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In this episode of Washington Watch, guest host Jody Heiss takes the helm to guide us through a packed edition filled with significant political developments and groundbreaking studies. Join us as we delve into the nuances of the recently passed GOP budget resolution and its possible repercussions on our national economic strategies. Representative Keith Self shares insights on how the resolution might pivot current fiscal trajectories. We also turn our attention to new findings from a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which sheds light on the lives saved in pro-life states following the reversal of
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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. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this Wednesday edition of Washington Watch. I am your guest host, Jody Heiss. I’m the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action and deeply honored to be sitting in today for Tony. And thank you as well for joining us. We’ve got a lot coming up on the show today. In dramatic fashion last night, after much floor wrangling, the House of Representatives passed the GOP budget resolution.
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Thank you all for staying on a long night. We got it done. We had the requisite number of votes to move this process along, and now passing the budget resolution in the House that will go to the Senate. This is the first important step in opening up the reconciliation process. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we are going to deliver the America First agenda. We’re going to deliver all of it, not just parts of it, and this is the first step in that process.
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Of course, that was House Speaker Mike Johnson announcing the good news after a lot of days scrambling and a lot of last-minute issues, and I’m sure also a lot of sleepless nights. I’ll be discussing what happened and what’s actually in the budget deal and what comes next. I’ll be talking about all of that with Congressman Keith Self of Texas here in just a few moments. And some very encouraging news to share today. Over 22,000, in fact, 22,181 babies were saved from abortion in 14 pro-life states, all that following Roe v. Wade being struck down. Dr. Michael New will be joining me with his analysis of this finding a little bit later in the program. Great, great news. And speaking of protecting our children, no matter how small, Congressman Mary Miller will be joining me a little bit later to discuss why she is reintroducing the Screen Act. She’ll be doing that this week in Congress.
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In the 20 years since the Supreme Court last examined this issue in earnest, technological advances have demonstrated that prior methods of restricting minors’ access to pornography online were ineffective. Nearly 80% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 17 have been exposed to pornography.
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That, of course, was Senator Mike Lee talking about the problem. Again, Congresswoman Mary Miller will be joining me a little bit later to discuss this important issue. And then finally, we’ll take a look at how the United Kingdom, as well as the rest of Europe, are reacting to the first month of the second Trump administration. So we’ve got a lot, a lot coming your way today. You don’t want to miss any portion of it. But if you do, our website, of course, is TonyPerkins.com. So you want to keep that website handy. And also, before we jump into our first guest, I want to just encourage you to download FRC’s Stand Firm app. If you don’t already have it, you need to get the Stand Firm app. There is so much information there. And starting this coming Monday, we’re going to have the second episode of a brand new series entitled God and Government. This is a 13-week video-driven, of course, Bible-based training program that’s designed for anyone who’s wanting to make an impact in our culture for biblical truth. So you want to watch this, and the intro, all of it is right there handy for you. Again, get the Stand Firm app, and to do so, you can simply text the word COURSE to 67742. All right, let’s jump into our first item for today. As I just mentioned moments ago, the Republicans scored some big economic victories yesterday. First of all, the House narrowly passed, but they did pass, the GOP’s America First budget resolution. Despite a number of prior contentions that the people had in various parts of the bill, it passed. Secondly, the Trump administration announced a critical deal with Ukraine regarding rare earth minerals. So how do these new developments affect our overall financial and economic situation in the United States? We’re here to discuss all of this is Texas Representative Keith Self. He’s a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, as well as the Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. He represents the third congressional district of the great state of Texas. Congressman Self, always great to see you. Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you so much, Jody. Great to be here with you. Well, we’ve got some exciting news. A lot’s going on, as always. Seems like every time I have you on, there’s plates spinning everywhere, and today is certainly no exception. Let’s begin with the budget vote in the House last night. What was the overall reaction to the bill passing from your perspective?
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Well, it was a long evening. First of all, Jody, the sophomores were over in the White House with President Trump when they started the vote. We came back and then they held it open for like an hour while they were working with the few remaining votes they needed. But afterwards, this is a big deal. This will start to change the trajectory of our deficit and debt while we are funding the America First agenda, as you said, border control resources to Tom Holman, which he needs desperately, the defense that we need to pivot to China. So this was a big deal last night. And in spite of some of the limitations of the bill, it was a big night.
