[00:00:00] 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. Well, good afternoon. It is already Friday. Hope you've had a great week.
[00:00:25] Welcome to this edition of Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heiss, the Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. So honored to have you joining us on this program. All right, we've got a lot to cover. Here are some of the highlights. Elon Musk and his Doge team have been sharing with the whole nation their vision for Doge and how they're tackling the federal government's waste, fraud and abuse problem. The sheer amount of waste and fraud in the government. It is astonishing.
[00:00:55] It's mind-blowing. Just we routinely encounter wastes of a billion dollars or more. Casually. Literally a 10-question survey that you could do with SurveyMonkey cost you about $10,000. The government was being charged almost a billion dollars for that. For just the survey? A billion dollars for a simple online survey, do you like the national park? And then there appeared to be no feedback loop for what would be done with that survey. So the survey would just go into nothing. Unbelievable.
[00:01:23] Well, Congressman Marlon Stutzman will join me here in just a few moments to talk about how Congress is partnering with Doge. And he's going to preview for us how he and his colleagues plan to turn President Trump's election integrity executive order into law. That's another biggie. He'll join us here in just a moment.
[00:01:44] And, of course, the Trump and Musk derangement syndrome continues to grip the woke mob, if you will, as Doge marches on with cutting government waste. All this, of course, is happening while the nation watched in horror as Tesla dealerships and charging stations and Tesla vehicles continue to be targeted for vandalism.
[00:02:09] And joining me again a little bit later in the program, Congressman Eric Burleson will highlight his call for investigations into all these attacks and property damage. You don't want to miss that. And then we'll turn to some good news coming from the Trump Department of Education. The department has announced an investigation looking into the woke California Department of Education.
[00:02:34] Education Secretary Linda McMahon and her team investigating in California. Well, you want to stick around and find out as Meg Kilgannon will share all those details with us. And then, catch this, a satanic black mass was performed on the grounds of the Kansas State House today. Well, how did state legislators and Christians respond to that?
[00:03:01] We're going to have Kansas State Representative Susan Humphreys on with us a little bit later to highlight how she and fellow Christians are indeed shining a light in the midst of all this spiritual darkness. And then to close out the program, we'll be joined by David Clausen for our weekly Biblical Worldview segment to discuss the headlines. So we've got a lot coming your way today. And of course, our website is TonyPerkins.com.
[00:03:27] If by chance you miss any portion of today's program, which I hope you don't. But if you do, you can find it there at TonyPerkins.com, along with tons of other resources and programs. And also, let me just say this. You'll find there, FRC Action. We've got a petition up. We are calling on Congress to repeal the FACE Act. Now, you may remember, some of you may even have experienced this.
[00:03:53] The FACE Act has been used overwhelmingly one-sided. In fact, about 97 percent, 97 percent of FACE Act prosecutions have been against pro-life Americans. So we have at FRC Action a petition up to repeal this. And we're asking you to join, sign the petitions. Text the word FACE to 67742. All right, let's jump into our first item for today.
[00:04:21] Most taxpayers would generally agree, I believe, that government transparency is a good thing. And in a Fox interview, Musk and his team that make up the Department of Government Efficiency, they spoke to the work that they've been doing here in the Trump Second Administration. The interview has shined a greater light on the amount of inefficiency and financial waste that's propagated by our federal government, and it is stunning.
[00:04:50] So, what is the Doge team up to now? And what are their plans for the future? We're here to discuss this and more as Congressman Marlon Stutzman. He serves on the House Committee on Financial Services as well as the Budget Committee. He represents the 3rd Congressional District of the great state of Indiana. Congressman Stutzman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to see you, my friend. Hey, great to see you, Jody. I'm coming from Cannon 404, which I believe was your old office when you were in Congress.
[00:05:20] It sure was my old office. That's great. Well, I'm glad that you didn't have to cleanse it when you moved in there. Great to see you, my friend. Great to see you. All right. First of all, what was your overall reaction to the interview that Musk gave? What were your takeaways? Well, I think, first of all, I'm glad that he's sharing with the American people what they're finding.
[00:05:49] You know, Jody, I know you and I, long-time fiscal conservatives, Christian conservatives serving in Washington. And we would often just beat our heads against the wall because we would be so frustrated with the amount of money that the government's spending. And, you know, after a while, these billions and trillions of dollars just became numbers on paper.
