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11/24/2025 As the World Continues with the Usual News Headlines, What Can Congress Expect After Thanksgiving?
November 24, 2025 · 59 min
Today: Obamacare subsidy extensions; proposed Ukrainian peace deals; a court bars a mom from taking daughter to church; stopping the flood of abortion drugs; post-Thanksgiving plans for Congress.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
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November 24, 2025 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Today: Obamacare subsidy extensions; proposed Ukrainian peace deals; a court bars a mom from taking daughter to church; stopping the flood of abortion drugs; post-Thanksgiving plans for Congress. ...more Show the full description Show less Today: Obamacare subsidy extensions; proposed Ukrainian peace deals; a court bars a mom from taking daughter to church; stopping the flood of abortion drugs; post-Thanksgiving plans for Congress.
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In this video 0:00 Global Conflicts and Biblical Perspectives18:30 Religious Freedom and Legal Battles29:40 Israel, Truth, and Policy Challenges
Global Conflicts and Biblical Perspectives 0:00 Hello. I'm Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council and host of Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. Every day, we offer a biblical perspective on the news as well as insightful interviews with elected0:11 leaders, newsmakers, and culture experts. We have a great program planned for you today, but first, get up to speed on the top headlines with Washington Stan's news brief.0:27 Welcome to the Washington Stan news brief. I'm Casey Harper bringing you today's big stories. Israel's deals to end conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon are in jeopardy. Israel launched a strike on the militant0:39 group, Hezbollah's top military official, Haitham Ali Tabatabai, on Sunday. The US had put a 5000000 dollar bounty on Haitom's head. This strike was the first Israeli strike on the0:50 outskirts of the Lebanese capital in months. Local Israeli resident, Natalie Dumitrescu, said she hopes for peace.0:59 When we decided to come here 16 years ago, we knew all along that we'll be here next to our neighbors. And actually, we1:11 are holding the hope that 1 day, the Israeli the Lebanese people will get along with their problems, and we can be friends again.1:22 Hezbollah has attacked Northern Israel for years, firing rockets on residential areas from Southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leadership responded to the strike saying it crossed a red line and added that they would decide1:34 on how to respond. Meanwhile, Israeli Israeli forces also killed 3 Palestinians in Gaza Monday. Israeli officials said 3 alleged terrorists crossed the new yellow line of demarcation and
1:46 approached their troops. Not the first time this has happened. That attack though just underscores how fragile the peace plan to end the war in Gaza really is. Now back in the US,
1:58 the abortion pill is facing another legal challenge. You probably remember that the Food and Drug Administration led by Robert F Kennedy Junior sparked outrage when it approved a generic version of the abortion
2:09 pill earlier this year. This was especially surprising since RFK himself told congress that the Biden administration had manipulated data to make the abortion pill appear safer than it
2:21 actually was.
2:23 And we know that during the Biden administration, they actually, twisted the data, to, to bury 1 of the safety signals with a very high safety signal around 11
2:35 percent. So we're gonna make sure that that doesn't happen anymore. We're producing honest science and gold standard science on that. I'll keep you abreast of of where we are.
2:46 Missouri attorney general Katherine Hannaway said her state, along with Kansas and Idaho, are challenging the FDA September approval of a generic version of the abortion pill. The Republican led states argued that
2:58 the FDA acted improperly when it eased restrictions on mifepristone including by allowing it to be prescribed remotely and dispensed by mail without a doctor's visit, something that was generally required in the first
3:10 administration. Mailed abortion drugs effectively make states pro life laws largely irrelevant. In fact, mifepristone is now used in more than 60 percent of US abortions.
3:23 President Trump could significantly limit the distribution of mifepristone as he did in his first term by putting in place safeguards for women, many of whom have been harmed by the pill. So far, many conservatives are
3:34 wondering why he hasn't done just that. Now for our last story, the AI race is speeding up and taxpayers are funding it. Amazon dot com said on Monday they would invest
3:46 up to 50000000000 dollars to expand AI and supercomputing capabilities. For who? The US government. This huge project, which is expected to break ground next year, would add
3:58 nearly 1.3 gigawatts of artificial intelligence and computing power by building data centers. Now for context, 1 gigawatt of computing power is enough to power about
4:09 750000 US households on average. Now these servers are divided by their secrecy and classification levels and tech companies like OpenAI, Alphabet and Microsoft
4:21 are pouring billions of dollars into developing AI infrastructure themselves, boosting demand for computing power required to support the services. And that is today's news. I'm Casey
4:32 Harper. You can dive deeper at the Washington Stand which is Family Research Council's outlet for news and commentary from a Biblical worldview. And we will be back with the news brief tomorrow.
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. Sitting in for Tony is today's host, Jody Heiss.
5:10 We arrived here today with 1 goal, and the goal was to take, you know, what, you know, is 28 points or 26 points depending on which version as it continue to evolve and try to narrow the ones that were open items. And we
5:22 have achieved that today in a very substantial way.
