandable. We don’t want biased systems. What happens when we build a giant, powerful government apparatus and another actor comes into government that does not respect free speech and wants to censor? We’ve seen that before. We’ve seen that before.
SPEAKER 16 :
We’ve seen that before with policy. Yeah. I mean, we have China now looking at creating bots with AI and combining with human elements. I mean, this is a, without a moral anchor, this is a very dangerous world that we’re in.
SPEAKER 08 :
And so we say we recognize the threat of China, but We have to recognize our nation needs God. It needs the word to be applied to our public life.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, Travis Weber, to be continued. We’ll talk about this maybe next week when you have solutions to what you’re proposing to the administration to address this.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 16 :
I’m going to hold you to it. Sounds good. All right, folks, we’re out of time for today, but thanks so much for joining us. Until next time, I leave you once again with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul, where he says, when you’ve done everything you can do, prayed, prepared, and taken your stand.
SPEAKER 10 :
By all means, keep standing. 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.