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It was a big night, and I was not aware that some of the freshmen were over in the White House, but I did know absolutely, having been there, done that, so to speak, that both Speaker Johnson and President Trump were seriously major factors in trying to rally the Republicans together. But if we can, let’s talk about some of the specifics. as to why you described this as such a big deal. What are some of the highlights? I know you mentioned the border and maybe a little bit on defense, but just a 30,000-foot view. Go a little bit further. What are some of the highlights of this bill?
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Well, the highlights that you just mentioned are certainly for the Trump agenda. We were going to get that done for the border and the defense. Those were important. But for the American people, for the future of America, I will tell you, starting to rein in the spending and ensuring the tax cuts got extended were also vital portions of this bill. We are going to have $2 trillion in spending savings on the spending side. On the tax cut side, we’re going to have $4.5 trillion in the extended tax cuts. Those are huge numbers. Now, we’re $36 trillion in debt, so this is only a very small first step. But it is a first step to changing the trajectory of the deficit and the debt. So I want people to understand that, yes, there are many people that wanted more. In fact, the president tweeted today that he wants to balance the budget this year or next year. Well, with the $36 trillion debt, with a deficit every year of $2 trillion, that’s a high bar. But we got started, Jody, and that’s the point.
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That is the point. You know, in every journey, as the saying goes, every journey begins with a first step. And without that first step, no journey either starts nor does it finish. And I am thrilled that this is all underway. It was a privilege to be with you and several others a couple of weeks ago under this discussion that you were having. And to see it finally unfold last night, I was right there with others watching and waiting. And I was actually almost screaming, saying, hit the gavel. Hit the gavel when it came to that last moment. Really an exciting time. And congratulations to you and the GOP and so many who have put so much effort into all of this. If I can, Congressman Self, I know our time is running away. Let me switch gears a little bit and talk now about Ukraine. Some pretty big news coming out of President Trump and the White House regarding Ukraine and mineral deals. What do we know? What’s involved in the mineral deal that you’re aware of so far?
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Well, we’re going to recoup some of the tax dollars that we’ve been sending to Ukraine. But this is a rare earth deal. The details are still fairly unknown. It’s not been signed yet. But frankly, we will not take possession of any mines. We won’t operate mines in Ukraine. This is a partnership deal. This is a business deal that 50% of the revenues to Ukraine will be put into a fund for reconstruction, America will recoup some of our tax dollars, which is good, but it will also build up the fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine without more American tax dollars going into it the way that I understand it. This is Donald Trump. He wants peace. He wants the war to stop. He wants to have a mechanism by which Ukraine can help itself. with its physical assets, its rare earth minerals that it has in the ground, so that it can help itself, so that American taxpayers are not solely on the hook for the reconstruction of Ukraine. This is going to be a good deal for the American people if it unfolds the way we understand it is.
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And a good deal for the people of Ukraine as well to help them rebuild. And yes, a win-win. My understanding, and correct me if I’m wrong, but President Trump, of course, had the first cabinet meeting today. And during that time, he said, speaking of Ukraine, that there would not be any security guarantees for Ukraine as part of this deal. What’s your reaction to that statement? Is that a good move?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, President Trump always starts with the America first policy, because I believe that once he gets a peace deal with Russia, we don’t have to give Ukraine security assurances that the US will rise to their defense. This is Europe’s job. He’s been pushing that as well. I just met with the president of the EU parliament. And they understand that they need to be doing more for Europe. So that’s also his move. That’s his verbiage, that he gets Europe to understand this is Europe. Europe, step up and take responsibility.
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He really is amazing when it comes to negotiating, and this is yet another example of it. President Zelensky, Ukrainian President Zelensky, is scheduled to be here at the White House this week, I believe Friday, if I’m not mistaken. Do you anticipate that there may be an attempt maybe for additional discussions or additional deals to be made when President Trump and Zelensky meet?