5:26 That was US secretary of state Marco Rubio yesterday expressing hope for a peace deal to end the war between Ukraine and Russia. Welcome to this November 20 fourth edition of
5:38 Washington Watch. I'm your host, Jody Heiss, filling in this week for Tony Perkins, and so glad to have you on board with us. Alright. Coming up, Secretary of State Marco Rubio
5:51 says progress has been made on a plan to end the war in Ukraine. The Kyiv's request for security guarantees remains unresolved, and concerns over concessions
6:03 to Russia certainly persist. General John Tyker will join me shortly to break down what this peace deal could mean. Plus, Missouri attorney general Catherine
6:15 Hannaway is fighting Biden era FDA rules to let abortion drugs cross state lines even in the pro life states. She'll join us in a little while to discuss her fight to
6:26 stop these dangerous chemical abortion drugs. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says
6:38 a proposed peace plan being discussed between the US and Europe now includes the right elements. Although sensitive issues remain. But after the talks in Geneva, the plan has
6:50 been streamlined, and Zelensky says he'll now discuss the more delicate points directly with president Trump. And joining me now is Washington stand reporter, Casey Harper.
7:02 Casey, this is exciting news. Where's the hope for ending this war in Ukraine actually coming from? And, do you think there really is progress?
7:13 Yeah, Jody. Well, it's an interesting question. It's 1 that those all around the world have been watching closely as Rubio has been there for these peace talks. But the US said it made significant progress on crafting a
7:23 plan to end the war in Ukraine during those talks over the weekend, but no agreement was reached on how Kyiv could get those security guarantees amid concerns naturally about the threat posed by Russia. Now
7:35 US secretary of state Marco Rubio, he led the talks in Geneva with a high level Ukrainian delegation after Kyiv and its allies voiced alarm about a US backed plan because what they saw and others
7:46 saw as major concessions to Russia, and they pressed for changes.
7:51 It is probably the most productive day we have had on this issue, maybe in the entirety of our engagement, but certainly in a very long time, but work remains. And and because this continues to be a working
8:02 process, you know, the the the I don't wanna declare victory or finality here. There's still some work to be done, but we are much further ahead today at this time than we were when we began this morning and
8:14 where we were a week ago for certain.
8:17 Yeah. A lot of work to be done indeed. I think a key sticking points here, Jody, are the questions on the role of NATO and those security guarantees for Ukraine.
8:27 But now encouraging to hear that progress is seemingly really being made. Casey, I know another story that you've been following is a potential announcement from president Trump regarding
8:39 extending Obamacare subsidies for up to, 2 years. What are you hearing about that? What can you share with us?
8:47 Yeah, Jody. So the White House is expected, reportedly, to announce a plan to extend ACA premium subsidies for 2 more years. Years. There's been reporting on this, and there's also reporting that they may be backing off
8:58 of it because of pushback from Republicans, but there's a plan in the mix that could be coming out any moment. So as you know, Americans are facing steep Obamacare premium hikes at the end of this year. And with all
9:09 stuff being done, millions are set for major cost increases, which kinda proves the point of the critics have been making that the there's instability in these ACA marketplaces if they need these big cash infusions.
9:21 So what about this plan? Well, the plan reportedly includes new limits such as income cap and required minimum monthly payments, which are changes that conservatives have been arguing for, though it's unlikely that
9:32 they'll actually vote for, any ACA subsidies. Now health insurers saw their stocks rise after the announcement even as questions remain on whether the Obamacare structure is driving premiums higher year after
9:44 year. Republicans, they say Democrats were willing to let the government shutdown stretch for 43 days over this very issue. And And now the question is, is this gonna spark another shutdown in January
9:56 when, as you know, Jody, congress has to pass another government funding plan?
10:02 Wow. Yes. So much more ahead yet to go in that battle. Casey, let me let me get your your thoughts on this 1. A judge ruled today in the case, involving former
10:14 FBI director James Comey. I thought it was very interesting. What was that decision?
10:19 Yeah. That's right, Joey. So we're talking about a procedural ruling here, but a very big 1. So a federal judge has thrown out the criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey and New York AG Leticia James,
10:30 who famously went after president Trump. Now this ruling, that found that the the appointed attorney to this case was unlawfully installed by the president. Who was that? Well, it was Lindsey Halligan,
10:42 a former personal lawyer to president Trump with no prosecutorial experience, and and she was made the interim US attorney in September for the purpose of leading these investigations. But now this judge is pointing to
10:54 that very fact as the reason for dismissing it. So today's decision to deliver it's a major setback for the DOJ's efforts to go after these high profile critics of president Trump, which are cases the president has
11:06 publicly pushed for. But the White House says it's not over. The DOJ will appeal. So it's definitely something to keep an eye on, Jody.
11:14 Yep. And we certainly will be keeping an eye on it. Well, Casey, thank you so much. I know this is the week of Thanksgiving. Before I let you go, any Thanksgiving news out there for you?