[00:06:09] And we always knew instinctively that the government was spending money irresponsibly, not in places that the American people would ever approve by the majority. And so the fact that Elon Musk and that President Trump is allowing and asking Elon Musk and the Doge team to go through the checkbook of the American taxpayer and find waste, fraud, and abuse.
[00:06:37] We used to say that number, and we'd think, oh, it's probably, you know, maybe 1%, 2%. You know, we've all known that there's probably a lot more than that, and that's what Elon is finding. And so Elon sharing that with us and the American people, I think, is so powerful. We need, you know, God always asks us to be light in this world. Well, when there's problems, you need to shine a light on the problem. And that's what the Doge team is doing, is shining a light on all of the spending.
[00:07:05] And we're seeing where our tax dollars are going, and it's just appalling. And so I applaud Elon, and I'm grateful to Elon, because it also makes Congress's job, and those of us on the budget committee, it makes our job easier because we can truly target where we need to cut spending in Washington. Well, I'm so thrilled that you are, you're one of the few that actually serves on two finance-focused committees in the House.
[00:07:33] And so your role in the work that Doge is doing is going to be incredibly important. We're so glad you're there. On the other side of the coin, though, we have Democrats. They're claiming that Doge is going to harm aid for Social Security as well as a whole host of other things. I mean, they just keep throwing attacks out there that, at least in my opinion, are unfounded. But how do you respond to these kind of attacks coming from the left?
[00:08:00] You know, interesting, because during the budget committee hearing, Doge had just been starting doing their work. And so we were just finding out some of the pieces that we were seeing through USAID and the fact that President Trump and Elon Musk decided just to shut down USAID shows you how bad. If it's that bad there, and of course, it's easier to hide money away from us overseas than it is to hide it here in the United States.
[00:08:27] But the fact that there was so much ridiculousness going on with USAID, they shut it down. I told the Democrats, I said, look, if this is what you're proud of, if you feel like these are the priorities of the American people, you should not have a problem with Doge just telling all of us where our tax dollars are going.
[00:08:48] Whether it's DEI programs in South America or whether it's DEI programs in the Middle East or a Sesame Street program for $20 million in Iraq. I mean, you know, program after government program after government program spending money for LGBTQ programs.
[00:09:07] So it's like if those are your priorities, why are you upset that the Doge team is announcing those on their X page and social media telling us what they're finding? I mean, if that's what you want done with federal tax dollars, then you shouldn't have a problem with it. But of course, they're screaming very loudly because I think they know otherwise. Yeah, great point. You know, it's interesting and I want to move on to another topic.
[00:09:34] But Musk in the interview actually made a statement somewhere along the lines that what he is doing in Doge is the biggest revolution since the original revolution in this country. I think probably it's kind of hard to argue against that. They're doing a great job. But if we can, let's move on to some other things happening there in Washington. President Trump issued an executive order earlier this week that directed federal agencies to protect our election integrity. Wow. What do you think of that one?
[00:10:05] Again, I just applaud President Trump's. He's coming right out of the gate strong. And, you know, if there's anybody that knows a little bit about election integrity, President Trump knows. And, you know, what we saw happen during 2020. And I still don't believe the whole story has been revealed on the 2020 election.
[00:10:26] But the fact that we're just simply asking most states, you know, states like Indiana, a lot of the conservative states require a photo ID to be able to vote. When you show up at the ballot box, you show your photo ID. Well, there's states like California, Illinois, New York and others that don't have those requirements.
[00:10:46] And so we can't let just a few states that are populated that are generally voting Democrat manipulate the election turnout of who represents us in Washington, D.C., in Congress. And so if you look at the states that have strong photo or strong election laws, they're usually getting the election counted pretty quickly within election night.
[00:11:10] But every race that we lost that kind of went into extra innings always seemed to fall to the Democrats in California and New York. And I just think that there's it's not too much to ask. And it's just common sense that you can show a photo ID when you go to vote. We all want our vote to count and we want it to know that it's that it's secure and that it's not going to be stolen by somebody.
