Skip to content 3/13/2025 Peace Negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine War and the Trends of a Christian Worldview Today Mar 14 · 59 min ...more
3/13/2025 Peace Negotiations in the Russia-Ukraine War and the Trends of a Christian Worldview Today
March 14, 2025 · 59 min
Today's episode offers a discussion on the government shutdown fight, peace negotiations for Ukraine, violence across Syria, deregulation efforts at the EPA, and faith and cultural trends for 2025.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video March 14, 2025 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Today's episode offers a discussion on the government shutdown fight, peace negotiations for Ukraine, violence across Syria, deregulation efforts at the EPA, and faith and cultural trends for 2025. ...more Show the full description Show less Today's episode offers a discussion on the government shutdown fight, peace negotiations for Ukraine, violence across Syria, deregulation efforts at the EPA, and faith and cultural trends for 2025.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
94K followers
Family Research Council is serving in the kingdom of God by championing faith, family, & freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview.
94K followers
In this video 0:00 Current Affairs and Political Updates4:33 Government and Policy Discussions18:46 Faith, Worldview, and Cultural Challenges1:39
1:51 Our caucus is unified on a clean April eleventh CR that will keep the government open and give congress time to negotiate bipartisan legislation
2:03 that can pass. We should vote on that. I hope I hope our Republican colleagues will join us to avoid a shutdown on Friday.
2:15 The current CR expires at midnight, so we'll have an answer soon enough. Well, as congress tries to keep the lights on, environmental protection agency secretary Lee Zeldin announced the quote
2:27 largest deregulatory announcement in US history. The plan is to ax dozens of burdensome rules and 65 percent of its staff. The regulation changes range from
2:39 freeing up coal plants to ending electric vehicle mandates. Even so called climate science is under fire.
2:46 To fulfill president Trump's promise to unleash American energy, revitalize our auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to the states.
2:59 To the fury of green groups, Zeldin plans to slash a total of 31 environmentally friendly rules. Many of them are from the Biden administration. Others have been around since Barack Obama.
3:11 Those in opposition argue legal battles are to come, but Zeldin says he's committed to stewarding your tax dollars well.
3:18 I've been told the endangerment finding is considered the holy grail of the climate change religion. For me, the US constitution and the laws of this nation will be strictly
3:30 interpreted and followed. No exceptions. Today, the Green News scam ends as the EPA does its part to usher in the golden age of American success. We at
3:42 EPA will do our part to power the great American comeback.
3:47 Well, while Zelda moves full steam ahead, the ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine is at a standstill. In fact, it's been completely rejected by Russia. After Vladimir Putin paraded it to Kursk
3:59 yesterday in full military dress and told his soldiers to destroy Ukrainian forces, President Trump tried to sell him on a 30 day ceasefire deal. In turn, Putin demanded the US stop
4:11 sending military aid to Ukraine. His hard no landed after Ukraine had already said yes to the deal. For now, the ceasefire is dead in the water since Putin's made it clear he's not backing
4:22 down. Meanwhile, the world watches and the tensions keep simmering. Those are today's headlines. I'm Sarah Holliday. Read more everyday at the Washington stand at Washington stand dot com. Watch this and other news on
Government and Policy Discussions
4:34 the stand for mobile app. Up next is Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, and we'll see you tomorrow with more news.
4:50 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
5:02 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
5:10 It's time for the Democrat leader to acknowledge that it's his decisions that put us here and urge his colleagues to accept the situation and vote to fund the government rather than let it
5:21 shut down at midnight on Friday.
5:25 That was senate majority leader John Thune earlier today. So the question is, will Chuck Schumer shut the government down? Welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. We'll get the latest on the Democrats' game of
5:36 fiscal chicken from, the chairman of the senate budget committee, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham. Also, while rejecting the agreement the US worked out with Ukraine, it appears now that Russia is interested
5:48 in crafting a ceasefire.
5:50 We know where we are with Ukraine, and we are getting good signals outside of Russia as to where we are with Russia. And, hopefully, they'll do the right thing.
6:00 That was president Trump earlier today. Meanwhile, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced what he calls the largest cut in federal regulation in history.
6:11 Today, I'm pleased to make the largest deregulatory announcement in US history. The Environmental Protection Agency is initiating 31 historic actions
6:23 to fulfill president Trump's promise to unleash American energy, revitalize our auto industry, restore the rule of law, and give power back to the states.
6:36 We'll get the details from Nebraska senator Pete Ricketts a little later here on Washington Watch. And, did you see this?
6:43 Would you repeat what you just said when you introduced a duly elected representative from the United States of America. Please.
