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0:06 Welcome to the Washington Watch News Desk. I'm Sarah Holliday, and here is the latest news. The annual National Defense Authorization Act or the NDAA sets the priorities for the militaryNational Defense and Social Policies 0:18 spending. On Wednesday, the 20 25 fiscal year budget finally passed. This year's bill is especially significant because it had some highly controversial provisions up for0:29 debate. Now that it's passed, here are the top 2 victories for the GOP. First, some senators wanted to force women to register for selective services.0:41 In effect, this would include women in any potential future military drafts without their say. That provision, however, was not adopted. Going forward, women can still serve if they desire, but0:53 they will not be forced to. Second, the kids of military members are now protected from transgender related procedures like hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgeries.1:05 Additionally, taxpayers are now protected from having to fund those so called treatments. The troop bill is on its way to president Joe Biden's desk as we speak. If the bill is signed, it will1:17 mark the first time in federal law that protections for minors against gender transitions have been enacted. In the end, some senators put up a good fight, but the NDAA overwhelmingly passed by an1:29 85 to 14 vote. Here's what senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said about it.1:34 Congress has passed the NDAA on a bipartisan basis for over 6 straight decades, and this year will be no different. Many feared that it would given the polarization, given the late1:46 date, but, no, we're having we're passing the NDAA, and that's a very good thing.1:52 Others, however, have made their frustration clear.1:55 I rise in opposition of the National Defense Authorization Act, a position I do not take lightly. Let's be clear. We're talking about parents who are2:07 serving our country in uniform, having the right to consult with their family's doctor and get the health care they want and need for their transgender children.2:19 Senator Baldwin believes it's flat out wrong to protect children from these experimental procedures, but it appears the majority of her fellow senators didn't agree, at least not enough to2:31 keep the NDAA from passing. Outside Capitol Hill, the state of Idaho is making some major changes as well. In fact, the Idaho State Board of Education approved some2:42 policies that effectively remove diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives or DEI from higher education. 1 of the new rules prohibits public schools from forming any2:54 central office policy, procedure, or initiative that's dedicated to DEI ideology. More than that, the board said and I quote, no employee or student is3:06 required to declare gender identity or preferred pronouns. Instead, schools have to commit to political neutrality. Part of this effort means they must intentionally introduce diverse3:18 views on campus. Freshman students will also receive free speech trainings as part of their instruction. But wait there's more. Idaho schools must also make their curriculums public. This would help3:30 promote transparency, but it also prevents anyone from trying to sneak controversial agendas into classrooms, such as LGBT indoctrination or critical race theory. All of3:42 this and more was approved unanimously by the state board. In many ways, Idaho was really just falling in line with a lot of the country right now. DEI has seemingly been flying off the shelves of corporate3:53 America in recent years. The list of companies abandoning these programs seems to grow each week between the NDAA passing and all things DEI. Maybe 20 24 will end on a high note for4:05 conservatives. But all of this progress draws attention to the continuing resolution government officials are struggling to pass to keep government afloat. In order to avoid a government4:17 shutdown, some version of the CR must be passed by Friday night. That is tomorrow. Will congress make the deadline? Only time will tell. For more on this, stay tuned for Washington Watch4:29 Next with guest host Jody Heiss. Those are today's headlines. I'm Sarah Holliday. We'll see you 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 andGovernment Funding and Political Dynamics 5:03 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heiss.5:12 Good afternoon, and welcome to this Thursday edition of Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heiss, senior vice president here at the Family Research Council and president of FRC Action. It is5:24 indeed an honor as always to be sitting in for Tony and thrilled to have you on board with us as well. We've got a lot coming your way. In fact, they yet again, breaking5:35 news is occurring even as we speak, and we'll bring it to you as it unfolds if it happens to unfold during the next hour. So here are the highlights. Less than5:47 24 hours after president-elect Trump spoke up against the spending package that was negotiated by congressional leaders, and that was unveiled just the night before, by the way. But a5:59 new deal has now been announced. And this deal has already received the approval of president-elect Trump, who actually went out on social media media a little while ago, and he said the6:11 following. Speaker Mike Johnson and the house have come to a very good deal for the