Skip to content 7/14/2026 Resisting the Culture War Against a Biblical Worldview Here at Home and Overseas Comes at a Price Jul 14 · 54 min ...more
7/14/2026 Resisting the Culture War Against a Biblical Worldview Here at Home and Overseas Comes at a Price
July 14, 2026 · 54 min
Today on Washington Watch: Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister is named to hold his seat until January; Update on reconciliation 3.0; The U.K. denies a Finnish parliamentarian entry to the country due to her biblical worldview on marriage; Louisiana pastor sues the library after being fired for not bowing to their LGBT orthodoxy; Concerns over potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio July 14, 2026 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
Today on Washington Watch: Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister is named to hold his seat until January; Update on reconciliation 3.0; The U.K. denies a Finnish parliamentarian entry to the country due to her biblical worldview on marriage; Louisiana pastor sues the library after being fired for not bowing to their LGBT orthodoxy; Concerns over potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. ...more Show the full description Show less Today on Washington Watch: Senator Lindsey Graham’s sister is named to hold his seat until January; Update on reconciliation 3.0; The U.K. denies a Finnish parliamentarian entry to the country due to her biblical worldview on marriage; Louisiana pastor sues the library after being fired for not bowing to their LGBT orthodoxy; Concerns over potential sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.
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Capitol Hill Updates & House Floor Progress 0:02 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 and0:13 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.0:20 The Middle East, believe it or not, is coming together. We're getting rid of the bully of the Middle East. Iran was the bully of the Middle East. It was fear, but there's no fear anymore because their military capability0:31 has been knocked and there's no fear. I think the Middle East is coming together like it's never come together before.0:38 That was president Donald Trump earlier today at the White House addressing the ongoing conflict with Iran. Welcome to this Tuesday, July 14th edition of Washington Watch. I'm your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for tuning0:49 in. Well, coming up, the standoff in the house between Republican leadership and the freedom caucus appears to be over as the house passed a procedural rule that will allow legislation to move to the floor for the 1st1:01 time in weeks. Texas congressman Nathaniel Moran joins us from the house floor with the latest. Plus, the my vocational pastor who was fired by the East Baton Rouge Parish1:13 Library for using biologically accurate pronouns is now suing the library. Liberty Council, which represents pastor Luke Asch, filed the lawsuit. Liberty Council's1:24 chairman, Matt Staver, joins us with all the details. And Middle East expert Jonathan Sanzer will break down today's developments in the Middle East as tensions continue to escalate as1:36 Iran attacked more ships in the Strait of Hormuz. All of that and more straight ahead. Alright. Let's start on Capitol Hill1:48 where 2 US Supreme Court justices made a rare appearance before the House Appropriations Committee to ask congress for additional funding to strengthen security for the court.2:00 Joining me now to discuss this is Washington stand reporter Casey Harper. Casey, why are the justices asking congress for more money for security?2:10 Yeah, Tony. It's, rare but also troubling testimony today. The justices say it's because threats against judges and their families, by the way, have increased significantly. Justices Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett2:22 made that appearance before both the house and the senate today, which is the 1st time that to that that's happened since 20 19, outside, of course, the confirmation hearings. Now justice Barrett said that the threats2:32 against her family intensified in particular after the 20 22 leak of the draft Dobbs abortion decision. In fact, here is what she told lawmakers.2:41 A few years ago, around the time of the Dobbs leak, my security detail sent me home with a bulletproof vest, and I carried it into my house, put it into my bedroom, dropped it down on a table, turned around, and my 122:52 year old son was standing in the doorway of my bedroom. But I didn't expect that performing this service was gonna put me in the position of explaining to my children what a bulletproof vest was and why I had to wear 1.3:04 Yeah. Nor nor should it. Now the justices submitted a request for an additional 14600000 dollars in security funding. That's about a 10 percent