Skip to content 6/12/2025 Amid Tensions at Home and in the Middle East, Congress Continues Course Corrections Where Possible Jun 12 · 59 min ...more
6/12/2025 Amid Tensions at Home and in the Middle East, Congress Continues Course Corrections Where Possible
June 12, 2025 · 59 min
Today: Trump’s spending cuts pass the House; low inflation numbers; Middle East tensions rise; the Senate considers the budget and defunding gender mutilation; a Court case could silence Christians.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
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.
June 12, 2025 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Today: Trump’s spending cuts pass the House; low inflation numbers; Middle East tensions rise; the Senate considers the budget and defunding gender mutilation; a Court case could silence Christians. ...more Show the full description Show less Today: Trump’s spending cuts pass the House; low inflation numbers; Middle East tensions rise; the Senate considers the budget and defunding gender mutilation; a Court case could silence Christians.
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In this video 0:00 Global Tensions and Domestic Challenges29:32 Faith, Family, and Legislative Efforts
Global Tensions and Domestic Challenges 0:05 Welcome to the Washington Watch News Desk. I'm Sarah Holliday with today's top stories. Tensions are escalating in the Middle East, raising alarm across the region. The US0:17 announced the evacuation of diplomatic staff and their families from several Middle East nations. The reason? Well, negotiations with Iran over a nuclear agreement0:29 have hit a standstill. President Trump addressed the crisis today warning that a quote massive conflict in the region was possible.0:39 Look, there's a chance of massive conflict. We have a lot of American people in this area and I said, we gotta tell them to get out because something could happen soon. And I don't wanna be the 1 that0:51 didn't give any warning and missiles are flying into their buildings. It's possible. So I had to do it.0:59 Trump confessed. He's much less confident that a deal will be reached. He noted that Iran is, quote, acting much more aggressively in negotiations than it did just days ago.1:11 Adding fuel to the fire, Iranian defense minister Aziz Nazirzadeh threatened to strike US military bases if America or its allies target Iran's nuclear facilities. On1:23 top of that, president Trump said today that an Israeli strike on Iran could happen.1:29 Well, I don't wanna say imminent, but it looks like it's something that could very well happen. Look, it's very simple, not complicated. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Other than that, I want1:41 them to be successful. I want them to be we'll help them be successful. We'll trade with them. We'll do whatever is necessary.
1:48 As the situation in the Middle East teeters on the brink, we'll keep you updated on the story. Meanwhile, not far off, tragedy has struck in Gaza. Hamas has reportedly
2:00 committed another act of terror against innocent civilians. The US backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation reported that Hamash carried out a brutal attack on a bus.
2:12 At least 8 aid workers were killed and others were possibly taken hostage. The aid group strongly condemned the violence calling it a heinous and deliberate attack
2:25 and saying they hold Hamas responsible. They stated our hearts are broken and our thoughts and prayers are with every victim, every family, and every person still unaccounted for.
2:36 And we too join them in praying for the victims' loved ones during this tragic time. Back stateside, law enforcement has made about 400 arrests
2:48 in Los Angeles since the riots began last week. President Trump claims success in suppressing the riots, but alas, they're still raging in the streets. The flames have now
3:00 swept across the rest of the country with riots and protests raging in Washington, Texas, and elsewhere. Seattle has turned into a war zone. Rioters hurled rocks
3:12 and launched fireworks at the officers attempting to restrain the chaos. Questions are now emerging. Who is responsible for these violent outbreaks? Senator Josh Hawley,
3:24 for 1, said that the violence is not spontaneous. Now he's launched an investigation into the Coalition of Humane Immigration Rights, which is 1 of several groups suspected of
3:36 fueling the flames in LA. Perhaps Holly will find answers to who's behind the lawlessness. Now turning to a victory for women's sports, USA Gymnastics is
3:47 reportedly reassessing its transgender rules. Up till now, they've allowed men who identify as women to compete with women. However, USAG was put in the hot seat in recent
3:59 days after the Olympian Simone Biles launched aggressive attacks aimed at Riley Gaines who is a leading advocate for protecting women's sports. Biles faced immense backlash online
4:11 for her comments and so she backed down and issued an apology. Now, USAG is shaking things up, rethinking its trans policies amid legal concerns. The organization used to have
4:23 website resources for trans athletes but those are now gone. Perhaps USAG will be the next domino to fall as it prioritizes fairness in women's sports. And those are today's
4:34 headlines. I'm Sarah Holliday. Up next is Washington Watch with Tony Perkins. We're back tomorrow with more stories that matter.