6:50 I will. The representative from Delaware, mister McBride.
6:54 Mister chairman, you are out of order. Mister chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I I've come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.
7:05 We will continue this
7:06 You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way.
7:12 Well, that was an exchange earlier this week in the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee with, congressman Keith Self referring to the first transgender member of Congress by their biologically
7:24 correct gender. So do pronouns and titles matter? You know, as Christians, should we just be nice and kinda play along, ignore the truth? Doctor George Barna, senior fellow
7:36 at FRC Center for Biblical Worldview will join me to discuss. And let me remind you, the fourth episode of our God in Government series has been released this week. Is America a Christian nation? Find
7:48 out by watching my God in Government course, text course to 6 7 7 4 2. That's course to 6 7 7 4 2, and I'll send you a link. The pressure is
7:59 on for senate Democrats with the America First continuing resolution now in the upper chamber. Democrats are now in a position that they placed Republicans in a number of times during the Biden
8:11 administration. Vote for a bill that they don't they don't like or shut down the government? And here's a question, what would happen if there were a government shutdown? Would that enable more government
8:23 cuts? Joining me now by phone to discuss these questions and more is US senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina. He's the chairman of the senate budget committee, and he serves on 3 other committees, including the
8:34 appropriations committee and the judiciary committee. Senator Graham, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
8:41 Thank you.
8:43 So the reports are the Democrats are starting to feel pressure about, passing the resolution in order to avoid a government shutdown. What's the latest?
8:53 They're full like a cheap suit. There's no way they're ever gonna shut the government down. An idea that the the Democratic Party would shut the federal government down doesn't doesn't pass muster with me. The continuing
9:05 resolution will pass. It will fund the government for the rest of the year, but on the defense side is woefully inadequate. I love Mike Johnson from the house. He's a great guy, but the numbers on defense are below what
9:17 Biden allocated for defense. Now I've been told that they will be supplemented by reconciliation, The, Republican party only bill has a hundred and 50000000000 dollars
9:29 for the the carbon defense, a hundred and 75000000000 dollars for border security. This continuing resolution, keeps the government open, but we're gonna need reconciliation, my budget
9:41 bill, to make sure we continue the deportations, build the wall, have additional beds based to hold people in custody, not release them on the border security front and a hundred and
9:52 50000000000 for the military to time a great threat. So the CRO passed, but it's imperative we do rec sooner rather than later.
10:02 Alright. Well, I wanna talk about reconciliation. I also wanna talk about rescissions, that can be done to, accomplish more cuts. But before we do that, theoretically, if the Democrats
10:14 were to allow the government to shut down, would that not empower the Trump administration to actually accelerate some of the government cuts that they're doing?
10:25 Yeah. I think I think it would. That's the sort of maybe the upside of it. The downside, it puts the military in limbo and Department of Homeland Security in a time of great threat. So I think the best thing for us is
10:36 to is to pass the resolution sent over, by, speaker Johnson and his team and work on reconciliation so we'll have enough money to finish the immigration agenda
10:48 president Trump promised, deporting bad guys and and drug dealers and others, finish the wall, more detention beds, and helping the military with a hundred and 50000000000 dollars. That's my number 1
11:00 priority, just do that, do it
11:02 soon. Okay. So let's talk about, the the way forward. Let's say the continuing resolution does pass. There is another measure. I think you've written about this. I think I saw a piece
11:14 that you wrote regarding rescissions, which is a budgetary measure that would allow the White House to to basically claw back some funding from the previous administration that has
11:26 been allocated but not spent?
11:30 This is so important. Rescission allows us to get Doge. You know, they're doing a really good job. You know, they've made a few mistakes, but overall, it's been really good. All the crazy stuff they
11:41 found that your taxpayer payer dollars are used to support, the way you eliminate that from the government is a rescission package. I'm again the budget chairman. Recission is
11:53 a majority only vote. We don't need 60 votes to have a rescission package. So the White House needs to give us the top 10 or 20,
12:05 examples of wasteful spending that Doge found, send them over to the senate and the house, and within 45 days, we have to act. I want the American people to see
12:17 a couple things. I want them to see that we're going to clean the underbrush and take the garbage out of the budget, And I want them to see that we're gonna rebuild our military and
12:29 secure our border. And the third thing is that we're gonna spend less than Joe Biden. The 1 thing that I'm insistent upon is that we need to make the tax cuts of 20 17
12:40 permanent to keep the economy going, but we got to start spending less than Democrats to run the federal government. What good are we if we can't do that?