increase. But here's a a bigger percentage, 38 percent. That's the increase3:16 in threats this year alone, and that's after a 25 percent increase in threats last year, Tony.3:22 You know, Casey, that sounds a little bit like lawlessness is on the loose. Yeah. Alright. Let's, let's stay focused on Capitol Hill. Lindsey Graham's sister was sworn in this afternoon as his replacement in3:34 the US senate from the state of South Carolina. Walk us through what happened today.3:39 Yeah. So Darlene Graham Nordone was sworn in on the senate floor today, officially taking over her brother's seat. Senator Charles Grassley administered the oath of office during that formal senate ceremony today, and3:50 she also participated in a ceremonial swearing in on Capitol Hill surrounded by family and lawmakers. Here's a clip.3:57 So help you God?3:58 I do. Congratulations.4:00 Thank you. God bless you.4:03 Of course, the election this November will decide who takes that seat next year.4:08 Alright. Let's turn now to international news. President Trump has backed away from his proposed transit fee of 20 percent for ships going through the Strait Hormuz. We we4:20 took notice of that yesterday. What prompted the change? Was it your comments?4:24 Yeah. Maybe it was. You know, the president called me up right after the show. But, you know, he said, as you noted, that instead of that 20 percent tax or toll, that I sure I'm sure the Gulf States felt was a little4:36 high, then instead they're gonna try to work out these trade deals, and in particular, Gulf States investing in the US. Now the decision came just hours before a planned US naval blockade of Iranian shipping was set to4:47 take effect, but now president Trump is saying the strait's open to all vessels except, of course, Iranian vessels. Here's a clip of president Trump earlier today at the White House during his meeting with Iraqi prime4:57 minister.4:58 I was called by different people, different countries, kings and, emirs and all of the people that we all know and we all love. And they said we'd love to do it a different way. The gulf states are going5:10 to invest a tremendous amount of money into the United States, and that was very satisfactory to me. I think it's actually much better.5:18 And this fighting comes against the backdrop of ongoing fighting fighting in the Middle East. US the US military is continuing to hit targets in Iran, and Iran's firing back, hitting bases in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain.5:29 Tony.5:30 Alright, Casey. Thanks so much for, the update. Alright. I wanna turn now to what's happening on the house floor where members are considering legislation once again after a weeks long5:42 floor impasse was broken earlier today. Joining us now on the Patriot Mobile hotline is congressman Nathaniel Morin. He's a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. He represents the 1st congressional5:54 district of Texas. Congressman Moran, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for stepping off the floor to join us.6:01 Hey, Tony. Great to be with you as always. Yeah. I'm in the, cloakroom just off the floor. We're in the middle of a vote series and, just, about 2 thirds of the way or a little bit almost done with our 1st vote.6:13 So, what's it like to start be voting again? It's been a few weeks with the, the blocking of rules making their way to the house floor.6:21 Yeah. It's nice to have passed the procedural hurdles so that we can actually, get to the substantive votes that we need to. These are some very important votes, not just this week, but coming up in the in the, in the6:31 next week. We have in the NDAA that we know we need to get to. It's it's something very critical for our military. That is a must pass bill. We've got 12 appropriations bills that have come through, our committee6:43 but haven't made it to the floor. And the 1st 1 up would be the SFOPS bill, what was formerly known as SFOPS for our national security bill, and hopefully get to that, this week because the rule passed. And that's6:53 really, really important. We got work to do for the American people. We absolutely need to keep pressing the senate on the Save America Act. Gotta use every ounce of leverage we can do for that, but it's nice to be7:04 voting again.7:05 And there's a very short window here because August recess is just, a couple of weeks away, less than a couple of weeks away. The the house speaker has said that he wants to see the budget committee mark7:17 up the 3rd reconciliation package by the end of the week. What what's that looking like? What's a timeline looking like for reconciliation 3.0, which is the budget7:28 reconciliation bill that avoids the procedural hurdle of 60 votes in the senate. Where does that stand?7:37 Yep. So when we got to DC this week, early on, we were told that budget committee would