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Well, I certainly don’t know. I don’t have any inside information. But I suspect that each of them will have their agenda that they’ll want to discuss. Now, whether any deals come out of it or not, I have no idea. But I know that they are both now committed. And I think Zelensky understands that this war must end. And he’s now making moves to that end.
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Well, before I let you go, and we’ve just got a minute or so left, I want to go back. Everything you’ve shared, Congressman Self, has just been so encouraging, and I just am grateful for you coming on and talking about this. I want to go back real quickly to what you said, that $2 trillion in savings – I mean, $2 trillion, that’s a lot. That’s a lot. but it is a small amount compared to $36 trillion in debt that we are. Are there plans already to go further with this? Do you see this is step one, but is there discussion already taking place for steps two and three and four?
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They’re not yet. What is happening is people are understanding that we are at a tipping point. If we did not bend the trajectory of the deficit and the debt, if we were on schedule the way it is today, we would go from 36 to 60 trillion in 10 years. That is unfathomable. You cannot understand the magnitude of that figure. We’re already at a trillion dollars a year. One seventh of everything we spend is spent on interest on the national debt today. It’s more than the Defense Department. What would $60 trillion be? The numbers are staggering. And everybody’s starting to understand that this is something we must do. It’s now or never.
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Congressman Keith Self, thank you so much for joining me today. Always an honor to have you on the program. Thank you, Jody. All right, friends, stay tuned. We’ve got much more coming your way. Right after the break, we’ve got a new study that shows a remarkably positive result for pro-life laws and lives saved. You don’t want to miss it. Dr. Michael New will be joining me on the other side of the break, so stay tuned.
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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, Launching early this year in January 2025, 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, and we look forward to 2025 and standing for faith, family, and freedom.
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Looking to grow closer to God in the new year? FRC’s Stand on the Word spiral-bound journal is here to help. Dive deeper into Scripture with thought-provoking questions, note-taking space, and context for each book and author. This second edition, covering Isaiah 2 Revelation, will guide you in tracking your journey through God’s Word while deepening your faith in Christ. Order now at frc.org slash store or text journal to 67742. Perfect for you and your loved ones.
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Well, thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, honored to be sitting in today for Tony. All right, we all know, we all know that every single abortion is a tragedy. It’s a tragedy both for the mother and absolutely for the unborn child, and it’s a tragedy for culture as a whole. But The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision regarding Dobbs, it changed the whole calculus. It changed it all. But how much? Well, catch this. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has examined the first 14 states that enacted pro-life protections for the unborn after the court struck down Roe v. Wade. The study authors found that those states… Those states have delivered over 22,000 more babies into the world. Well, how much rejoicing should go behind that information? It’s just remarkable. Well, what were some of the other takeaways in that study? Well, let’s find out. Joining me now with his analysis is Dr. Michael New. He’s the Senior Associate Scholar at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and the Catholic University of America’s Assistant Professor of Practice. Dr. New, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you.
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Thanks for having me. I much appreciate it.
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Well, listen, this is fantastic news. Kind of give us the top line. What are some of the most encouraging parts of this study from your perspective?
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Well, several things are encouraging. First, Journal of the American Medical Association is not a conservative or Christian publication. It’s a secular, frankly, fairly liberal academic journal. They’re not going to go out of their way to highlight the impact of pro-life laws on So the fact that a mainstream journal published this finding is good news. It’s very rigorous. They looked at 12 years of birth data from, I guess, 2012, 2023. They analyzed 14 states that enacted strong pro-life laws, either laws that protect all pre-born children or laws that protect those pre-born children born or at least after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. And they found these laws saved over 22,000 lives. And I think what’s important about this study is it looks at birth data. One thing that that’s tricky post-Dobbs is counting abortions. Women can go out of state. They can get abortions in other countries. They can sometimes order these chemical abortion drugs through the mail. So I always tell pro-life audiences that abortions are hard to count, but babies are easy to count. The government doesn’t do a real whole lot well, but it can count the number of children being born. So if we see an increase in babies being born in states that enact pro-life laws, that’s very powerful, statistical evidence these pro-life laws are saving lives.
