Skip to content 2/19/2025 Policy Advancements and Pushbacks along with the Ethics of some EOs Feb 20 · 59 min ...more
2/19/2025 Policy Advancements and Pushbacks along with the Ethics of some EOs
February 20, 2025 · 59 min
Kansas legislators protect kids, the US Senate looks at Medicaid cuts, Samaritan's Purse flood relief efforts, and a look at the moral and ethical implications of Trump's EO expanding IVF.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video February 20, 2025 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Kansas legislators protect kids, the US Senate looks at Medicaid cuts, Samaritan's Purse flood relief efforts, and a look at the moral and ethical implications of Trump's EO expanding IVF. ...more Show the full description Show less Kansas legislators protect kids, the US Senate looks at Medicaid cuts, Samaritan's Purse flood relief efforts, and a look at the moral and ethical implications of Trump's EO expanding IVF.
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In this video 0:00 Current Events and Political Updates18:37 Faith, Family, and Freedom Initiatives29:28 Disaster Relief and Community Support38:36 Moral and Ethical Implications of IVF
Current Events and Political Updates 0:06 Good afternoon. I'm Victoria Marshall, and welcome to the Washington Watch news desk. A federal judge has declined to block Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency from0:18 accessing data systems at federal agencies. US district judge Tanya Chutkin denied an appeal by Democratic state attorneys general to prevent Doge from doing its work. The0:30 attorneys general sued Musk last week arguing that his appointment as head of Doge violates the constitution. They also asked the judge to block Doge from firing or placing on leave0:41 any federal employees. Chudkin ruled that the states hadn't shown they would suffer imminent harm from Doge's actions. Now this ruling comes as Musk and president Donald Trump sat down0:53 together for an interview discussing their working relationship on Fox News.0:59 I wanted somebody really smart to work with me in terms of the country, a very important aspect because, I mean, he doesn't talk about it. He's actually a very good businessman. And when he talks about the1:11 executive orders, and this is probably true for all presidents. Yeah. You write an executive order and you think it's done. You send it out. It doesn't get done. It doesn't get implemented. They don't implement it. They1:21 maybe they're from the last administration, and they are, in some cases. You try and get them out as fast as you can. But I could as soon as he said that, I said, you know, that's interesting. You write a
1:32 beautiful executive and you you sign it and you assume it's gonna be done, but it's not. He's your tech support.
1:38 I I
1:38 No. No. He is. But he's much more
1:40 than that.
1:40 Yeah. He's actually on tech support though, but that's
1:42 He gets it done. He's a leader.
1:44 In another Trump administration news, Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told reporters Wednesday that president Trump lives in a disinformation space. Now this is
1:55 after Trump called Zelensky a dictator for failing to hold elections in Ukraine since the war with Russia started. Now in response to Zelensky's comments, vice president JD Vance
2:07 told the Daily Mail that badmouthing the president is an atrocious way to deal with this administration. Now both Zelensky's and Vance's comments come as the Trump administration is
2:19 trying to broker peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Yesterday, secretary of state Marco Rubio met with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss ending the
2:30 war. In other domestic news, today on Capitol Hill, President Trump's pick for labor secretary, former congresswoman Lori Chavez de Reamer, said she would
2:42 protect the American worker during her senate confirmation hearing.
2:46 Well, certainly, we wanna protect the American worker, and and made in America is important to the president of the United States. I couldn't be more proud, to support the America First agenda for
2:58 exactly that reason. We certainly want to, make sure that we're focused on growing this economy. That is the conversation that I had, with the president on how can we bring the American
3:10 worker to be the pinnacle of every conversation that we have in supporting them and growing this economy.
3:16 Before Chavez de Reamer testified, she was introduced by Oklahoma senator Mark Wayne Mullen.
3:23 Lori's nomination reflects the historic coalition of working class Americans and elected that elected president Trump to a second term in the White House.
3:33 And in international news, Israel and Hamas have agreed to expedite the release of 6 living hostages. 3 Israeli hostages will now be released 1 week
3:44 earlier than expected. In exchange for the expedited release, Israel will release more than a hundred Palestinian prisoners, including 47 Hamas members. Hamas is
3:56 also expected to return the bodies of 4 dead Israeli hostages on Thursday. Members of the Bibi's family, some of the best known hostages globally, will be among the 4
4:08 handed over. Shiri Bebas and her 2 children. Now Thursday marks day 40 of the ceasefire. Israel and Hamas have yet to finalize terms for phase 2 of the
4:19 deal. And those are today's headlines. I'm Victoria Marshall. For more news and commentary, be sure to check out the Washington stand at washington
4:31 stand dot com. And find this and other content and news and commentary on the Stand Firm mobile app. Now up next is Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. We'll see you
4:43 tomorrow with more news.