probably have a vote on Thursday on a reconciliation budget, to to pass out to the at7:49 the the rest of the house to give instructions like they they have to do to start that process. But then that got moved to Thursday, and now it looks like it may be Friday or it may just get pushed into next week because8:00 I think they're having a little bit of trouble just fine tuning the last details of that. Of course, there's always negotiations about, well, which chapters and which committees are gonna have some jurisdiction over it.8:11 And so there's still some discussions as I understand it with, budget committee members, with, chairs of each of the, each of the committees to decide who's actually gonna have a piece of the8:23 reconciliation package. But it is the vehicle, by the way, that gives us the ability, as you mentioned, to get around the 60 vote threshold in the senate, could be the winning vehicle to get most of what we want done in8:35 the Save America Act, through the senate and to to block the stalemate that's really held up a lot of other good stuff.8:42 What about the defunding of abortion providers like Planned Parenthood that was in the 1st reconciliation bill, the 1 big beautiful bill? That expired on ofReligious Freedom Threats in Europe & US 8:54 all dates, July the 4th. It was not in the 2nd reconciliation. This is the last train leaving the station.9:02 Yeah. It needs to be in there. I will be, very unhappy if we don't have a chapter or an9:16 moratorium effectively and, funding Planned Parenthood for that 1st year of the 1st reconciliation package last year. The 1 big beautiful bill expired on July 4th. 1 year is9:28 not good enough. It it certainly did some good work, but 1 year is not good enough. We need to make it permanent or as long as possible to keep, those Planned Parenthood centers from popping back up.9:38 And, of course, the instructions are very important because that's what the senate parliamentarian will look at when the bill gets over to the senate. So that's, a really key what is happening right now. Congressman9:49 Moran, I wanna switch gears a little bit. You serve on the house select committee on the Chinese Communist Party. You're tracking them very closely as to how they're operating, the persecution,10:01 the oppression that's taking place. I wanna get your reaction on last week's release of pastor Ezra Jin, who had been imprisoned since the CCP's crackdown on churches last October.10:13 Yeah. What a day of rejoicing. A couple things that that I I really wanna emphasize with the story is, 1, this is an ongoing, multiyear, dedicated, systematic10:25 effort by the Chinese government, that they call the sinicization of, religion there in China, basically to bring religion under the the communist party and to make it, tailored10:37 to the communist party, and we know that that is not appropriate at all. This church was underground church. Pastor Ezra was very fortunate to have president Trump a couple months ago speak with,10:49 with, Xi Jinping and impress upon him that pastor Ezra's release was critically important to the United States. We wanted to see that happen. I think without president Trump's intervention, it just wouldn't have happened11:01 because, because of the timing, because of the the nature and the level of those discussions. Xi Jinping, without his intervention to somebody down the chain, it would not have been possible for Pastor11:13 Ezra to be released. So we're we're rejoiced. I know this family hasn't seen him in, like, 6 or 7 years, but, you know, this is a great reminder. If you listen to the testimony of the daughter, in her11:24 testimony to congress a couple months ago, she said this I wrote this quote down. She said, oppression cannot extinguish faith. And it it was so remarkable to hear her talk about that in a time where her family was being11:36 oppressed. It only grew their faith, and it grew their church in the midst of that. Yeah.11:41 It did. I've had Grace on the program. It's an amazing story. But I think your assessment is absolutely right. I do not think this would have happened had president Trump not leaned in on this because11:53 many, many people asked him to do so. So I think it was, this is where the evangelical Christian community rose up and and advocated on behalf we of this pastor, pastor Ezra, and that that's happened before.12:06 This I I wanna ask you this as as 1 who is tracking this very closely. Is this any indication that there's any change, in the CCP12:18 in terms of their hostility and oppression of the church, or is this just a 1 off because of president Trump's, pressure?12:27 Yeah. I think it's a 1 off. I would not, take this as a sign that there is a systematic shift. China for for years has used the taking of religious prisoners12:39 that they know is incorrect and inappropriate and unlawful and immoral, to