12:51 Is it possible to get back to the pre COVID spending levels? I mean, we we saw this artificial infusion. It wasn't artificial. It was real, but it it it
13:03 it fueled an expansion of the federal government with this COVID era funding, and we haven't gone back to those pre COVID levels.
13:13 Well, Ron Johnson, my good friend from Wisconsin, you need to have him on the program because he loves this stuff, and he knows it backward and forward. So in 20 19, we spent 4400000000000.0 dollars to
13:25 run the federal government. Today, we're at 7.3. The country hasn't grown in population. When you account for inflation, from
13:37 20 19 to now, that would be 6500000000000.0. So we need to go back to 20 19 pre COVID spending levels adjusted for inflation, and that's
13:49 what we should be spending, not 7300000000000.0. That's 800000000000 dollars of money that was allocated during COVID, and COVID is behind us in terms of the federal government's massive
14:01 infusion of capital here. So the answer is yes. If we don't go back to spending, before we were before COVID, we made a huge mistake. When your kid is sick or you have an emergency in your
14:13 home, you spend whatever you have to spend, but you don't keep spending that level when the emergency over. Right. So my number 1 goal is to come up with a budget for 20 26 that goes goes back to pre pre,
14:24 COVID levels with inflation.
14:26 In my my conversations with house speaker Mike Johnson on this is he feels that some of the waste, fraud, and abuse being identified by Doge could give that give that make that a
14:38 reality of actually uncovering this and removing it from the federal budget.
14:45 He's dead right. We could I mean, you know, what what Elon in that crowd sound is hundreds of billions of dollars. So there's 2 things. This is a bit wonkish. But rescission allows
14:59 I think we may have, lost the senator. Let's see if we can get him back. But this is a it is important conversation because this is another 1 of the tools that the Republicans have
15:11 that avoid the 60 vote threshold. Alright. I think we've got him back. Alright. Senator, are you there? Yeah. Yeah. Pick right back up where you are.
15:19 Allows you okay. Rescission allows you to cut the discretionary budget without 60 votes. The White House has to initiate it. Reconciliation allows you
15:31 to deal with the mandatory spending, mandatory programs like Medicaid, reforming Medicaid. So those 2 lanes are available to us. We should use
15:42 both lanes to achieve saving, to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.
15:48 And and so to be very clear with our viewers and listeners, that those 2 tools that are part of the budgetary act of, I think, 19 74 allow the government to do this, the the the
15:59 congress, with a simple majority vote in both chambers. So this avoids the 60 vote threshold in the senate. So this is a real possibility. You just have to have all the Republicans together.
16:10 Yeah. It it will be a political malpractice for us not to do it. They passed Obamacare through reconciliation to Democrats. They passed the Inflation Reduction Act through reconciliation to
16:22 Democrats. We've had the house, the senate, and the White House as Republicans 4 times in the last hundred years. You have to have all 3 to do
16:38 Alright. Aviation right now, to cut the government, eliminate, waste, fraud, and abuse and to make the tax cuts permanent without 1 democratic vote, we should take it.
16:51 Alright, senator. I wanna switch gears, on you for just a moment. I I wanna talk foreign policy. That's what you and I usually talk about. Let's turn to Russia and Ukraine. According to the latest reports, Russian
17:02 president Vladimir Putin says he is open to discussing a ceasefire. He rejected the 1 that came, from Ukraine in the that the US helped negotiate, but now he's saying he's open.
17:14 What's your reaction to the news?
17:18 I would be very wary of Trump if I were Putin. So president Trump has been brilliant here. You know, he's pushed Ukraine to the table, and they needed to be pushed to the table.
17:30 I admire Ukraine's willingness to fight. They've been very brave for the last 3 years, but we need to end this war. We needed it honorably and justly. Zelenskyy said yes to a 30 day
17:42 ceasefire. He's ready to sit at the peace table. I've got sanctions against Russia if they refuse to work with president Trump. These are crippling sanctions. There's a tariff component.
17:53 We would put tariffs on countries that bought Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other goods if they walk away from the ceasefire deal and peace negotiations. It would be a tool for president Trump to
18:05 use if Putin did not, engage in negotiations. What president Trump has done in 5 weeks, 7 weeks here is he set in motion the possibility of
18:17 ceasefire and ending this war, and, he he's just so strong, and they've done a brilliant job in the Trump team.
18:25 Alright. I I I've got a couple questions for you on that following up. We're up against a break, so if you can stick with us, I'll I'll put those to you on the other side of the break. Folks, senator Lindsey Graham of
18:35 South Carolina, my guest, we're gonna continue the conversation on foreign policy, talking about Ukraine, Russia, probably getting to weigh in on Syria as well. So that's coming up next here on Washington Watch. Don't goShow more
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.