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Great point. Okay, break down for us. One of the things that kind of jumped out at me was the number of births, as you mentioned, have definitely increased, but the infant mortality rates have also increased 6%, they say, 6% higher than expected. Break that down for us.
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Well, it’s kind of interesting. They claim that there’s been an increase in infant mortality. But if you kind of take a look at the longer data that we have on infant mortality that goes into the second quarter of 2024, you actually see a decrease. They cut the data point off. So if you look at kind of the longer-term trends in infant mortality, you do actually see a long-term decrease. Dobbs does not cause the public health problems that some people have predicted. Since Dobbs has come down, there’s been actually an overall decrease with maternal mortality and if mortality nationwide. So these concerns about public health problems caused by pro-life laws are overblown. Pro-life laws are because of the good public health. The countries like Poland, they have the strongest pro-life laws in all of Europe, also among the very lowest, if not the lowest, maternal mortality rate.
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So what would you say to that person who is pro-choice and they point toward the fetal mortality rate as the reason why abortion should be legal in all 50 states? How do you push back specifically to that person?
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Well, I think laws can protect both mother and child. I think the pro-life laws are consistent with good public health. I think when you do see an increase in infant mortality, in some cases it’s because there’s more children born with congenital defects. And that’s certainly a difficult situation. But you have to remember is that the pro-life laws aren’t causing those defects. They’re protecting those children. So instead of facing kind of a ruthless, horrible death because of an abortion, they’re at least living the natural course of their life and dying a natural death. I know that’s a tough situation, but I think all life is precious, and children with general defects should not be aborted. They should live the course of their life and, again, die a natural death.
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Is there anything in this study regarding women who traveled out of state to obtain an abortion or those who self-administered chemical abortion drugs? Is there any info that we learned in those regards?
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Well, we do know that’s happening. I mean, we do know that there have been very big abortion declines in states with pro-life laws. The laws are being enforced, and we do see large declines in states with abortion bans and states with the Heartbeat Act. So we do know that some women, tragically, sadly, are circumventing these laws and either getting chemical abortion pills for the male or obtaining abortions in states where the laws are more permissive. But the good news is, is that, you know, not all women are doing this. You know, babies are being carried to term and pregnancies are being carried to term. And this is not the only study. There were three studies of the Texas Heartbeat Act, one of which I did, showed that the Texas Heartbeat Act saved over a thousand babies every month. You can look at Texas birth data. A study we have from the Institute of Labor Economics found that in 2023 alone, 32 more thousand children were born because of pro-life laws. So again, we do know that sadly, some women circumvent these laws, but these laws are protecting thousands of pre-born children and more babies are being born as a result.
SPEAKER 07 :
Certainly, this would also put a huge stamp, an exclamation point, I should say, on the importance that all of us have to elect pro-life leaders to various positions of leadership. Wouldn’t you agree?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we would not have gotten Roe v. Wade overturned had we not elected Donald Trump in 2016 and had we not elected, you know, Republicans control majority of the Senate. It was Trump’s Supreme Court nominees that paved the way for Dobbs. You know, it was his nominations of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett. They were the votes that we needed to overturn Roe v. Wade. So, I mean, politics isn’t the only thing about support. Who you elect does matter. You know, We elect the effects of public policy, and these lives are saved because, again, we changed the Supreme Court. We got Roe overturned. Many states have elected good pro-life legislators and governors that put these laws into effect, and lives are being saved.
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Thank you so, so much, Dr. Michael New. Incredible analysis. I deeply appreciate the tremendous work you do, your leadership, and thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER 06 :
Many thanks for having me. Much appreciated.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, friends, on the other side of the break, we’re going to continue bringing you some great info. Congresswoman Mary Miller will be joining me to talk about how she is safeguarding our kids through the Screen Act. You want to learn more about this. So stay tuned. We’ll be right back.
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Oh, beautiful for spacious skies.
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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.
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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.
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Father, we pray in Jesus’ name for our complacency, our greed, our pride, our gluttony, our sloth and tolerance of sin.
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Lord, your word is the food that can make America healthy again. May your word be exalted and believed in our nation again.