[00:11:33] I'm working with Pastor Lorenzo Sewell in Detroit, who is has been coming to Washington, D.C. and is sharing with members of Congress that 50,000 votes roughly are estimated in Detroit to have been manipulated or stolen one way or the other. This is an African-American community that is, you know, only asking and saying, look, please make sure our votes are counted. Well, people are taking advantage of them. And so what President Trump is doing is the right thing to do.
[00:12:02] And I believe that he's going to continue and we need to continue to make sure that every vote counts. Who's actually supposed to vote? That's here as a citizen of the United States. One vote cast, one vote county. That's the way it ought to be. It's not that complicated. In fact, just minutes before the program started, Speaker Johnson sent out a text that Congress, you guys are going to be voting on the SAVE Act, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, the SAVE Act next week.
[00:12:31] So, again, this is a great move forward. Do you think it'll pass the House this year? Well, you know, it should without, you know, you would think there'd be bipartisan support. You would think the Democrats would want elections to be safe and secure for every American as well.
[00:12:49] But as we've been seeing on the House floor, even on, you know, some of these bills that you would think, especially after the election, that there would be strong bipartisan support. The Democrats continue to double down. I mean, boys playing in girls sports is one where they've doubled down on. And some of these that you'd think would be the most common sense pieces of legislation would have support from Democrats. So we'll see.
[00:13:15] But my guess is that their leadership will probably push pretty hard on the members not to vote for it because this is their model. They have a model right now. And that's why they're screaming loudly about the money that is going over in other places, because I think they've been able to build a whole system that supports their political wing as well. So this has got to happen. And it is revolutionary. And it's time now more than ever. Congressman Marlon Stutzman, thank you so much.
[00:13:45] We got to run. In fact, I think I see a picture I left in the office there behind you if you would save that one for me. Have a great day. All right, friends, much more coming your way here on Washington Watch. Don't go anywhere. Much more straight ahead. At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect.
[00:14:09] That's why FRC President Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55,000 people have been killed and 21,000 abducted in the last five years alone.
[00:14:34] The congressman also stressed that 89 percent of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria. Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians, despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution. Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message. This is systematic religious violence.
[00:15:00] Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. Biden administration's removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians. Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians. These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
[00:15:26] Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria. We live in fear because at any point it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak. FRC is calling on President Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
[00:15:59] Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to the Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at the Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
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[00:17:03] Welcome back to Washington Watch. An honor to be with you today. And a greater honor to have you with us. Thank you so much. I'm your Friday host, Jody Heiss. All right. You've probably seen it by now. We've all watched as Elon Musk's electric vehicle company, Tesla, as well as many of their customers and dealerships, face all kinds of domestic terror attacks.
[00:17:27] And it's all because Elon Musk is leading the crusade to cut government waste, fraud, and abuse. Seriously. Why would anyone be upset with this? But it's happening all across the country from Seattle to New Orleans. We're watching individuals and groups who are targeting Tesla products, targeting dealerships, in attacks ranging from destruction of property to actual arson.
[00:17:55] And Republicans are asking for specific investigations into these attacks, even suggesting an inquiry of a particular Democrat over harmful rhetoric concerning the EV company. So will these attacks subside anytime soon? Well, here to discuss this and other questions is Congressman Eric Burleson, who serves on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, as well as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
[00:18:23] He represents the 7th Congressional District of Missouri. Congressman Burleson, welcome back to Washington Watch. It's good to be back. Well, great to see you. All right, we're watching all these criminal attacks. And, of course, they're being labeled as a form of protest against Elon Musk and Doge and so forth. But this seems to be going beyond just protests.
[00:18:48] So why are these so-called protests so violent and so destructive? I think whenever you firebomb vehicles, particularly electric vehicles, when they catch fire, they are almost impossible to put out. And they burn hot and they burn bright. These individuals know what they're doing. They're doing destruction. This is not peaceful protest. This is violence.
[00:19:16] This is a form of terrorism. It's not acceptable in the United States. Absolutely. And you have called for investigations into these attacks against Tesla. So I don't know what method those investigations take forth, but I would imagine maybe the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee would look into this. What are you calling for? What are you looking for?
[00:19:43] We're calling for the Attorney General Pam Bondi to use every lever of power and investigative tool that she has to investigate this act of terrorism, these acts of terrorism. And look, I understand that today or tomorrow there's going to be protests of individuals with signs and all that. That's fine. That's perfectly acceptable. I may not agree with these individuals, but this is America. You have a right to be there without causing violence and destruction.