4:51 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 starts now.
5:09 Look. There's a chance of massive conflict. We have a lot of American people in this area, and I said, we gotta tell them to get out because something could happen soon. And I don't wanna be the 1 that
5:21 didn't give any warning and missiles are flying into their buildings. It's possible. So I had to do it.
5:28 I was president Donald Trump earlier today responding to a question about his warning to Americans to leave parts of the Middle East as nuclear talks between the US and Iran have failed to reach an agreement. Welcome
5:40 to this June twelfth edition of Washington Watch. I'm Tony Perkins. Thanks for tuning in. CBN's Middle East Bureau chief Chris Mitchell will join us from Israel with what could be next for
5:52 Iran.
5:53 We're cutting waste, fraud, and abuse. Billions of dollars going to Canadian Lesbian Justice Foundation and transgender sex worker networks in Nepal and a whole list of things.
6:05 I would say that among the definition of things that we could do to eliminate those programs would be the definition of saving the American taxpayer money.
6:17 That was Florida congressman Brian Mast, who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was speaking on the House floor earlier today in support of a 9400000000.0 dollar
6:28 rescission package aimed at cutting wasteful federal spending. The house nearly passed the first of what Republicans hope will be several such bills by 214 to 2
6:40 12. We'll talk about it with Indiana congresswoman Erin Helchin, who is the secretary of the House Republican Conference. And the house, as the house moves on the spending reductions
6:52 bill, the senate is grappling with advancing the 1 big beautiful bill as several GOP senators wanna put their imprint on it. We're gonna get an update from Texas senator John Cornyn a
7:04 little bit later in the program. Also, we'll break down some of the week's biggest stories with Suzanne Bauty, editorial director of the Washington Stand, and Travis Weber, FRC's vice president for policy and
7:15 government affairs. Before we go to our first guest, just a quick reminder that Washington Watch is a production of the Family Research Council and made possible only through the generous support of patriots like
7:27 you. We receive no government funding and are not underwritten by advertisers. It's all comes from you. So as we approach the
7:35 end of our fiscal year from now until June the thirtieth, you can stand with us both in your prayers and your financial support. In fact, your gift can go twice as far thanks to a
7:46 1500000.0 dollar challenge match. This opportunity is only available for
7:51 a limited time, so don't miss it. To stand with us, just text the word family. Family to 6 7 7 4 2. That's family to 6 7 7 4 2, and stand with us as we stand for you here
8:03 in our nation's capital. Well, as I mentioned, the rescissions package, which aims to cut back specific areas of federal funding, just barely passed the house earlier today by a vote of
8:15 214 to 2 12. Prior to the vote, the package was hotly debated as Republicans and Democrats sparred over the various cuts that would be made. So what can we take away
8:27 from today's vote? Is there enough momentum to get another rescissions bill through? Well, here to talk about that and more, congresswoman Erin Houchin, she serves on the House Budget and
8:38 Rules Committee. She is also secretary of the House Republican Conference. She represents the ninth congressional district of Indiana. Congresswoman Houchin, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so
8:50 much for joining us.
8:52 Thanks for having me, Tony. Great to be with you.
8:54 So, big victory today. I mean, this is, something that the American people have been looking for. This is codifying some of the cuts that were were identified by Doge.
