Skip to content 2/18/2026 Reviewing Current Events Against the Backdrop of America’s Christian Heritage Feb 19 · 54 min ...more
2/18/2026 Reviewing Current Events Against the Backdrop of America’s Christian Heritage
February 19, 2026 · 54 min
Flu vaccine review, U.S.-Iran talks, DHS funding, transgender scrutiny following more violence, China’s global Christian persecution influence, abortion pill lawsuit, and America’s Christian roots.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio February 19, 2026 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Flu vaccine review, U.S.-Iran talks, DHS funding, transgender scrutiny following more violence, China’s global Christian persecution influence, abortion pill lawsuit, and America’s Christian roots. ...more Show the full description Show less Flu vaccine review, U.S.-Iran talks, DHS funding, transgender scrutiny following more violence, China’s global Christian persecution influence, abortion pill lawsuit, and America’s Christian roots.
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In this video 0:00 Government Shutdown and Domestic Policy Challenges14:01 National Prayer, Biblical Engagement, and Global Persecution27:01 Combating Abortion Pill Trafficking and Renewing Through ScriptureComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Government Shutdown and Domestic Policy Challenges 0:01 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and0:12 newsmakers, all from a biblical world view. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.0:19 They've chosen to shut down the coast guard, shut down FEMA, and shut down TSA rather than dramatically reform ICE. Donald Trump spent the weekend on the golf course0:31 with Ron DeSantis. And so we've not seen any high level effort coming from the president or from the House of Senate Republican0:42 leaders. We have no idea where they're at in the midst of a crisis of their own making.0:51 That was house minority leader, Hakim Jeffries, after the White House rejected the Democrats' terms for reopening the government. Welcome to this February eighteenth edition of Washington Watch coming to you from the1:01 RealLife Network booth at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention here in Nashville, Tennessee. I'm your host, Tony Bergens. Thanks so much for joining us. Well, coming up, the pro life movement continues to push1:13 the Trump administration to restore the original safeguards for the abortion drug mifepristone. In the meantime, my home state of Louisiana and other states are fighting to stop the illegal flow of the abortion drug1:25
1:37 Reads the Bible campaign, which FRC is a sponsor. Well, today marks day 5 of the Democrat
1:49 led partial government shutdown, which appears likely to continue as the White House has rejected the Democrats' terms to end the shutdown. Joining me now from Washington DC is Washington Sand reporter
2:00 Casey Harper who's been tracking today's top stories. Casey, what's the latest there in Washington?
2:07 Sure, Tony. I'm jealous you're in Nashville. I love Nashville, especially because here in DC, a whole lot of nothing has been accomplished as the government remains shut down and a deal remains elusive. So White House
2:18 press secretary Caroline Levitt held a briefing today where she said that Democrats gave them an offer last night, but the White House said that they're still very far apart on a deal. Now as this division among
2:30 lawmakers in the White House continues, as you know, thousands of federal workers are not gonna receive their next paychecks. Now we don't have a lot of details about the specifics of that, latest counter, proposal from
2:41 Democrats. We could probably make some guesses about how it would affect ICE. But a White House official says president Trump remains willing to continue talks to end the shutdown. In fact, here's White House press
2:52 secretary Caroline Levitt speaking today.
2:55 He wants the government to be open. We've been been engaged in good faith negotiations with the Democrats. Last night, they sent over a counter proposal that frankly was very unserious, and we hope they get serious very
3:06 soon because Americans are going to be impacted by this.
3:09 So no progress here in DC, Tony.
3:13 Sounds like the makings of the lyrics for a country and western song.
3:16 It is. That's right.
3:18 Alright. The FDA is apparently reversing course and has now agreed to review, do a review on its decision on Moderna's new flu vaccine. Casey, what's the latest there, and what led to this
3:30 pivot?
3:30 Sure. This 1 affects older Americans in particular. So the FDA has agreed now to review the vaccine for a possible approval, which would come August fifth if it is approved, and it would clear the way for release of the
3:42 flu vaccine for the upcoming flu season. Now Moderna said they're seeking full approval for adults ages 50 to 64 years of age and accelerated approval for those older than 65. Now this is really a
3:54 change in course for the FDA after they previously rejected reviewing this mRNA flu vaccine. So, it's something to be closely watching. The mRNA, which is so controversial in COVID, Now, Tony, it's
4:05 affecting, flu vaccines, and we'll keep an eye on how this 1 progresses.