[00:20:13] But we should all agree that this level of violence and destruction is not acceptable. We also have some disturbing trends where the left is elevating these individuals and glorifying them.
[00:20:30] The individual who murdered the president of the health insurance company, there's a law that's being put in place in California that has his name on it. It's glorifying him. But he's a murderer, you know, somebody who committed a violent act. And so this is not something that we should be glorifying.
[00:20:57] We should not be glorifying the firebombing of these buildings and these cars, any kind of destruction, the keying of vehicles even. We need to be reminded that this is America. You can have your say. You can have your voice. But just do it peacefully. Yeah, absolutely. Do it peacefully. I think that's such a great point. We're seeing so much rhetoric right now.
[00:21:17] Some of this rhetoric might even have an influence on the attacks, the protests, the terrorism, whatever you want to call it that's taking place right now. The rhetoric has to be ratcheted down. In fact, and I'm not trying to put Governor Waltz in this camp necessarily, but it is a fact that you called out Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz for celebrating the declining stock value of Tesla.
[00:21:44] And, you know, that's just that's a different type of rhetoric, I guess. But still, nonetheless, how does this type of rhetoric contribute, you think, to violent actions that we're seeing around the country? Yeah, I think a lot of this aggressive nature towards Tesla is completely misplaced. And you understand the difference between a publicly held company and a privately held company.
[00:22:12] Tesla is mostly vastly owned by shareholders, and most of which are retirees. So when Tesla stock goes down, I don't know why anybody would be celebrating because what that means is that there's a lot of people whose retirement funds are going down. It's a publicly traded company. Tesla is not the one working with Donald Trump on Doge, an individual who owns shares in Tesla.
[00:22:41] And the fact that the left can't understand the difference is evidence enough. But at the end of the day, I think that if there is activity, if there's, to answer your question, if there's nefarious groups, foreign actors, countries like Russia or China,
[00:23:06] that we can determine are involved in amplifying or inciting some of these violent acts, that's something that we should be concerned about. If it's domestic terrorism that's occurring because it's being funded by some leftist group for the purpose of inciting violence and terrorism, then it's something that we should absolutely be investigating. Absolutely.
[00:23:35] Less than a minute left here real quickly, but in a subcommittee last week, you jumped on the CEOs of NPR and PBS. Tell me real quickly, do you think these ought to be defunded right now? Or what's your thoughts on this real quickly? Yeah, it's long past due. I mean, we don't need state-sponsored information anymore. It's readily available everywhere.
[00:24:02] And particularly what's frustrating is that these entities, PBS and PR, we all know that they're leftist-leaning. But what Jim Jordan uncovered is that of the editorial board, when 87 out of 87 all are registered Democrats, there's not a single Republican voice. Something's wrong. And so we're funding leftist propaganda, and that should stop. Yeah, that's the kind of information that people need to be aware of.
[00:24:31] That basically tells you everything about the slant that they're giving us. All right, Congressman Eric Burleson, thank you so much for joining us on Washington Watch. Hope you have a great weekend. Appreciate your leadership. You too. All right, friends. Don't go anywhere. The Department of Education under President Trump and Secretary Linda McMahon, they're changing the tide on educations and parents' rights, putting them back in charge. Meg Kilgannon will join me on the other side of the break. Stay tuned.
[00:25:00] Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It's true that all ideas have consequences, but we're less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate.
[00:25:28] Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life's biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value.
[00:25:58] Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They're disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all.
[00:26:25] Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn't begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won't happen if people can't recognize a lie and don't believe truth exists.
[00:26:48] We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release, and the forest from the trees. So honored to have you on board with us today with Washington Watch. Glad to have you. All right.
[00:27:10] The Trump Department of Education yesterday, I hope you saw this, but they announced that they have launched an investigation against the California Department of Education for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act. Now, I don't know if you are familiar with that. I was not. In fact, when I heard this, I was asking myself, what is the California Family Educational Rights Privacy Act? Never heard of it.