9:04 Yeah. It was really it's incredible, Tony. Every time the media counts us out, says something can't be done, we proved them wrong. We did it again today when we passed this first of what we hope to be many rescissions
9:15 packages across the house floor. Speaker Johnson's leadership continues to, surpass expectations, and getting the job done. A couple of things in this rescissions package that are of note,
9:28 the American people do want to rid waste, fraud, and abuse. It's exactly what Elon Musk and his Doge team found in the the wastefulness of USAID, of NPR and
9:40 PBS. I I noted that you mentioned, that you do not receive any public funds. NPR and PBS, as we know, have received federal funds. I did a quick analysis, in the rules
9:51 committee, just a few nights ago of the coverage of stories, whether they were positive or negative for Donald Trump or Joe Biden, overwhelmingly positive for Joe Biden, of course, overwhelmingly negative for
10:03 Donald Trump. Those are your federal tax dollars going to a, quote unquote news source, that is explicitly biased. Not to mention all of the terrible things as we heard Brian Mast, the chairman of foreign affairs, talk
10:15 about happening with USAID funds, for, funding drag shows and, DEI and, other woke ideology, projects, not just, overseas, but
10:27 in the United States.
10:28 Yeah. Those are the most egregious to me. That was 8300000000.0 of, this package. So the lion's share was USAID funding. This is supposed to be funds that help advance
10:40 America's priorities abroad and help, countries. I mean, it's it's hard to wrap your mind around how promoting drag shows and and and the
10:52 LGBTQ agenda and and even abortion in some cases, how that is advancing American values.
11:00 Well, it's not advancing American values. It's advancing, far left values. It's a you know, if this is happening in countries that that have laws against, some of the
11:12 things that were being promoted by USAID. Originally, USAID was intended to promote democracy, and, this is not something that the American taxpayer wants to be
11:23 spending money on. Certainly not those of of, specific, religious, backgrounds who who don't support their tax dollars going to things like abortion. And so that's it's why
11:35 we have the Hyde Amendment to begin with, to protect those tax dollars from funding abortion against our own conscience. And here we have, had USAID taking these funds and and doing things that
11:47 not only are not supported by a majority of the American people, but actually, in some cases, could it could be illegal or, at a minimum, not supported by people in their in the countries where USAID was operating.
12:00 Very frequently the case. And and I and I think the agenda here that the left has been doing, and they've done it pretty much unchecked, is a little more malicious in that the state department, you know, they talk about
12:11 DC being a swamp. Well, that literally is in the swamp. That pushing this stuff out through our foreign policy is kinda going through the back door. A lot of this
12:23 stuff then goes to the United Nations, and that becomes a cesspool for all these leftist ideas. And then they use that as trying to create leverage for us to change our laws. Oftentimes, you hear
12:35 reference to international law or what Europe might be doing, and a lot of that has been seeded through our own state department and our own dollars.
12:44 That's absolutely right. And it comes back to us. These are things that are pushed in other countries, by our own tax dollars and then turned around and used as examples of what we should be doing here. It's
12:55 really, disturbing. In fact, you know, under president Biden, the treasury was just whatever invoices they got, they paid. There was very little consideration or oversight there. So grateful to
13:07 the DOJ, committee to, look at some of the things that were egregiously wrong, egregiously wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive, and glad that we passed this rescissions package
13:19 today, so that we can begin to restore sanity, and fiscal responsibility within our systems of government.
13:27 So, Erin, you said you were hoping this is, the GOP is hoping this is the first of many. What else can we be looking toward? I know this is it's instigated by the the the White House. The administration sends this to
13:38 Congress. Congress has 45 days to act upon it. But any I'm assuming there's discussion about what might be next?
13:47 Well, there and within every federal agency, Tony, the DOSH committee has found, wastefulness, fraud, and abuse. What we are currently working on and what the speaker has been working on is trying to take those 1 by
13:59 1 and, whatever the Doge, folks found and take them 1 by 1 to substantiate those, see where and how much we can find savings, and then proceed to putting
14:11 those into legislation into a rescissions package. So I can't speak to what's next. I can just tell you that it is rampant in within every agency under the Biden administration. We had ongoing waste, fraud, and
14:22 abuse that was unchecked and untouched, and, we are going to begin to target it 1 by 1, as we substantiate it and can, put an amount to it and pull it back.