get something out of the United States or to use it as a chip. They used to do it with most favored nation status. When it would come up, they12:51 would get political prisoners and then agree to release them if we agreed to give them most favored nation status because they know it's something that's important to us. So, I would not read into this that there's been13:01 a shift in policy with the Chinese government. I think they're more more dedicated or just as dedicated as ever, to squashing religious liberty over there. They know that's a huge threat to the Chinese13:13 Communist Party and its, total control of its people. And so they're gonna do all that they can to squash it.13:19 Nathaniel, 30 seconds left. This question, do you think we're using the the International Religious Freedom, Religious Freedom Act calls for us to leverage13:32 our support for religious freedom internationally in our foreign policy. Are we doing that sufficiently?13:37 No. We're not doing that sufficiently. I I will, thank ambassador Brownback for what he's doing as the ambassador at large for international religious freedom, but we've got to, we've got to do more, not just for13:48 Christians around the world, but in China, the Uighur people, the Tibetans. I mean, it's religious freedom is oppressed across the board. There and other places in the world, we have to be a beacon of hope, and that13:58 means religious freedom for all. We'll leave it there. Thanks, folks.14:03 Join us for a time of prayer, inspiration, and action at this year's pray vote stand summit at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Virginia. Hear from Christian leaders, issue experts, and government14:15 officials as we work together to build a foundation based on biblical truth. We hope to see you there September 24th through the 26th. To register, visit pray vote stand dot org. That's14:27 pray vote stand dot org.14:32 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 our14:43 constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a14:55 powerful series that explores the connection between biblical principles and the American government, equipping you with truth to engage in today's most pressing debates. We'll uncover the foundations15:08 of our nation's history and why it's relevant for today. Join us to defend God's plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. You can view the15:19 course at frc dot org slash god in government or on the stand firm app.15:32 1 nation under God, America's undeniable foundation of faith.15:45 The United States Capitol, an iconic symbol of the American Republic, but few know that this building at the heart of our nation's government was once something more, the largest church15:56 building in America. Since its inception and for decades following, several rooms throughout the capitol, including the house and senate chambers, were used to host church services weekly.16:09 These services were filled with individuals from all levels of government. The attendance was so pervasive that often it was standing room only. Quote, going to the capitol on Sundays was then 1 of the16:21 most common things in Washington, Margaret Bayard Smith. This practice was not merely accepted but encouraged. Quote, I consider it as 1 of my public duties as a representative16:33 of the people to give my attendance every Sunday morning when divine service is performed in the hall. President John Quincy Adams. Housing worship at the center of our capital was a16:45 living representation of the role that biblical principles played as a cornerstone of our nation's foundation of faith.17:04 Hi. Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us on this Tuesday. Let me encourage you to get the the Stand Firm app where you can get, Washington watch no matter where you17:15 go. You can also have access to the Washington stand on news and commentary from a biblical worldview and my daily devotional, Stand on the Word. So go to the App Store and download the17:27 Stand Firm app or simply text a p p to 6 7 7 4 2. That's 6 7 7 4 2 a p p app, and I'll send you a link. Alright. Speaking of, you know, we're talking17:39 about religious freedom. You know, oftentimes, we're thinking of the Middle East, but I tell you, Europe is is really in a bad way. Now over the past few years, we've discussed the case of17:51 doctor, PV Rozanan. She is, or Pivi is how she says it, a member of the Finnish parliament who was targeted by the Finnish prosecutors for expressingShow more In this video 0:00 Capitol Hill Updates & House Floor Progress8:54 Religious Freedom Threats in Europe & US18:00 Middle East Conflict Analysis35:40 Closing Prayer & Stand Firm53:16 Program Wrap-up & Devotional54:03
Ron Johnson, Andrew Clyde, Blaise Misztal, Michele Bachmann, Gary Hamrick Tony Perkins
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