4:52 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 and
5:03 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
5:11 The first is an executive order relating to the affordability and availability of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. These are treatments that have become, unaffordable for many Americans or have
5:23 been unaffordable for many Americans, and the executive order is a directive to the domestic policy council to examine ways, to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable for more Americans.
5:35 That was White House staff secretary Will Scharf yesterday explaining president Trump's executive order on in vitro fertilization. Welcome to this Wednesday edition of Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
5:47 Well, coming up yesterday, president Trump signed an executive order entitled expanding access to in vitro fertilization or IVF to address growing infertility rates. While IVF does
5:59 help many families experience the joy of having children, countless human embryos, these are human beings, do not survive the process. They're often laughed in freezers with uncertain futures or discarded as medical
6:11 waste. We'll discuss IVF's moral, ethical, and scientific concerns with doctor Andrew Walker, associate professor of Christian ethics and public theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
6:23 We'll also talk with Washington Times Capitol Hill reporter, Lindsey McPherson, about dueling reconciliation efforts in the house and senate that are taking place
6:35 this week. Plus, another federal judge has struck down the Biden administration's redefinition of sex under title 9. Judge Reid Reid O'Connor in Texas ruled the Biden administration
6:47 exceeded its executive authority. And there is a strong there's a sharp contrast between the Department of Education under president Trump and that of Joe Biden. The Trump Department of Education's,
6:59 their office for civil rights, has opened an investigation into a complaint by parents about the Arlington Public Schools transgender bathroom policy.
7:08 My 9 year old daughter and I walked into the Washington Liberty women's locker room on September ninth 20 24, and we're stunned to see a naked biological man standing among little girls and moms and changing after swim
7:19 class. It turns out, however, the man in question is a registered sex offender named Richard Cox who used a transgender and stolen identity to gain access to the women's changing room.
7:28 So the Department of Education under the Trump administration will be investigating. Now under the Biden administration, those parents would have been investigated for exposing and opposing the dangerous policies that
7:39 allowed men into girls' locker rooms. We're gonna talk with FRC's Meg Kilgannon about these developments in just a moment. Also, Kansas has become the 20 seventh state to adopt legislation
7:51 like the FRC SAFE Act, which protects minors from experimental drugs and surgeries being pushed by transgender activists. And finally, Edward Graham will join us to report on
8:03 how Samaritan's Purse is responding to the recent flooding in Kentucky. All of this and more coming up on this edition of Washington Watch. Let me ask you a question. Would you like to test your
8:15 knowledge of government? Well, FRC has a new resource available for you, which includes an interactive 10 question quiz on government. To take it, just text the word quiz to 6 7 7 4 2. That's
8:27 quiz to 6 7 7 4 2, and you can test your knowledge. Alright. There has been a lot of movement on the trans issue in the last 48 hours. Yesterday, a
8:39 super majority of Republicans in the Kansas state legislature
8:42 overrode the veto of their Democrat governor
8:43 Lori Laura Kelly, the first Democrat governor Lori Laura Kelly, the first veto action of the year. Both the Kansas State House and Senate bucked the governor to
8:54 enact the help not harm law that adds new restrictions to the use of state funds regarding the promotion of so called gender transition surgeries. And in other action today, a federal judge, as I
9:06 mentioned, permanently rejected the Biden administration's rewrite of title 9. Now it appears that the momentum is building against this radical ideology. Here now to discuss this and more, Meg
9:18 Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies here at the Family Research Council. Meg, welcome back to Washington Watch.
9:26 Thanks for having me, Tony. It's great to be here.
9:28 Alright. Let's start with what happened in in Kansas. The legislature there overriding the governor, putting into place the 20 seventh state to have a law on the books that would protect minors
9:40 from these experimental surgeries and drugs used by those pushing this transgender ideology.