14:34 Now, I I mentioned that the debate on this was pretty, pretty intense. I'm I'm just curious. What were the major complaints by your Democratic colleagues
14:46 against the passage of this bill?
14:48 Well, the main thing 1 of the main things we heard was that we were we were defunding Big Bird, when, Sesame Street is now, operated under, I believe, the HBO,
15:00 family. And so it's not it's not really part of public television. There are many ways to get free, educational programs now, that maybe weren't available before. So so, you
15:12 know, the fact that we are cutting, some funding for PBS and cutting some funding for NPR, those were big points of contention. But NPR, make no mistake, is a
15:24 political arm of the Democrat party funded by your tax dollars. So for me, it was a no brainer to fund, to to pat to vote on this rescissions bill, which takes away that funding, for
15:35 people, for, this this news platform that that deliberately write stories that are, anti conservative, anti Republican, and pro progressive, pro Democrat.
15:46 Yeah. Does not take away their platform. It just says we're not gonna pay for it. I mean, it puts everything on a level playing field. As as I said earlier, we we received no government money not looking for them to
15:56 underwrite us, and, and and we shouldn't have to underwrite competing organizations that provide news from an opposite perspective. In other news, Erin, inflation numbers for this
16:08 month were slightly lower than some economists had expected. Many were saying that because of the the difficulty over the tariffs that we were going to see, rising inflation, but that
16:20 was not the case.
16:22 No. Not at all. The consumer price index is up. Inflation is trending in the right direction. The Democrats keep talking about how president Trump has not, curbed inflation, yet.
16:35 But still today, we see that it is trending in the right direction even despite some of the rhetoric that they've tried to push out on, Trump's tariffs. What president Trump is trying to do with the tariff plan is to
16:46 have a freer and fairer trade system for American companies. It is absolutely America first, and this is proof that this is working. It will result in on shoring and and making a
16:58 renaissance, a golden age of a manufacturing and in in in America, in my state, in Indiana. We are trying to turn this country from a consumption country back to a production country with
17:09 president Trump's leadership, and the numbers today really are a great indicator that we are on the right track.
17:16 What, what can we expect ahead in in congress? I mean, this has been couple, pretty significant, weeks, because they're out last week, but we we got the the, reconciliation
17:28 bill over in the senate, the first precision bill. What what's next on the agenda?
17:33 Well, we have to get this 1 big beautiful bill across the finish line and passed. I expect that we will get something back from the senate and have, decisions to make on the house side on on where we stand
17:45 with the bill, to hopefully have all of this wrapped up by July fourth. I can tell you if we don't, pass the 1 big beautiful bill, as we passed it out of the house with a few changes, hopefully, only
17:57 a few changes in the senate. What we don't want to do failure is not an option. We cannot raise taxes on every American. The highest tax increase we will ever see if we had if we don't
18:09 pass this 1 big beautiful bill. Our emphasis is on getting the job done, and we are gonna be hyper focused on that. But we are not, we are not in a vacuum here. We can multitask, which is why you saw us
18:21 pass bills on halting fentanyl this week, on cracking down on the legal immigration. Lots lots to do here in Washington, but we are in for the fight.
18:29 Alright. Congresswoman Erin Halchin, thanks so much for joining us today. Appreciate it.
18:35 Thank you.
18:35 Hey. We're gonna get an update from the senate and see how things are progressing over there a little bit later. John Corner from Texas, senator is gonna be joining us. But next, we're gonna go to Israel, and we're gonna
18:45 talk with Chris Mitchell, so don't go away.