[00:27:37] But I would imagine that the fact that the Trump administration is going after them is probably good news. So here to get into all of this is Meg Kilgannon, who's Family Research Council's Senior Fellow for Educational Studies. Meg, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you on. It's great to see you, Jody. Always. All right. My first question. What is the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act? Well, have you maybe heard of it referred to as FERPA?
[00:28:09] FERPA is the abbreviation. And that's a law that was passed in 1974 on my birthday, as a matter of fact. And it guarantees the rights of parents to review and perhaps correct the educational records of their children. So this is a very important act. And it is a law. It is a U.S. law in the U.S. code.
[00:28:38] So the fact that California is on the wrong side of this law is not good for California parents, students, or, of course, the state schools in California. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what this whole thing is all about. I mean, it appears that the law, and thanks, FERPA is one thing. I guess I never knew what FERPA stood for.
[00:29:01] But what California is now doing is using this as a shroud of secrecy. Really, aren't they? To keep parents out of knowing what's happening to their children at school. It is. It's being interpreted that way and used that way by school systems. And that must stop.
[00:29:24] And that's why I'm so grateful that the Office of General Counsel at the Department of Education is launching this investigation into the California school system to correct this error on their part. Because part of the process of putting children on this pipeline to gender transition, that starts with the creation of a student record at a school called a gender plan.
[00:29:52] And those are kept secret oftentimes, most of the time, from parents. And, of course, any kind of record that's created at the school for your child is an educational record. And a parent has a right to see it. So, this idea of a secret gender transition plan flies completely in the face of protections that are guaranteed under FERPA.
[00:30:14] So, this is something that parents have been complaining about, especially parents of children whose children are caught up in this gender madness. And so, there is a backlog of complaints at the department about this. And they're going to clear out that backlog of complaints. And they're going even further than that by having this investigation into California. They announced the investigation into California yesterday.
[00:30:42] And today, they announced that they are also investigating in the state of Maine this problem. I think there are going to be investigations into a number of states in this regard. And it's just a tremendous effort and a very welcome one to guarantee parental rights. You're not kidding. This is huge news. So, let me put this out to you, Meg. A parent.
[00:31:09] A parent suspects or has some sort of concern regarding their child's school perhaps hiding some of this vital information about them. What is a parent to do? Well, aside from just addressing the situation in your own family and taking care of your child first, right? Maybe they need to be removed from that environment. There's all kinds of resources out there for parents who are going through this in relationship to their child.
[00:31:39] But in relationship to the school, what the parent can do is, of course, address this with the school. But you can visit the website of the Department of Education. I just did this this afternoon. I could tell you the address, but it'll be forgotten. If you go to the website and you put FERPA, F-E-R-P-A, in the search bar, it will take you to that page on the website that talks about this education, right?
[00:32:06] And there is a big button at the top that says, make a report. And you can make a report about the problem that you're having at your school. There is a limit to that the problem has to be reported within 180 days. And I know that there are times with families when you're in a child's crisis that can take sometimes years to sort out. And then there you are. Now you have the bandwidth to go back and make a complaint. And it's past 180 days.
[00:32:36] Even if it's past 180 days, if you know that this is happening in your school system, I still think it would be good for you to make a report because it may be that it that it that it corroborates some other reports that are there and that it puts puts the department over the top for doing an investigation. So it's it's great if you could make those reports.
[00:32:59] You know, the other situation besides gender identity that that comes up in this case is, you know, we have a lot of violence in school these days, sadly. And schools were not telling parents if if one child had made like a death threat against another child based on the fact that the child making the death threat had a right to privacy. And so this is, of course, a terrible, a terrible thing to do. Obviously, a parent needs to know about that situation.
[00:33:29] Obviously, there needs to be a conversation about that. And so it's that kind of situation that this effort on the Department of Education that they're hoping to correct. And I am so glad to see that it's happening. We're very grateful to Secretary McMahon and President Trump for doing this. Meg Kilgannon, you're awesome. Thank you for breaking this down for us. Hope you have a great weekend.
[00:33:51] All right, friends, after the break, Kansas State Representative Susan Humphries will be here with some shocking information that happened in her state today. Stay tuned. What is God's role in government? What does the separation of church and state really mean? And how does morality shape a nation? President John Adams said our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people.
[00:34:18] It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a powerful 13-part series that equips you with biblical truth to engage in today's most pressing debates. From the Ten Commandments in classrooms to the immigration crisis of America, we'll uncover the foundations of our nation's history and why it's relevant for today.