4:10 I think it may make some folks a little, timid Yeah. Even if even if it is approved.
4:15 Yes.
4:16 Vice president JD Vance shed some light on how yesterday's diplomatic talks with Iran went saying that in some ways, the talks went well. Casey, what came out of that meeting?
4:28 What do we know for certain?
4:30 Sure. Well, while the vice president didn't share a lot of additional details about what parts of the talks went well, they're playing things pretty close to the chest. He did say that both parties agreed to meet
4:40 afterwards, in a couple weeks. Here's vice president JD Vance.
4:44 The president of the United States is is very much trying to find a solution here, whether it's through diplomatic options or through another option that means that the Iranians cannot have a nuclear weapon. I think it's
4:55 very important for the American people, to appreciate. It's 1 of the most hostile and also 1 of the most irrational regimes in the world. You can't have people like that have the most dangerous weapon known to man. It
5:06 would be awful for our security. It would be awful for the future of our children.
5:11 Hostile and irrational is a bad combination to be sure. The vice president said that the president is willing to use the military, but he's right now trying a strong diplomatic approach. But he's shown that, you know,
5:22 either are on the table for him at least for now. Now the US has recently sent another aircraft carrier to the region and has just moved more fighter jets in the into the Middle East. And where, really, the president has
5:32 fulfilled this promise to send an armada to the region if you look at the forces they have there. Meanwhile, in Iran, the satellite images show that Iran has recently built a concrete shield over a new facility at a
5:43 military side. They have tunnel entrances fortified, missile bases, so they're preparing for war in Iran, Tony.
5:51 Casey, all I say in addition to that is I'm getting a lot of chatter from contacts in the Middle East, which suggests that something may be at play, so we'll continue, to watch it. Thanks so much for, the update from
6:02 Washington DC.
6:03 Thanks, Tom.
6:04 I may listen to a country tune for you while I'm here in Nashville. Alright. Now I wanna go back to, the government shutdown. Joining me now to discuss this and more is Alabama congressman Robert Adderhold. He is
6:16 a leader in the committee on appropriations in the house. He's also chairman of the appropriate appropriations subcommittee on labor, health, and human services and education. He's also the chairman of the
6:28 values action team in the house. Congressman Aderholt, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us as we, are here at the National Religious Broadcasters in Nashville, Tennessee.
6:39 Well, Tony, good to be with you as always, and, good to be on and, hope the the convention's going well.
6:47 It it is. It is. I I wanna I wanna go into a topic. You know, we're still learning more about the Rhode Island mass shooter, but what has become clear is that his struggle with gender identity issues was a
6:59 key factor in his mindset before the shooting. I mean, we're we're seeing a pattern here emerge. What role does the government have in addressing this issue
7:11 that's creating these situations where massive destruction of human life is taking place?
7:20 Yeah. It's really unfortunate, and you're seeing a pattern here. And I think that's why we have to really focus in on what's going on with, the transgender community. And, obviously,
7:32 there are there are there's some struggles going on there. That's obvious. And I think that we need to really get to the bottom of it. So to just to pretend that this is just another
7:44 shooting and after we've seen the patterns of this, I think it's something that, we've gotta go deeper into and not pretend that it's just another shooting
7:56 because, certainly, there's some correlations there between the transgender identity and with these these mass shootings.
8:04 Well, I think it's going back to understanding there's some underlying mental health issues in many of these cases. But we gotta keep in mind that the policies of the previous administration, the Biden administration,
8:14 was celebrating this, promoting it, and pushing it not only onto adults, but children. I mean, so this is, this has been a government policy that I think has set the
8:26 stage for what we're seeing now unfolding across America.
8:30 And I will say I'm thankful for the Department of Health and Human Services under secretary Kennedy that they, have put a stop to any federal dollars going for transgender,
8:42 surgeries. And, so, you know, more power to them, and we need to make sure that we do likewise in the house representatives when we pass any legislation to make sure there's no
8:53 funding for, transgender surgeries, for anyone, but especially for minors.
9:00 I'm I'm gonna be talking about this later with Kristen Hawkins of Students for Life. But an another issue and I know you've been working on this as the chairman of values action team in the house, but we have the FDA
9:12 still under Department of Health and Human Services that has kept in place a Biden era policy on abortion drugs that allows those drugs to be sent through the mail into pro life states like your own, like Alabama,
9:25 without any type of medical consultation. What's it gonna take to see the FDA go back to a policy that's protecting women and respecting the rights of states to protect the unborn?