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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.
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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.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Happy Wednesday to you. I’m your guest host today, Jody Heiss, sitting in for Tony, and glad to have you with us as well. All right, these days, I don’t have to tell anyone viewing or listening to the program right now that parents have a lot to contend with when it comes to protecting the innocence of their children. But great news. Help may be on the way. In this Congress, a bill has been reintroduced which would protect children from one of the worst and unfortunately one of the most prolific plagues in modern society, and that would be Internet pornography. Well, how will this kind of a bill fare in Congress? And really more importantly, how would it impact our children? Well, joining me now to discuss this is Illinois Representative Mary Miller. She is the sponsor of this act. Congresswoman Miller is a member of the Committee on Agriculture as well as the Committee on Education and Workforce. She represents the 15th District, the great state of Illinois. Representative Miller, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always an honor to have you.
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Well, thank you so much. And like you said, today, Senator Mike Lee and I introduced the bill shielding children’s retinas from egregious exposure on the NET Act, more easily referred to as the Screen Act. And as you know, I’m the mom of seven and big news, going to be the grandma of 22. But I understand what parents are up against now that the cell phone is in practically everybody’s hands and blockers and filters are not working. So this bill is going to require the porn websites to use age verification methods. uh, divide, uh, methods.
SPEAKER 07 :
So, so how, how would that work? Is there any way for a child to lie about their age or, I mean, when there’s age verification, what does that look like?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it’s super interesting. There’s multiple ways to do it. And I think it’s going to be very effective. And, um, it’s going that what was introduced to me is that it’s not going to violate people’s privacy, they’ve actually come out with technology where the screen would show a hand and you have to put your hand up and do different movements and that technology can identify the age of the child.
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Wow. Well, that was one of the questions that I had with an individual asking me, how do they know? And I didn’t know the answer. So that is incredible to have that kind of technology and to utilize it to protect children. So the goal here is to protect children. What would happen if it is determined that a child is underage? By law, what would be required of these websites?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, they’re going to have to use that or they’ll be liable for exposing children to indecent materials. And I’ll have to come back on another time. I don’t think we’ll have time to explain the technology better and the other methods there are. There are multiple ways of identifying because, say, an adult is sick. on or wants to access it, and they have some kind of disability, there are other methods, but it is going to be effective. And we need to do this. The government should have a compelling interest in protecting its citizens, but especially the most vulnerable, which would be our children. And I’m sure you and the listeners know that the pornography online keeps going lower into the gutter. It’s very degrading and it’s become violent and just very gross and it causes life-altering, it has a life-altering impact on the children. It interferes with normal sexual development. It causes depression, addiction, risky sexual behavior and you know, just lifelong problems for the child.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I saw there’s a memo, in fact, from your office says that the average age of a child exposed to pornography is 11. That is stunning.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, actually, down to age 8 now. And they’re finding it accidentally. And in the U.S., 80% of children and teens in the U.S. between the age of 12 and 17 have been exposed to pornography.
SPEAKER 07 :
Incredible. We’ve only got just a minute or so left. How much support does this have?
SPEAKER 11 :
I think not enough support. We’re going to have to work on it because people are worried about privacy things. So they need to be informed about how we’re going to identify that the child is under 18. And we do have the technology and the methods to do that. So once people become assured of that, I believe it will pass. Who would vote against this? We have to protect our children. This is a rot in our nation.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. About one minute left, real quickly. Title IX, protecting. Tell us real quickly what you’re doing, what you think is going to happen here on this issue.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, of course, President Trump has, I’ve been leading from day one when I’ve been out, you know, in my first term out here. But now President Trump has taken the lead. I think one of the reasons he won was that this is a wildly popular issue. With Americans, they don’t want men and boys in their girls’ sports or their private spaces. I love the public takedown that he gave to the governor of Maine, and I hope he does it to the governor of Illinois because he’s also balking against President Trump’s executive orders. And we’re going to make sure we put a stop to this. For those that don’t know, we have a trans congressman. I refuse to refer to him as a woman. Got to leave it there. Okay.