[00:34:44] Defend God's plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. New episodes available each Monday. To view the series on the Stand Firm app, text COURSE to 67742. 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.
[00:35:12] 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.
[00:35:42] Like you are 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.
[00:36:10] 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 sage con and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting and we have the solution.
[00:36:40] 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 sage con to learn more. That's s-a-g-e-c-o-n sage con to learn more. Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I'm your Friday host, Jody Heiss. Glad to have you with us.
[00:37:09] Earlier this morning, I received a message from a friend of mine from Kansas, Tim Hulskamp, former member of Congress. And he said that there was going to be today a spiritual battle, if you will, between a satanic group and Christians at the state capitol in Kansas, Topeka. And sure enough, darkness descended today in Topeka
[00:37:36] when the satanic grotto of Kansas held a black mass outside the state capitol. But rest assured, it was incredible to see how God's light was every bit as present and powerful in the state capitol because Christians from many denominations literally surrounded the capitol as they conducted praise and worship services of their own.
[00:38:04] And joining me now, Kansas State Representative Susan Humphreys. She was there right in the middle of it while these dueling, if you will, religious services were taking place. She happens to be, by the way, Susan does, the first ever recipient of FRC Actions Samuel Adams State Legislator of the Year Award. That was for her work defending faith-based adoption providers in Kansas.
[00:38:32] Representative Susan Humphreys, welcome to Washington Watch. It's so good to have you. Thank you. So good to be here with you all. We've got good things going on here. You really do. What an amazing story. It's a strange and, in many ways, a dark story, but it has absolutely, in fact, more than just a silver lining. I want to appreciate you so much and say thank you for your willingness to share with us today.
[00:39:00] You were right in the middle of it all. So tell our listeners, our viewers, a little background, if you will. How did this black mass at the state capitol ever come about in the first place? Okay. Around the 1st of March, we got word that the Satanic Grotto was going to hold a black mass on March the 28th. We knew a little bit about this group because when we had our March for Life event on the steps of the state capitol in January,
[00:39:31] hundreds of pro-life folks were gathered there with probably 80 pro-life legislators standing on the steps. And there was a man that walked around yelling, hail Satan. And so we got a little taste of what he might do. And this is the same one who now has planned, who did plan, the black mass for March the 28th. And so we knew that that was going to happen.
[00:40:01] They had reserved a spot in the Kansas in the Rotunda right there on the first floor. And they have First Amendment rights was the thought. And so they did go ahead and get that. But as it turned out, about 10 days later, the governor and our leaders in the House and the Senate, those two are both believers. They met with the governor and said, you know, how are we going to let this happen?
[00:40:30] And the governor agreed to move them, the group, outside the capitol in one spot. They were to be on the east side of the capitol. And then the Christians were to be on the south side of the capitol. And that's kind of how it stayed. We thought there was going to be more, that they were actually not going to be allowed on the grounds because of some threats and stolen property, let's call it that. But as it turned out, they were given permission to be outside the capitol.
[00:41:00] And that's what happened this morning. So what was the atmosphere like today? It was striking. First of all, there were state troopers positioned everywhere around the capitol. And then also, our capitol is five floors. So state troopers at the entrance on every floor, at every turn and twist. But when I walked over, we live in an apartment here in Topeka. When we're not in Wichita, we live in Wichita.
[00:41:29] But when I'm here serving, we have an apartment here. I walked over to the capitol. And on the east side were a group of Satanists. But it was a small group. I would say maybe 30 is what it looked like to me. They were fenced off. And there were many, many Christians around. Just they were peaceful. They had signs.
[00:41:56] They might have a Christian flag, American flag, different signs. And then on the south side really is where a group of very traditional Catholics held the service. That was the south side. On the north side of the capitol is a Catholic church. They ended up having a mass there at noon, and it was packed. But I think the most striking thing was it was Christians of all different varieties.
[00:42:25] There were the real traditional Catholics, other Catholics. There were women, you know, older women praying off to the side. There were evangelicals. There were bold. You know, I would call it, you know, probably they've come from hard backgrounds, but now they're involved in a solid church. There were people speaking in tongues. There were hundreds. Hundreds. And it was so striking.