9:37 Well, as you know, there's been many of us on the Republican side in the house that have spoken out against our own administration on this, and it's been very disturbing why the administration is doing this and
9:48 especially, coming from the Department of Health and Human Services. You know, overall, we know that secretary Kennedy has traditionally not been pro life. However,
10:01 hopefully, he has we had we're under the impression that he was going to take the position from the administration and be pro life. And seeing orders like this come from
10:13 his agency is very disturbing. And so members of congress that are pro life like myself will continue to voice our concern about it and knowing that, there are many, many
10:26 women that are in danger, when they proceed down this pathway of seeing no doctor and ordering these, drugs by mail.
10:35 And and, folks, by the way, you can help out congressman Aderhold and others who were trying to to raise awareness on this issue. Text the word life to 6 7 7 4 2. That's life to 6 7 7 4 2 and add
10:47 your voice to this. Congressman Adderhold, we're we're approaching a week into this partial government shutdown. And so far, Democrats and Republicans, are still far apart on this. The
10:59 demands of the Democrats are unacceptable to the Republicans. How long how long do you think this partial shutdown could, could last?
11:07 Well, it's interesting. A week from yesterday, is the the State of the Union. It will be next Tuesday. So we're less than a week to the State of the Union. And, you know,
11:19 Congress is not supposed to be back in the session, both the house and the senate until Monday. So I really don't see that there's any way that we can possibly get anything done before the State of the Union next
11:31 Tuesday. Even though Congress comes back into session on Monday, I don't think an agreement will be reached within a matter of hours. So we may be in a situation where we have the department of homeland
11:43 security still not funded, and still shut down technically. Now as you know, the funding is there. The, big beautiful bill had put a lot of funding in for Homeland
11:55 Security, and they're moving money around to make sure that the operations for essential, the essential employees are doing their job.
12:07 But at the same time, there's always disruptions, and you can never do the job correctly when you have a shutdown. So, I think it's gonna be at least a week from now before
12:19 we'll see anything started back up as far as the funding because the Democrats continue to, stonewall and, you know, don't want to see the they
12:31 or they don't wanna see the agreement that the president's put forward. And the thing that's really the holdup is they wanna have, the agents to be unmasked and also to be
12:42 identified, and that's a real concern for the safety of these agents.
12:48 Final question on this front. The I think 96 percent of, Homeland Security are deemed essential, meaning they're working anyway. They're just not getting paid. How long do will will the American people
13:00 see the effects of this over the next week, or or is it going to be basically a a quiet shutdown that nobody sees the effect of?
13:08 I think that's a good question. I think that right now, you know, we're I don't know when the next pay period for department homeland security employees are, but I would guess that it would probably
13:20 be at the end of the month before they will get another pay period. So, therefore, they are probably not feeling the crunch yet. And like you say, these employees have to be going to work.
13:32 So they're at work every day. You're I think most Americans will see this in the TSA agents at the airport. But once, another week
13:44 elapses, then I think that's where you could really see some morale being really going down in the in the department.
13:52 Alright, Robert. I got to leave it there. Thanks so much for taking time to join us. Folks, stick with us. We're coming back with more from the NRB convention in Nashville.
14:01 You see, America has freedom for a purpose. The question is, are we living by that purpose today? See, the founders understood we as a
National Prayer, Biblical Engagement, and Global Persecution
14:13 nation would be accountable to God for what he had granted to us. They sought freedom for a purpose, and that freedom was given to us as a nation for that same purpose to
14:24 serve God, to honor him, and to live as a people under his authority.
14:32 At the 20 26 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance in Washington DC, members of Congress, state leaders, evangelical leaders, and intercessors from across the nation
14:44 united as 1 voice in prayer.
14:47 Heavenly father, thank you so much for this gathering. We do repent, and we ask for your continued favor and blessing over our nation even when we don't deserve it.
14:56 I thank you that because of the shed blood and the glorious righteousness of your son, Jesus Christ, a sinner such as myself can boldly approach your
15:07 throne. You said that you helped the humble, and we're asking just now that you would help us, Lord.
15:29 We pray that you humble us, help us to follow after you with all our hearts so that we can see righteousness exalted in this nation and this nation restored to you. We know this is not by our power. It's not by our
15:40 might. It is by your spirit.