American people. The newly agreed American Relief Act of 20 24 will keep the government open,6:23 fund our great farmers and others, and provide relief for those severely impacted by the devastating hurricanes. The president-elect ended the post by saying all Republicans6:35 and even Democrats should do what is best for our country and vote yes for this bill tonight. Well, according to what we just literally heard just6:47 minutes before going on the air, the vote is expected later tonight, perhaps as soon as 6 o'clock Eastern Time. And, that's just 30 hours from the6:59 potential midnight shutdown tomorrow. So is this bill going to pass? That is a huge, huge question, and I'll be joined here in just a moment by Mark Tapscott, who's the senior7:11 congressional correspondent at the Epoch Times. And he will bring us absolutely the latest on what's happening with the CR. And then yesterday, the Federal Aviation7:23 Administration decided to temporarily ban drone flights over several areas across New Jersey until January seventeenth of next year. Now they said that7:35 this move is due to special security concerns. But now wait a minute. Didn't the Biden administration claim that these mysterious7:47 drones that have been spotted all across New Jersey and other nearby states that they do not present a national security or public safety risk? So which is it?7:59 Do the drones present a security issue or don't they? Well, I'll be discussing this later in the program when I'm joined by retired CIA operations officer8:11 Sam Thaddeus. So you certainly wanna catch that. And a new development in South Carolina's fight to defund Planned Parenthood. The case is now8:23 headed to the US Supreme Court, And ADF attorney John Birch will join me to discuss the latest on that critical case. And then at the end of the program today, I'll be8:35 joined by doctor George Barnet to discuss some of the issues and the developments to watch for as we enter into 20 25. So as always, and seems8:47 like as as of late, this program is gonna not only be packed with news, but potentially with breaking news as the show unfolds. So you don't wanna miss any of it. But if by8:58 chance you do, you know where to go to catch up. You can go to our website, tony perkins dot com, where you can certainly catch this edition as well as past editions of Washington9:10 Watch as well as a number of phenomenal resources there available for you. So be sure to bookmark that page and use it. And then this Christmas season, before we jump into the program, I9:22 just wanna remind you yet again, Family Research Council is inviting you to join us as we continue trying to shine the light of biblical truth in Washington, D. C. And beyond.9:34 Certainly we're living in precarious times, potentially very dangerous times. And in the midst of it all, a transition of leadership as well as lame duck session of Congress. And here we are,9:46 FRC, serving literally as a watchman on the wall trying to protect faith, family, and freedom from multiple attacks coming from the left. And good news. And here's what I wanna land this on.9:58 Thanks to a 1 and a half million dollar challenge match. Every dollar that you give to FRC between now and December 30 first will be doubled.10:10 Yes. You can double your impact, and we encourage you to do so. Come along. Stand with FRC, enabling us to continue literally being a prophetic voice for biblical truth.10:22 You can jump on board and double your impact simply by texting the word light, l I g h t. Text the word light to 6 7 7 4 2. And10:34 together, we can all have an eternal impact. Alright. Let's jump into our first topic for the day. As the federal government has been teetering on the brink10:46 of a shutdown, the battle over a short term funding agreement, As we10:50 all know by now, it came to10:51 a head yesterday. In fact, in a statement posted on social media, president-elect Trump and vice president-elect JD Vance, they slammed the proposal11:02 yesterday, and they accused people of, if they voted for it that they would be giving Democrats everything they wanted. But even before president-elect weighed in, the bipartisan deal yesterday11:14 was facing sharp criticism. Many were calling it a a cram new bus, and it was just, it was it was just not gonna pass. Well, speaker Johnson has since11:26 been scrambling to find a path forward in a situation that many people said was absolutely impossible. And with less than 33 hours before the potential11:38 shutdown, a new deal was announced. And so here we come now to find out what does this new deal look like. And joining me to discuss the latest developments is Mark Tapscott. He's a senior11:49 congressional correspondent for the Epoch Times. Mark, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great to have you.11:57 Congressman, how are you?11:59 Okay. Boy, we got a lot to break down. Give me the latest. What do you know right now?12:04 Well, we are back at the point of a vote soon, they hope, and it is absolutely uncertain how it's going to come out. My12:16 guess is there will be some Republicans who Shipperoy, for example, will vote against it. He's already said he's a hard no. But there will be some Democrats. I don't have any that I12:28 can name at the moment, but I suspect there are a handful of them, who will come over and the bill might pass by 1 or 2 votes. It's absolutely that12:40 close, and we we don't know.12:43 It's a coin