9:48 Right. And it's it's amazing to think that we still have to pass these laws, Tony. We've been working on this issue. FRC has certainly, since, you know, 20 18 or
10:00 so, and, trying to get states to pass these bills. And, fortunately, we have seen growing momentum, but, it's it's sad to think that a governor
10:12 would override the veto would would would veto this legislation when it protects children, it protects families from surgeries that are permanent,
10:25 medication that causes permanent changes in the body. It it's it's just sad to me to think that, they that they had to override the veto, but fortunately, they did.
10:35 We we've actually seen even Republican governors in the, the last few years who vetoed this type of legislation only to be overridden by their governor by their legislatures. I think of,
10:48 Arkansas, the first 1 where we worked on this, Ohio, another state. When when we first picked this up back in, 20 16, 20 17 in that in that period, no 1 else
11:00 wanted to touch this. But now, it is the the the momentum is certainly moving in this direction. Of course, the Trump administration coming in, putting an end to this nonsense saying we are
11:12 gonna invite common sense back in. Is this a new day in America?
11:18 I I really think that we do we have the wind at our backs now. I think that more and more people are aware that this is actually real. But before when we talked about this issue with people, they would say, oh, no.
11:29 That's not true. That's not possible. People are not really no 1 would would give a sex change operation to a minor. That's that's ridiculous. And, you know, we seemed like the crazy people. But, in fact, people have
11:41 come to understand that, no, this this is a real agenda. There are doctors who consider it medically appropriate to do these procedures on children. And so now, at least in the state of Kansas and 26 other states,
11:53 children will be protected from this, and parents will have the right people who are victimized by these procedures will have the right to sue the medical providers who gave them the so called care, which is a
12:05 great, great development.
12:07 And this is good. This is certainly encouraging to see. You know, maybe this is a red line, but should we really be surprised when we we we we kinda trace back the steps, the redefinition of marriage, and the embracing
12:20 a redefinition of human sexuality? I mean, should we be surprised that it's come to this point?
12:25 Sure. And the governor in her veto used language talking about the importance of the the doctor patient, relationship, which is, of course, the same thing. They always trot out to justify abortion.
12:38 So, yes, the the the reasons for this state we're in now, of course, we're all aware of, right, that we didn't just get here overnight. But it is certainly nice when we see that we are making gains
12:50 in rolling some of the sexual revolution agenda back and and at least giving parents, the control over their children and and, and this ability to
13:01 veto these procedures for their kids Right. And not be deceived.
13:06 I mean, I think they've gone so far that common sense is screaming out that we've gotta do something, and that's where we see from the Trump administration. But I I I I've said this many times. We we we've got to have
13:15 the underpinnings of this, and that is moral absolute truth. And and and we've this is as much a a spiritual issue as it is a policy issue, and there's a lot of work
13:27 to be done to shore up the foundations here. I I wanna go to another topic. Department of Education investigating the Arlington County Public Schools, for their transgender
13:38 bathroom policy. Now this is a sharp contrast, as I made, as I provide at the top of the program between the Biden administration who would probably have been investigating these parents.
13:51 Now you have the Trump administration actually taking the complaint of the parents and investigating the school district.
13:58 Right. This case is another 1 that just beggars belief. You have the case of a convicted sex offender, this man named Richard Cox, who is identifying as
14:09 transgender so that he can be naked in front of children, which is the crime that he went to jail for as a sex offender. And that is all justified by the fact that he
14:21 feels that he is actually a woman or claims to feel that way, and that is how he gets access to this to the women's locker rooms. And the the school system in Arlington uses
14:33 the county's swimming pool for their school programs for for swim teams. They share that space. And so, it's just a really dangerous situation.
14:45 It's it's it's unbelievable that this has been tolerated for so long. He's been he's been in there for years. And the the county prosecutor in in, our
14:57 area refuses to prosecute him even with the attorney general of the state encouraging that prosecution. And it's all based on this idea that someone can be born in the wrong body or
15:09 identify as the opposite sex, which we know is just simply not true. And for people who are confused about that, that's 1 thing we we're concerned for them. We want them to get care. But this
15:20 person has convictions for sex offenses and is seems to be hiding behind a transgender ideology to use that to his favor. And
15:32 this is exactly the kind of thing that we've warned about as we've talked about this issue over the years. I'm very grateful that that the Defense of Freedom Institute made such a thorough complaint about this to the
15:42 Department of Education and that they're taking that up. But we shouldn't have to rely on federal civil rights protections when there are clearly criminal charges that could be made against
15:54 this person in Arlington County. If the police would come when women call and say there's a man in the locker room who's naked with my children, you would think that that would get a police
16:06 call and a police response, but not in Arlington, apparently.