15:42 Freedom has a name. His name is Jesus. And freedom has a purpose. It is to honor and glorify you. We pray that we would return to that purpose. Amen.
16:03 The book of Hebrews says that the word of God is living and active, sharper than any 2 edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning
16:15 the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Stand on the word is Family Research Council's journey through the living and active word of God. Follow the plan with us.
16:27 Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day reading God's word. And over the course of 2 years, discover that the Bible is 1 big story. A story of many words pointing to the
16:38 word. The 1 who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Because the word is alive and his name is Jesus. Find our Bible reading plan and daily devotionals
16:50 from Tony Perkins at f r c dot o r g slash bible. Join us as we stand on the word.
17:03 Welcome back to Washington Watch as we broadcast live from the National Religious Broadcasters. We're at the Real Life Network booth. My battle buddy, Jack Hibbs, and Real Life Network, grateful for them.
17:15 Alright. Christian persecution is on the rise worldwide. According to Open Doors, their 20 26 world watch list, over 388000000 Christians face high
17:27 persecution and discrimination for their faith around the world. The Iranian regime has recently been accused of killing at least 19 Christians who protested the regime, and we've seen many, many more
17:39 slaughtered in the streets of Iran according to reports coming out. In China, more church leaders have recently been arrested amid crackdowns on underground churches. So what can be done to hold these regimes
17:50 accountable and protect these Christians? And is is it of concern, or should it be of concern to Americans? Joining me now to discuss this and more, Sam Brownback, who's chairman of the National Committee for
18:02 Religious Freedom. He previously served as United States ambassador at large for international religious freedom during the first Trump administration. Prior to that, he was in the United States Senate and governor of
18:12 Kansas. Ambassador, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
18:16 Tony, good to join you
18:17 as usual. Thanks for, being here. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely. Always great to talk with you. I I wanna time will go by very quickly. You have a book coming out on China. This whole issue of religious
18:29 persecution.
18:30 Tell our folks about it. Book's title is China's war on faith, and it's really, China's at war with God.
18:37 Right.
18:37 And they are attacking every faith, and they are ruthless about it. And they treat people of faith as national security risk in China, which to me tells us that we should be treating
18:49 these same people of faith as really key people in our view of the world on how you bring an open society
18:57 Right.
18:57 Is to support them and to be behind them.
18:59 So, ambassador, we're talking about faith. Let me play devil's advocate here. Why should we as Americans be concerned about what China is doing, to religious minorities?
19:12 Why why should we be concerned about Iran?
19:15 Well, because it's Iran and China are an alliance. You've got an axis of evil that's operational between Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. These guys operate with each other. They are wanting
19:26 to take us down, and they are in a fight with us, but we haven't decided what yeah. If we're really So this the the issue
19:33 of religious freedom is a part of that concern?
19:36 It it's a part of it in the sense that this is the group of people that will actually stand up to all of those rogue regimes. It's the Christians inside of Iran. It's the Baha'is there. It's the the
19:48 Buddhist in China that will actually stand up. It's the Falun Gong and Christians there in China that will actually stand up to these regimes. And on top
19:57 of it, Tony, because China has a global view of what they're doing, they wanna take over and rule the world. They don't want Western democracies to be ruling the world. They want authoritarians. They are pushing this
20:08 regime of control of religion everywhere with all of their satellites and acolyte countries. So so 2 2 reasons I would see here. Number 1, as as a Christian, as a believer,
20:21 you know, Hebrews tells that we should be in bonds as they are. We should consider ourselves alongside them, so we should be concerned about the plight of Christians in in other countries. But from as
20:32 a policymaker here in the United States, the evidence seems to be overwhelming that when a country has religious freedom, it has greater social stability, economic opportunity, and prosperity,
20:44 and therefore, less of a concern from for us from a national security standpoint.
20:50 It is. Absolutely. But I'm just saying that China fears their own religious people more than they fear our aircraft carriers or even our nuclear weapons. And if that's the case, then we should
21:02 be working with these folks in that in those countries and backing them and supporting them, sending the secretary of state to meet with the Dalai Lama, meeting with these Christian groups. And I'd also note these
21:14 Christians that were recently arrested in China, they've been charged with national security crimes in China. So the Chinese see them as a national security threat. We should see them as people we
21:25 should be supporting against this Chinese Communist Party.
21:29 I mean, by standing with the religious minorities, we're standing against these totalitarian regimes. We are.