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Congresswoman Mary Miller, honor to serve with you. Thank you for your incredible leadership and thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch. Friends, right after the break, Peter McIlvenna will join me from the United Kingdom. You don’t want to miss what he has to share. Stay tuned. We’ll be back in just a moment.
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Hello, I’m Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But do you know the Bible talks about four institutions of government? Do you know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn’t be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
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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 07 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m your host, Jody Heiss, filling in today for Tony. Thank you so much for joining us. Well, today, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is traveling across the Atlantic to meet with President Trump. And tomorrow’s meeting comes, as you may recall, after a visit earlier this week from French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday. And no doubt Europe is still, at least in some degree, reeling from President Trump’s return to the White House. And specifically, what does President Trump’s return potentially mean for Europe? What does it mean for things like Ukraine and Russia’s war? Well, joining me now from across the Atlantic to discuss this is Peter McElvain. He’s the co-founder of Hearts of Oak, a freedom of speech alliance. And he also works in the office of the UK’s House of Lords. Peter, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to see you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, Judy. Thanks for having me on. And apologies, we’ve sent our prime minister your way.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey, listen, we welcome him with open arms. But listen, no doubt, these are interesting days we’re all living in. And I wanted to get your opinion of all this. It’s been a little over a month now since President Trump returned to the White House. From your perspective, how have you seen your fellow countrymen and other Europeans react to President Trump’s second term so far?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’s caused ructions, I think is the term I’m using, across Europe. We saw the German election, obviously, over the weekend, and Alternative for Deutschland doubling their share in the election. That was the Elon Musk effect, talking about the elections there. I saw Maloney, the Italian prime minister, think she was speaking at CPAC, and saying she stood shoulder to shoulder with President Trump. We are seeing an alignment that actually four years ago, if Trump had taken office in 2021, the landscape would have been very different. It would have been an antagonistic Europe that would have been a barrier to cooperation and trade between Europe and the U.S. 2025 is so different. We’ve seen the rise of the populist right all across Europe in terms of government or in terms of second place. AFD took second place. And we’ve seen so many of those all across Europe. And that means there is… cooperation to be had, there’s a relationship to be had, and the European Union is in a time of existential crisis. And into that drops President Trump. And it is exciting to watch, and it’s exciting to see a lot of politicians reaching out Now, where I think four years ago they wouldn’t. And I’m hoping that provides some positive effect in the UK because, of course, we have don’t really have a populist rise in the UK, despite the fact that Nigel Farage has done exceptionally well and is polling well. We are four and a half years off a general election. So it’s going to be interesting. Obviously, Macron, the French president, was over visiting President Trump just days ago. And not as Keir Starmer’s chance. And they’re vying to reshape Europe. And they’re vying to be the strong men of Europe. Macron being very weak. Keir Starmer being much stronger with a huge majority. Germany being very weak with chaos there and soon really after the election. So Keir Starmer possibly could be the winner in terms of electoral confusion across Europe. But sadly, it doesn’t stand for much. And he’s never been a fan of President Trump, but he seems to be eating humble pie and seems to be speaking Trump’s praises, which is positive. But of course, it’ll be exciting to watch the press conference between them both.