[00:42:51] Yeah, just the unity among the Christians, what was going on. And they were singing praise songs all over the capitol. Inside the capitol was peaceful until a few things happened. Well, unfortunately, we've only got a couple more minutes here. Real quickly, Michael Stewart, who is the head of this Satanist organization, said that he was going to get inside the capitol, even if it meant being arrested. Did he attempt that by chance? Yes, he did.
[00:43:20] And he was arrested. There's video out. People can probably see it. He was able to get to the first floor right there. This was, yep, there he is being taken out. But what happened was he was holding up some kind of book, satanic book. And a youth, I don't know how old, tried to grab the book. There were reporters everywhere, all around. And the youth did get the book.
[00:43:47] And he smacked him twice in the jaw. And then the police descended on Michael, and he was escorted out. So he was, he, it was a publicity stunt, I suppose. And that's what happened. Wow. Amazing. Well, listen, thank you so much, Susan, for you and hundreds of other believers who were so brilliantly effective in shining the light in the midst of darkness. About one minute left.
[00:44:16] I know that there's a lot of other things happening in Kansas, but the legislature passed an unusual bill regarding the unborn in Kansas. Tell us real quickly about that. Okay, really quickly, we passed a bill yesterday that recognizes the unborn as a dependent for tax exemption purposes. And it passed overwhelmingly in our House. We have a super majority, and it also passed in the Senate. Our governor will probably veto it.
[00:44:43] But it was such a win for life to recognize the unborn as a dependent for tax purposes. And they'll get an exemption for that. So even with a veto, it would be overridden? Is that what you're saying? It should be. Yep, it should be. That's awesome. Representative Humphreys, we are so grateful to you, grateful for your willingness to take a stand, your willingness to be a light in the midst of darkness, and your willingness to come on Washington and watch with us today. Thank you so much.
[00:45:13] Thank you for what you all do. It means so much to so many of us. Well, thank you. All right, that was Susan Humphreys, representative from the Kansas legislature. So grateful for her. Before I bring on my last guest, David Clawson, I want to remind you, he's got a book coming out next week, Life After Row. Life After Row. It faces the issue that we are dealing with now. And you can get a 40% discount.
[00:45:43] 40% off of that brand new book. The special code is Washington Watch. No spaces. Go to LifeWay.com. LifeWay.com. That's where you can order the book. Use Washington Watch as a promo code and get 40% off. That's awesome. All right, David. Thank you for joining us on Washington Watch. We've got a lot to cover. Happy Friday. Great to be with you, Jody. Happy Friday to you as well. Unbelievable. All right.
[00:46:12] Things just like an avalanche. Continuing to come down the pipe with so many issues to deal with. I mentioned your book coming out next week. Again, congratulations on that. Hope we have tons and tons of people who get that. But on the issue of abortion, I mean, earlier this week, Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia vetoed a bill that would have prevented prayer and sidewalk counseling in front of abortion clinics.
[00:46:42] This whole thing coming to pass. So tell us what this bill would have done and why he vetoed it. Let's go that route. Yeah, Jody. This is Senate Bill 1324. And it passed incredibly in the Virginia House of Delegates and in their Senate on a party line vote. Democrats have a two-seat majority in the Senate and the House.
[00:47:03] And then they passed this bill that would have made it a misdemeanor that within a 40-foot radius of any so-called health care center that provides abortions, that you couldn't be within eight feet from someone unless they invited you into their presence. And the bill specifically said you could not engage in oral protest or even counseling. And so, of course, it was patently unconstitutional. Governor Youngkin made this very clear in his veto of this legislation.
[00:47:33] But, Jody, this is on the rise. This is kind of a new tactic of the left. We've actually seen this in the United Kingdom. They've passed a law in the United Kingdom that you can't even do silent prayer outside an abortion clinic within 150 meters. And if you're like me and you don't really know how far 150 meters is, that's about a football and a half. I had to look that up.
[00:47:55] And so the fact that that awful draconian suppression of free speech and religious liberty has kind of jumped the pond. And now state legislatures are looking at this. That's not good. So kudos to the governor for doing the right thing. But this is just another issue we're going to have to keep track of. Yep, it sure is. So you see the trend moving in that direction.