18:51 Hi, everyone. This is pastor Jay Johnston, national prayer director with the Family Research Council. I wanna invite you to join our 21 day family bible challenge as we read through
19:03 the book of Matthew. This is an opportunity for you and for your family to come together for 15 minutes a day to read God's word together. Deuteronomy 6
19:15 says, these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie
19:27 down and when you get up. Seek the word of God. Obey the word of God. Share the word of God so that you and others might know the joy of walking with God now and
19:39 for all eternity. As your family gathers to read the Bible, invite the Holy Spirit to work in your life to spirit truly transform each 1 of you.
19:50 Ask the Lord to show you creative ways for you to connect with your family, to read God's word together. I pray that however God uses this challenge in your
20:02 life and those that you join together with will be a blessing to you and strengthen you as you read the gospel of Matthew together. Visit f r c dot o r g
20:14 slash family bible challenge for more information.
20:21 In a time when Washington seems clouded by compromise, a bold group of lawmakers are standing firm in defense of the values which our nation was built upon. At FRC Action's
20:33 100 percent awards, 171 members of congress were honored for voting 100 percent in line with policies that promote faith, family, and freedom.
20:45 Faith and family made our country it's the foundation that made our country not only great, but good.
20:50 The values that make America, faith, family, hard work, first responsibility. And that to me is the heart of FRC and, grateful for everything that they do.
21:00 It's very important for us to have organizations such as FRC. First of all, I think it keeps us grounded. In addition to which, the issues that you champion are issues that we should all be championing.
21:09 FRC is very, very good at honing in on those things that, really affect Christians' lives. Also, working with members of congress too to make sure that those values are instilled in the legislation that we create.
21:21 Having the Family Research Council to guide us is, critically important to being able to do the right thing consistently.
21:30 These lawmakers have drawn the line, not just in policy, but in principle. This is more than politics. This is conviction in action. Visit f r c action dot org for more
21:42 information on how you too can make a difference.
21:54 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. Alright. We are, into our 21 days of reading through the book of Matthew. It's our 21 day family bible
22:06 challenge. Still time to get into, the the challenge. 21 days, we're just a couple of days into it. So if you'd like to lead your family into the book of Matthew
22:18 and the journey of Jesus, strengthening the spiritual foundation of your family, well, just text Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2. That's Matthew to 6 7 7 4 2. I'll send you a link. You can look at all the resources
22:30 we put together to make this easy for you. We've got discussion guides. We've got family activities. We've got coloring pages for the kids. The main thing is we need more Americans,
22:41 more followers of Christ to be in the word of God, to strengthen us, to give us an understanding of the times in which we live and how to respond to those times. Speaking of that, so the
22:53 reports over the past day suggest that Israel is now considering an attack on Iran. And the threats appear to be serious enough that the US is withdrawing some diplomats and military families from
23:05 Iraq. The US negotiations with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program have slowed to the point where president Trump expressed frustration with the lack of a deal. And the US
23:16 previously asked Israel to refrain from attacking as negotiations continued, but that could be changing. Joining us now from is Chris Mitchell. He's the Middle East Bureau Chief at
23:28 CBN News. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for staying up late and being a part of the program.
23:35 Great to be with you again, Tony.
23:37 Alright. Things are changing. We've been in in weeks, week after week after week of negotiations that have led nowhere, and now appears that, time has run out.
23:50 That's exactly, right, Tony. And it seems like, the patience of the president has run out. His deadlines are are passing. His 2 months deadline as well. Iran seems, entrenched in
24:02 about the ability to, enrich uranium. And, the White House and president Trump are just as adamant that they cannot enrich uranium, which the only purpose for that is the,
24:14 is to a nuclear weapon. Now the IAEA says Iran has maybe enough enriched uranium if they go from 60 to military grade at 90 percent for 10 nuclear bombs. And they
24:25 also voted the IAEA this week that, that Iran is noncompliant for the first time in 20 years. And then Iran says they will build a a nuclear facility in an undisclosed location.