SPEAKER 07 :
Very, very interesting take on all of that. And yeah, there’s plenty of humble pie being served all across the globe right now. So Akira Starmer is meeting with President Trump tomorrow. What do you anticipate that discussion will consist of? What do you think they’re going to be talking about?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it’ll be about trade. It’ll be about defence. I think those will be two of the key conversations. Many European politicians are trying to cosy up to President Trump and trying to delete past tweets. Let’s put it that way. Keir Starmer is one of those. As is David Lammy, the UK Foreign Secretary, who still has full Trump derangement syndrome. So they’re rowing back on that. The conversation is going to be about trade. Obviously, President Trump has talked about trade tariffs against the EU, and rightly so, because the EU is one of the most protectionist blocs ever. in the world and how they treat countries in asia and africa is horrendous and and that’s very much behind the wall of the eu president trump sees the unfairness of that and how the us is treated uh with the eu and he’s talked about big trade tariffs on the EU. The UK said there’s a relationship to be had. We have a balance of trade. So there isn’t a trade deficit with the UK as there is in Europe. So I think there’s conversation to be had. And that’s a positive conversation. The UK. still being, surprisingly, still being the fifth largest economy in the world. I know we vie with France. That changes often with France. But there seems to be synergy with the UK and the US. And the other one is defence. And shockingly, The UK came out, I think it was yesterday or the day before, and announced that a far-left government is going to cut aid spending and increase defence spending. So the UK has talked about increasing aid spending to 0.7%. saying that could drop back to 0.5% or 0.3% and the savings could be put into defence. We just about hit the 2%, but Keir Starmer’s talking about 2.5% of GDP for defence spending in three years and in six years moving that up to 6%. And the UK being one of the big spenders on defence, I don’t know what we have to show for that because we’ve been fully on the DEI wagon But at the moment, we have about 52 billion pounds, 70 billion dollars is our defence spending, which I know is a drop in the ocean for you over in the US. But it is the largest defence spending in Europe. And that’s why there is interesting conversation. It was shock in the House of Commons today whenever this was being discussed. And Kemi Bednok, the leader of this party, the so-called Conservative Party, tried to actually hold Keir Starmer’s feet to the fire and mock him for this. And he seemed to get past those attacks fairly easily. But it’s shocking we have a far-left government who wants to increase defence spending and cut aid. And that is because of the Trump effect. There’s no other reason that could happen but because… because of President Trump. So that’s one of the huge positives that you saw with Colombia. President Trump announces what happens and they back down. We’ve seen it all across that when President Trump wants a deal, he will get a deal. And I think he’s found this deal with the UK on defence spending and And there’s another conversation with the Chagos Islands. That’s also going to be another huge conversation because the Chagos Islands are vital to US interests. The US have an airbase there. It’s a UK island. But it looks like we’re going to hand it back to Mauritius and pay them for… 12, 15 billion point, up to $20 billion for the privilege of leasing it back. Imagine you own something, you hand it back, and then you say, by the way, I’m going to pay you 20 billion to borrow it back for 99 years. That’s the deal the UK have done. President Trump is certainly not happy with that deal. That was pushed through under the Biden administration. And I think that’s also going to be a topic of conversation and contention. And I’m really hoping that Trump says, uh-uh, those are too important for US and UK interests in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and that agreement has to be torn up. But that is going to be defence, which covers the Chagos Islands, and also trade. I think those are going to be the two main talking points.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, I agree with you on that. And another aspect of the whole defense discussion, I would think, and I’d like your take on this, is Ukraine. You’ve got American policies that are impacting Europe right now. What do you anticipate is going to end up happening with Ukraine?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I’ve seen the conversations with you guys and the minerals. That’s a fascinating… You know, Trump always brings a new angle to things. We’ve seen it in terms of Gaza. We see it in terms of what’s happening in Ukraine, Russia. He brings something new to the table. And Europe are saying, oh, suddenly Trump has changed the agenda. Let’s talk peace. And Trump says you’ve had three years to talk peace. Why have you not done this? And it takes someone of the stature and the nature of President Trump to step into that and actually change the conversation. And he is a master at that. So that is going to be a key part of the conversation. The UK have been… The biggest allies with Ukraine in terms of defence spending, we’ve sent due short of $20 billion over there, which again is much less to the money you’ve sent there, if any of that did get to Zelensky. That’s another part of the conversation. And the EU has sent large amounts over to Ukraine. And… Obviously, with President Trump starting that conversation with Russia in Saudi Arabia, Europe panicked. They pulled together a conference of their own and suddenly started making noises