16:06 No. In some response, but not in Arlington, apparently.
16:10 No. In some places, it actually gets the the people issuing the complaint banned from the facility. But maybe maybe there this is a turning point where common sense there's a revival of common
16:22 sense. But, again, it's gotta be undergirded by a a a a an understanding of moral truth of, transcendent truth.
16:31 Yes. And it also gets back to that issue of free speech that we were talking about last last week that the vice president brought up at the speech at the security conference. You know, when when you're not allowed to
16:42 talk about things, when I'm not allowed to complain about a man being in my locker room even if he says he's a woman, that's exactly how we get to this place. And so we really do need to to
16:55 to appreciate the freedoms that we have here in the United States and exercise those freedoms, be involved in our local communities, and use every tool we have to make sure that we are
17:07 communicating these truths in the public square because, apparently, people need reminding.
17:12 Right. But about a minute and a half left, Meg Kilgannon, the, federal judge in Texas, Judge O'Connor, Reed O'Connor, struck down the Biden administration's
17:24 kind of 1 of their final rule changes on title 9, the redefinition of sex to include gender. Is this going to be the end of, this effort to try to
17:36 roll gender into the definition of sex?
17:40 Well, it certainly is for the Trump administration. They have already reoriented the policy back to the 20 20 rule. And I think that, you know, there were so many cases that went in opposed to
17:52 the to the Biden rule that some of those are still gonna be working their way through the court system, and so we'll see rulings like this. And it's always great to see them because we we it's, you know, here's another
18:04 situation, another permutation of what's wrong with the Biden title 9 plan, what is wrong with trying to conflate sex and gender. And so now we see another judge as as as on the the side of right on
18:16 that.
18:16 Will those remain as an obstacle to a future administration that might try to do that?
18:22 Yes. They will.
18:23 Good. Alright. Meg Kilgannon, always great to see you. Thanks so much for, joining us today.
18:29 Thanks, Tony.
18:30 Alright. Alright, folks. Don't go anywhere. We're gonna get the latest from Capitol Hill regarding negotiations on budget reconciliation. The senate moving forward with, a 2 bill approach. The house saying, nope.
Faith, Family, and Freedom Initiatives
18:42 We're going forward with a 1 big beautiful bill. We're gonna be talking about that next, so don't go away. More Washington Watch straight ahead.
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21:54 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Alright. In president Trump and Elon Musk joint interview last night with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity, The president shared that he wouldn't make
22:06 cuts to Medicaid, the, federal state health insurance program that mostly covers, poor Americans. But making substantial cuts to Medicaid is a key part of the congressional Republicans
22:18 plan to extend the tax cuts. So how will Republicans resolve this apparent clash between the White House and congressional Republicans? Here now with, all the latest
22:30 reporting on this story is Lindsey McPherson, who is, Washington Times Capitol Hill reporter, and she joins us from Capitol Hill. Lindsey, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
22:41 Thanks for having me.
22:43 Alright. So, first, remind us when the federal government is scheduled to run out of money to spend when this current continuing resolution ends.
22:52 So government funding runs out on March fourteenth, and they're trying to negotiate a new funding deal with Democrats at the moment separate from the, party line reconciliation bill that you've been talking about. But,
23:05 that deadline is fast approaching.
23:08 So are are are the 2 gonna collide at some point, or are they gonna be able to work on separate tracks?
23:14 They're definitely on separate tracks procedurally. Certainly, the the deadline of the government funding bill will put some pressure on them as they are we're hoping to use a lot of that time to move their party
23:26 line or their bill through the party line budget reconciliation process. So the they'll collide in the sense that they'll be competing for floor time and attention, but they're not they have to be on separate tracks
23:38 because government funding cannot be passed through with the budget reconciliation process. The rules wouldn't allow that because that's discretionary spending.
23:46 Right.
23:46 And the budget reconciliation process only allows for mandatory spending.
23:51 I I think what I'm by by colliding, I mean, might we see Democrats holding up 1 to try to influence the other?
24:01 I think Democrats will have other things that they're gonna be demanding as part of the government funding negotiations related to asserting the congressional power of the purse, in light of the department government
24:12 efficiency and the things they've been cutting around the federal government. I don't think they would use the government funding bill to kind of protest the reconciliation bill, if that makes sense.