24:37 So all the things we're hearing, Tony, it feels like what what Iran is doing, what the US is doing by pulling out nonessential personnel, reports about Israel being ready to strike all seem to
24:49 indicate that maybe the time for negotiations is over and military action may be right on the verge of happening.
24:57 Chris Mitchell, I was I was talking with senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina who tracks the issue very closely with Iran and Israel. And and he's, you know, he said, look, we didn't listen when Hitler was making all
25:08 the noise, in the 19 thirties. We just, kinda passed him off as a madman. You know, the Iranians repeatedly are are threatening Israel. They're threatening threatening United States. And even this week,
25:20 I mean, I think it was yesterday, stating that they would attack American military sites abroad. Right? And I think too many people in in America just kinda brush that off as crazy
25:32 talk. But how likely is it that we might see them taking action against United States troops abroad?
25:39 I think it's very likely. And, people that's Iran has been saying this ever since 19 79 when the Iranian revolution that when they took over, this country that really and turn it into
25:51 a a a tie tyranny. So the vulnerable part and I think that's where Iran is threatening. It's the US bases, US military infrastructure, embassies, and I think that's why the
26:03 White House took them seriously and why, what's happening. And president Trump said last night, I think, at the Kennedy Center, that it could be a dangerous place, and we wanna get people out of there, out of harm's way
26:14 if necessary. So to your point, you need to take Iran at its word. They wanna destroy, Israel. They wanna destroy the United States. And they've been, working at doing that for many, many
26:26 years.
26:26 Let's go back to last year when they launched their, I guess, about 300, missiles at Israel. Most of them were all intercepted both with Israel's
26:38 own defense system with aid of the United States and some surrounding countries. Did they throw everything they had at Israel at that point? Or do they have more that they can
26:50 bring to the next fight?
26:52 I think they have more ballistic missiles. Apparently, they they can build about 50 per month. But the, what happened last year twice was that they attacked, Israel and both attacks
27:03 failed. So you wonder what more can they do to, to threaten Israel or its neighbors, they're also threatening Israel's neighbors that may, participate in any
27:15 strike against Iran. So, I'm not sure exactly what they have left in their arsenal that could damage, Israel. I was here for both of those attacks. And, you know, miraculously,
27:28 all of them, nearly 99 percent of those projectiles failed. And also in the meantime, when Israel counterattacked, they they were able to destroy most, of Iran's air
27:40 defenses, which makes a nuclear attack against their nuclear sites even more likely.
27:46 Alright. Chris Mitchell, we just have 2 minutes left. I wanna save a little bit of time to talk about how we need to be praying for Israel in this moment. But I wanna go to to an event that occurred, today, and that was
27:57 an attack on, a a bus of humanitarian workers in Gaza by Hamas. I mean, I mean, such a blatant example of Hamas using humanitarian
28:09 aid, weaponizing it, using it against their own people.
28:13 Exactly. What happened a couple of weeks ago was that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was established, and it provides aid free and direct to Gazans. They've, had maybe 20000000
28:24 meals by now and counting distributed to Gazans. What this does is undermine Hamas. Hamas has been stealing the aid and according to the IDF, maybe, made hundreds of millions of dollars
28:36 to fuel and fund their war machine. Now this is a separate it's undermining their grip on the population, on their grip on the money. And so this could be 1 of the death knells for Hamas in the
28:48 near future.
28:49 So they're taking the aid that the international community, the UN, and others are giving, and they're selling it to the people is what they were doing.
28:56 Yeah. They hoard it. They loot it. They sell it back to the people to make money to fuel their, war machine.
29:03 Alright. Chris Mitchell, 30 seconds left. How do we need to be praying right now?
29:08 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Pray for wisdom for the leaders, for prime minister Netanyahu, president Trump, for leaders in the region, and, and that they would, be in 1 accord. There would be an
29:19 agreement, and there would be a way to finally eliminate what has been a Damocles sword over, over Israel, this nuclear threat existential threat from Iran's nuclear
29:31 facilities.Show more
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