[00:48:18] I know yesterday, David, we had a number of people from FRC Action and other organizations participated at the U.S. Capitol with a rally. And many members of Congress were lobbied, if you will, dealing specifically to cutting Medicaid abortion funding. What should Christians know about the event yesterday at the Capitol and the push ultimately to defund Planned Parenthood and abortion providers?
[00:48:47] This is an incredibly exciting moment right now, Jody. For the first time since 2017, we have a real shot to defund big abortion, including Planned Parenthood. What's incredible about the reconciliation, normally you need a supermajority, 60 votes in the Senate to get legislation moving. Well, within the rules of reconciliation, you can pass this, Jody. And it deals with funding.
[00:49:16] And so really for the first time since 2017, we have a legitimate shot. You know, Planned Parenthood receives almost $700 million of taxpayer funding. This is an organization, by the way, that after Roe was overturned, raised $500 million. And they spent it mostly on their political messaging and posturing and paying outrageous salaries to their CEOs. They don't need any taxpayer money. And so this is a real moment. FRC is leading the charge.
[00:49:44] And you can go to frcaction.org slash takeaction to actually send a message to your representative or senator. Because this is, you know, these moments, Jody, only come around every eight to ten years where you have a legitimate shot to strip hundreds of millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood and other abortion industry. We need to take advantage of this. So let's pray. Let's take action. Let's contact our representative. This is a pivotal moment.
[00:50:12] And Lord willing, we'll take advantage of it. It really is a pivotal moment. I'm so glad you brought that up. If we don't do it now, I don't know when we'll ever get around to it. David, so many issues to cover. So let's, if we can, let me switch gears on you real quickly. We're talking about Virginia. Let's now move over to Kentucky. There's a pretty big news coming out of Kentucky yesterday with a number of actions from the legislature dealing with abortion. Transgender ideology and so forth.
[00:50:42] The DEI policy. Tell us what happened in Kentucky real quickly and why it matters. Yeah. Why it matters is because, again, these are issues of creation order. Issues related to abortion. Issues related to so-called gender-affirming care. And in Kentucky, the Republicans have super majorities in the Senate and the House. They have a Democrat governor, Andy Beshear. By the way, if you're not familiar with that name, that's one that we're going to increasingly hear more about because he definitely has 2028 aspirations.
[00:51:10] He likes to show that he's kind of a moderate. He's not. And this is evidence of it. He put an executive order in place that banned so-called conversion therapy. And what this executive order meant, Jody, was that taxpayer dollars could actually fund these gender transition surgeries through Medicaid. And it had a kind of a chilling silencing effect on counseling or talk therapy on matters of gender and sexuality.
[00:51:38] And so the legislature and folks like David Walls and the Family Foundation in Kentucky were leading the charge on this, overrode the governor's veto. So now in Kentucky, this is the executive order that Beshear had put in place is now overturned. It's no longer binding. But this is important for Christians because, again, these are issues of the creation order. These are issues where the Bible is clear. And so kudos to those members and the legislature for doing the right thing. Absolutely.
[00:52:08] One last question I want to get you. I'm sure you probably saw a Pew Research study that came out saying that people are leaving their childhood religion in masses. Tell us, again, why is this important? How can parents guard against this happening to their children? Yeah. In brief, Jody, this is a major study that looks at 36 different countries. And it shows that Christians in those 36 countries are one of the top religions that lose the next generation.
[00:52:37] And their kids go from Christian to being unaffiliated. We should be aware of this trend. And this should cause us as Christian parents to redouble our efforts of discipleship and catechism. You know, we know worldview begins to form around 15 to 18 months. It's pretty much in place by age 13. And so let's use a study like this as a warning sign to make sure in our churches and in our homes, we are discipling our children because the trends are disheartening.
[00:53:06] But let's take it by their horns instead of speaking our families and churches. Absolutely. David Claussen, always great to have you. And again, your book, Life After Rope, is coming out next week. Tell us in 10 seconds where people can get it. Wherever books are sold, you can go to Lifeway.com and use that Washington Watch code to get your 40% off. 40% off. Friends, go do it.
[00:53:35] David, have a great weekend. Appreciate it. God bless. All right. Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll be back next week on Washington Watch. God bless you. 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.
[00:53:56] 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.