24:21 Alright. So let's talk about that, reconciliation bill. The senate moving forward with a smaller, look like, 2 bill approach. The house, declaring that, they're going
24:33 forward with the 1 big beautiful bill next week, and, they won't take up the senate bill. How how are things looking there on Capitol Hill with, the house out this week, but senate working?
24:45 Right. So the senate, yeah, is moving ahead. As you said, they, told us they had lunch with the vice president, JD Vance, today after Trump had endorsed the house bill, the house budget and said he wants
24:56 both chambers to adopt the house budget, they left the lunch with Vance saying that they still plan to move ahead with their budget as kind of a plan b. They view it as a totally backup option, you
25:08 know, trigger in case needed, in case the house can't get the votes to pass its own budget. So they just wanna keep the process moving. They're worried about the house. You know? They have a small majority there getting
25:20 enough votes to pass the broader plan, and that's why they decide to move ahead. But they're not excluding if the house is successful in being able to pass their own budget and supporting that plan. They do have some
25:30 concerns about how it deals with the tax cut extension. We can talk about that if you like. But they're viewing their senate budget as more of a plan b.
25:40 I I actually wanna dive into something you've written about, and and that is the Medicaid cuts. The president said there'd be no Medicaid, cuts. Some Republicans are saying to to to reach the
25:52 1500000000000.0 dollar mark over the next 10 years in cuts and move forward with the president's tax cuts. There's gonna have to be some modifications to Medicaid. Now that that's
26:03 not been fully explained by most in the media that what what the Biden administration did and and, and and enticing states to be more generous in Medicaid is basically a 90 10
26:16 match. So there's and and we're talking about able-bodied people in many cases. So what what's being proposed, if I'm not mistaken, Lindsay, are kind of modest cuts to
26:27 Medicaid and pushing more of the responsibility onto the states.
26:31 Right. I guess, basically, the house budget resolution calls for 875000000000 in cuts from the energy and commerce committee that had and they have jurisdiction over Medicaid. A lot of
26:43 Republican lawmakers do not see them being able to meet that target without touching Medicaid. As Trump has said, he doesn't wanna touch Medicaid. But my understanding from what the president really wants is he doesn't
26:53 wanna touch Medicaid benefits. What Republicans are saying they can do to find savings is what you talked talked about that 90 10 formula from the Obamacare expansion where if states opted into the Obamacare expansion,
27:05 the federal government had committed to paying 90 percent of the cost of Medicaid and the states paying 10 percent. They wanna look at adjusting bunch of proposals on the table for how they might adjust that.
27:17 But, basically, yes, they wanna find savings by kicking more of the responsibility to the state, whether that's capping it at the number capping the cost at the number of beneficiaries or doing block grants to limit the
27:28 state funding. That's kind of the ideas that they're looking at.
27:32 And that wouldn't be the first time that the federal government did that. I mean, I go back even when I was in the state legislature in Louisiana where we had the disproportionate funding and the the the federal
27:42 government adjusted the formula and the state had to come up with more money. So this is, you know, they entice states to, to to expand these benefits. And then, you know, at a certain
27:54 point, they gotta pay for.
27:57 Right. So, yeah, we'll see what they end up with. I think the Republicans are in agreement that, yeah, the states could contribute more, and that they, you know, take more ownership over this, and it shouldn't all fall
28:09 on the federal government. Exactly how to get there is kinda where the policy disagreements lie and, a lot of details still to be worked out. But they are just at this first stage of setting the overall targets for
28:21 spending cuts, not necessarily having to identify the details until they adopt that budget.
28:26 So next week, the house returns. And, when they left town last week, the plan was to move the bill this coming week. Do you think they're going to be there?
28:36 That is still the plan. I think at this point that they still have some work to do to convince someone kind of the debt hawks that, you know, the cuts as outlined in the resolution. They call for,
28:48 like, at least 1500000000000.0 in cuts, but they set a goal to go higher to 2000000000000 and then kind of can go, you know, even higher than that if they want, but just kind of that the p is the dead hawks that to
29:00 convince them that it's enough is not kind of shored up yet, but that's, I think, something that leaders are working on over the recess in anticipation of members coming back. And I think that's part of why the Trump
29:11 endorsement came out, for that approach. It's just try to help convince the skeptical members as having the president weigh in in favor of it, I think, could carry some weight there.
29:20 Well, we'll see soon enough when they return, next week. Lindsay McPherson, thanks so much for joining us. Great to see you today.Show more
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