toss right down. In other words, it can go either way. And I agree with you. Before coming on the program as all this was unfolding and breaking, I was trying to go through in my own mind what the12:54 outcome with this would be. And, frankly, I'm still trying to get out what's in this new Yeah. Proposal. But I came to the same conclusion you did. This is an absolute toss-up. Can you can you tell us some of the13:06 difference? I did see a picture of the 1500 page bill plus bill. And now this one's just a hundred and 16 pages. So it's vastly decreased in size, but I've13:18 not had a chance to figure out what's in it. Can you tell us a little bit of what changes are in this new bill?13:25 Well, you know, the the first question I have about it is how many pages are in this? Because it looks like it's probably 50 or 60. That's a great improvement over 1500, but13:37 still, they have decided to take all of that stuff out that, Trump and Musk and and Ramaswamy were pointing at, including13:49 particularly the congressional pay raise. And they have, removed some other things that, we're getting some some real critical commentary from folks.14:01 What it looks like we have now is, basically, keep the government open through, mid March, a hundred billion for the disaster relief14:13 and especially in North Carolina. Extending the farm bill, and there is apparently a provision for, I don't quite have all the details yet,14:24 10000000000 dollars in in, farm credit assistance. You also get, the, health14:36 care provisions that, are due to be extended, they get extended. I don't know what the the time limit it is on that. And probably the most important or certainly the most significant part of14:48 it is president Trump yesterday demanded that the national debt limit be lifted through his entire 4 year term. They compromised, and this15:00 new continuing resolution suspends it for 2 years. It will be interesting to see who comes out of this 1 as the great compromiser.15:12 Yeah. Well okay. So you brought up some really some really good stuff, some some quick questions, and you may not have the answers. Again, all this is breaking, at Yes. By the moment. But the15:24 hundred plus billion disaster relief that you mentioned, is that paid for or is that new debt that's incurred?15:33 Oh, that is a great question. And my assumption, quite frankly, congressman, is that it's that it's new debt, because the government is operating in a deficit condition,15:47 in any case. So and I and I've heard nothing about any kind of offsets or any of that kind of thing to, shift funding from 1 place over to the disaster15:58 relief, which would, have a neutral effect on that question. Just don't That's16:04 yeah.16:04 That's gonna be interesting because I would certainly think that would be problematic if there's not a pay for going into this for a number of Republicans. And there's tons of wasteful spending, tons of pay places where16:16 it could be pulled. So that's, and, and I and I'm just going along with you. I don't know either. I don't know if there's pay for with that or not. So how likely do you think and, again, perhaps it's a little unfair16:27 to ask you because none of us know. But, what what's kind of your gut feeling going into this? Is this strategy in your gut gonna succeed, or are we still gonna end the night,16:40 with, just hours away from a potential shutdown?16:45 I I'll be honest with you, congressman, and and and you know this better than I do from your own experience on the floor. In this kind of situation, every man and woman16:57 in the house potentially is the speaker and holds tremendous bargaining power with their vote. And you we will not know until the final vote is17:09 closed, what the count is gonna be. My gut says I do I do think that speaker Johnson is, I I I will be17:20 surprised if it doesn't pass. But if it does, it's gonna be, as I said, 1 or 2 votes, and and I won't be surprised if it doesn't make it.17:31 Well, this is 1 of those I would suspect this vote is gonna be open for a long time as there's gonna be perhaps it doesn't have the the votes, initially, and so they'll just keep it open17:43 and just keep trying to sway people to change their vote in that in that scenario. Now we have just a a less than a minute left. How difficult is a position that speaker Johnson is in17:55 right now? There's rumors that his position could potentially be in jeopardy. Do you believe that's a serious scenario?18:02 I think it's a very serious scenario. And just speaking for my myself, Newt Gingrich said a couple of days ago, I heard him on 1 of the 1 of the networks say18:14 that he thinks that, Mike Johnson has the toughest job in Washington, and it's far more difficult than the speaker's job was when he was speaker.18:24 I agree.18:24 That's absolutely true.18:27 Well, I agree with him. Thank you so much, Mark Tapscott, senior congressional correspondent for the Epoch Times. Always great to have you. Thank you for your insight, and Merry Christmas to you. Alright, friends.18:38 After the break, we'll discuss, mysterious drones. There's a lot happening in that. Sam Faddis, former CIA operations officer, will join me right after the break.Show more In this video 0:06 National Defense and Social Policies4:52 Government Funding and Political Dynamics18:53 Faith, Family, and Freedom38:38 Legal Battles and Cultural Trends
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