21:35 That's who we're saying. And these this is our erstwhile enemy. These guys wanna take a step, Tony. These guys want to run the world the same way the Soviet Union wanted to run the world. The Chinese Communist Party
21:47 wants to run the world, and we need to wake up and realize that and say, okay. What do we need to do to effectively fight back against them? And religious freedom is a bedrock of what we can fight back. Similar to how
21:59 so yeah. Ronald Reagan went at the Soviet Union, he talked about the godless commies
22:04 Right.
22:04 And take it and then what they would do to the Jewish refuseniks. We need to talk about what's happens to the Christians in China to communicate to the American public and the west. These are our allies. That's
22:16 the right asset, and they need to take on we need to take on the Chinese Communist Party.
22:21 This administration is certainly talking about that more than the previous administration did. Is it being effectuated in the policies of this administration? I don't know that
22:33 I don't think we're there yet with effectively getting into policies. We're seeing more democracy advocate groups support religious freedom as seeing this is a this is a constituency that you can work with to
22:45 build a more open society. We need our national security apparatus to now look at that. You know, when Nixon opened up China, 1 of the deals that appears was struck is that we would
22:57 no longer support the Tibetan Buddhists and the
22:59 Muslim Uyghurs. Bad deal. We need to come back. So you're saying we need to understand religious freedom is about more than religious freedom.
23:09 It it it can no longer be treated as this boutique religious boutique human right issue.
23:15 So it's really more of the hub of almost everything we're concerned about as a government.
23:19 It it it's our greatest asset. Yeah. It's what we stand for as a country. It is an existential threat to the Chinese Communist Party. And if that's the case, then we should treat it as this major
23:31 asset that it is and not as a mere human right that we raise when we're kinda con when it's convenient.
23:37 Ambassador Reese have about a minute left. I'm gonna ask you to put back on your senate hat back when you were in the senate. Iran right now, existential threat to Israel, obviously. They're on the ropes.
23:50 What would you like to see the outcome of the current situation? What would be ideal? The regime being toppled. There is no solution of getting rid of the terrorist levels in
24:00 the Middle East now that involves this Iranian regime staying in power. This regime needs to be toppled. That needs to be taken over by the people and elections happening inside of Iran. That's your only solution
24:12 that's gonna get you away from the levels of terrorism they've sponsored.
24:16 15 seconds. How can we help with that?
24:18 The United I think we as the United States stand up and back president Trump and saying the only answer is the regime has to be changed, and the people need to take over in Iran.
24:27 I think there's no chance of reforming that regime. You can't. They've proven decade after decade, fifth 5 decades of hostility to to human rights and to freedom.
24:39 And, obviously, the people want a change. They've been out in the streets and getting killed.
24:44 It it's not something we're imposing on them. It's something they're asking.
24:47 They want it, and this is the only way it's really gonna happen. And then this is the time for it to happen.
24:52 Senator, we gotta go. Thanks so much for joining us. Folks, stick with us. More to come on the other side of the break.
25:06 A family is the oldest, most tested, and most reliable unit of society. It is divinely created and sustained, and yet there are those who are always tampering with its values and structure.
25:18 That's why we need organizations like the Family Research Council that can effectively defend and strengthen the family. Family Research Council
25:24 began over 40 years ago. Like all
25:26 Family Research Council began over 40 years ago like all great movements of God with prayer. Today, rooted in the heart of the nation's capital, FRC continues to champion
25:38 faith, family, and freedom in public policy, and the culture from a biblical worldview.
25:44 FRC is 1 of those bright lights that helps us focus on true north, and I shudder to think had they not been here that it could have been worse, worse, worse.
25:54 The Family Research Council is key. It's 1 of a handful of groups that I think will determine whether our children live in a country
26:06 that enjoyed all of the freedom and all the opportunity that we enjoyed in this great land.
26:12 It's just a wonderful parachurch organization that doesn't seek to take the place of the church, but it seeks to assist the family and the church as we try to move forward
26:24 successfully, not in a defensive mode, but in an offensive mode as we seek to live our lives according to the holy scriptures.
26:33 FRC, is not gonna be whooped. You know, we're we're gonna fight. We're gonna take a stand. And, again, we don't retreat.
26:42 You will never see in front of this building here in Washington, DC, a white flag fly. We will never step back. We will never surrender, and we will never
26:54 be silent. Welcome back to Washington Watch as we broadcast live from the NationalShow more
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