about maybe peace might be better instead of having the butchering that we are now having on that front line. So I think the UK will have to be pulled into line. We had an awful situation back when Boris Johnson was prime minister. He was the biggest advocate of the war continuing. And there are a lot of talk that he torpedoed any conversation of peace with Zelensky, with the European Union approval. So he seemed to be the one that was sent in to scupper that. So three years later, President Trump comes in, wants peace. Europe will have to come to the negotiating table. And it seems as though President Trump will say, either you have peace on my terms or actually you’re going to have peace anyway because the US are going to cut off funding. And if the US do not provide funding, then the war cannot continue. And is… is far left and woke ideologically. Europe, parts of Europe, and the UK are. They see that they can’t afford to keep this war going themselves. And therefore, they will be forced into having a conversation on peace. And the US are going to benefit from that in terms of those rare earth minerals. Europe are going to benefit because we’re not sending all the money over to Ukraine. And I… Two, three months ago, we had the head of the army said that the UK only had three to five days of munitions. That’s how little we have. That’s how much we have sent away that we are no longer protected. So all the conversation in Europe about Russian aggression. It seems to be utter nonsense, a smokescreen, because if there was so-called Russian aggression against Europe, Europe would be arming themselves. And yet we have depleted our weaponry hugely by sending everything to Ukraine. So that story doesn’t match up. Trump’s going to call that out for what it is. And I think Keir Starmer is going to be forced to agree with President Trump that a peace deal will have to be done. It’s going to be done on Trump’s terms and Europe will accept that. So that’s where I think we’re going to go. I can’t imagine Keir Starmer rejecting overtures from Trump. Certainly Macron didn’t two days ago. And I can’t imagine the UK refusing any conversations or any peace deal that President Trump puts on the table.
SPEAKER 07 :
That’s what you call leverage, and it’s a powerful thing, and Trump certainly knows how to use it. We’ve only got a couple of minutes left, but I wanted to get your reaction to this clip of investment firm CEO James Fischbach sharing his concerns about Britain’s clampdown on free speech and what that might mean for the future investment in the UK.
SPEAKER 02 :
good luck going outside of an abortion clinic in the united kingdom and praying it’s really sad and really frustrating that people silently praying in front of an abortion clinic would be arrested and charged for doing absolutely nothing wrong we have a choice to make do we want to invest the next dollar we have in the united states or in the united kingdom i have great respect for the people of the united kingdom but right here right now we got to be honest it’s it’s business it’s not personal we’re going to invest our money in the united states
SPEAKER 07 :
Interesting comment, real quickly, your response to that.
SPEAKER 03 :
100% agree. It’s been frightening in the UK, the clampdown on free speech. And James talking about the prayer being made illegal outside abortion clinics. And I have one very close to me. And if I walked 30 minutes to a certain area, it would be illegal for me to pray. So this affects me where I am here in London. It affects people all over the UK. And over the weekend, there was a case of a woman being arrested in Scotland. The Scottish government have ruled out this, and they call it buffer zones or safe zones. I tell you, there is no safety for those children that are going to be killed. I don’t know what they mean by safe zones, but all our governments, we have… kind of devolved governments in the UK, but the central Westminster government and the devolved government in Scotland and Wales, they’re adamant that prayer cannot happen in case it stops something. And the law says anything that may hinder abortions taking place. In what part of the world, unless the UK government believe in answered prayer, that’s kind of the positive side, that they are worried about Christians praying outside abortion clinics and Maybe that is a positive thing in the UK. Maybe some of our politicians are concerned that there is a God and actually he may act and may restrict it. That seems to be the only likelihood because if you don’t believe in God, why would you worry about people praying? They’re not stopping anyone. They’re praying. They’re not even… This is not with a megaphone. This is not kind of the image we get in the UK of you in the US outside abortion clinics shouting… This is a very British thing, quietly inward praying. And our governments in the UK fear that. And other governments across Europe have talked about ruling this out. And the spotlight that’s been put on the UK of the concern of this is only a positive thing. And I really hope that James being an advisor in the Department of Government Efficiency, maybe Elon Musk needs to keep shining a light through Doge on the UK and the restrictions that we have in place.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much, Peter McElvena of Hearts of Oak. Very interesting and enlightening discussion with you. Always an honor to have you on Washington Watch. Keep the torch ablaze, my friend. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you, Jody, and God bless.
SPEAKER 07 :
God bless you as well. All right, friends, that wraps up this edition of Washington Watch. Tony should be back tomorrow. Hope you have a great evening, and we’ll look forward to being with you again right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