11:25 Yeah, Jody. I know sometimes I'm the Debbie Downer here with the news, but some holiday news. The White House kicked off the Christmas season today. First lady Melania Trump, she received the official Christmas tree of
11:36 fur from Sydney, Michigan, and she's celebrating, of course, the birth of Jesus Christ in this holiday season. White House tours are gonna resume December second after the renovations to the east wing, including that
11:48 kind of controversial new ballroom. But the president and first lady are gonna mark the Thanksgiving traditions this week, and president Trump is supposed to pardon 2 turkeys on Tuesday in this season of faith, family,
12:00 and gratitude. But, Jody, those initial reports that the turkeys were going to be deported, I can confirm that's not true.
12:08 Alright. Well, it looks like a beautiful tree. I'll tell you, I always love that time of year watching the the tree, they're being lit up is just spectacular year after year. Casey, thank you so much for the updates. We
12:20 appreciate it. Alright. I wanna go back now to the latest developments on the Russia Ukraine war, and joining me now to discuss this is retired Brigadier General John Tigert. He's a former
12:32 assistant deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs. General Tigert, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always an honor to have you, sir.
12:42 Jody, the honor is all mine. Thanks for having me.
12:45 Alright. Well, first of all, let's, how about an update on how the fighting between Russia and Ukraine has been going here lately?
12:54 Jody, I think we've seen in the last 2 years essentially a stalemate. Russia has been taking some territory, but something like 1 percent of its overall
13:06 gains only in the last 2 years, which mean that there has been a lot of bloodshed for very little gain. And while maybe in Putin's mind, he's winning, the fact of the matter is he is
13:17 nowhere close to his maximalist aims that he envisioned almost 4 years ago when he attacked Ukraine.
13:24 Yeah. It really is stunning to see, how I think a stalemate is a good way of describing it. So so let's start moving towards the the talks. What do you make of what's been coming out at least
13:36 of I I I don't know if you call these hastily arranged talks or not, but the talks in Geneva, what do you make of what you're hearing coming out of these talks?
13:46 Jody, what we've been hearing today and yesterday is far better than what we're hearing with respect to the 28 point plan later last week, that it doesn't seem anymore like these
13:58 are Putin's talking points, that it does sound more like this is a way true way forward to see success for the end of the war, but also for US and
14:10 Ukrainian and European objectives. And I'm really happy that that team in Geneva over the weekend took a look at every point and every word in that initial 28 point plan and made
14:21 sure that they changed it to make it relevant to US interests and to Ukrainian interests as well. Always keeping in mind that it was Russia that started this war, that it's
14:33 Russia that has sustained this war, and the only 1 that can make it stop is Putin. And we've gotta make it sufficiently painful for him so that he stops the war that's been going on for the last 4 years.
14:44 Yeah. Very well said. And I know there are a lot of concern over the original 28 plant point plan or 26 or whatever it was, but the the 1 that was leaked evidently no longer exist.
14:57 As you described, that was something there's really nothing other than talking points for for Vladimir Putin. Do we know how this new 19 point framework
15:09 or whatever the 1, that Europe seems to be countering, how how is this looking? Are we getting wind of what this looks like? Is this, as you seem to believe,
15:21 really more in line with an actual peace agreement?
15:25 Jody, I think there's 2 points that they considered heavily yesterday. The first 1 is that this is always gonna be a trade off between 3 primary factors, economy, geography, and
15:37 security. And I think those trade offs are all reasonable, but I think this deal hinges on security guarantees. That we've got to assume that Russia's Russia and Putin, specifically, are gonna lie and are gonna cheat.
15:48 And unless we have further phase of this conflict
16:00 down the road. And what I've been hearing about this abbreviated plan is that it's a lot heftier on US and European security guarantees. Again, the hedge against the likelihood that Putin's gonna
16:12 lie and Putin's gonna cheat going forward.
16:15 Well, so are all back to, shall we say, trust but verify. We've heard that kind of thing before, but something similar, to take place now. A a Kremlin of official reportedly
16:27 said the European counter, the 1 that we're talking about now does not work for Russia. So are we kinda getting back to where we started, or is there real headway
16:39 in these negotiations? Do you think in other words, is he just blowing smoke, or do you think we may really be going back to the drawing board?
16:48 Jody, I don't even think that the 28 point plan was gonna be sufficient for Putin because he really has this envisioning in his mind of taking over the totality of
17:00 Ukraine. And so I don't even think that was gonna work. I think going forward that this newly crafted plan does 2 things. Number 1, it puts the ball back in Putin's court to
17:11 demonstrate that he never has been negotiating in good faith to begin with. And then number 2, I think it gives time for these recently implemented sanctions to start taking hold.
17:24 I actually think that the strictness of those sanctions from a couple of weeks ago that impact up to 50 percent of the revenue that comes into the Kremlin is the best way to up the ante
17:36 of pain for Putin so he realizes that the costs and risks are not worth continuing this war. And I think the longer we give those sanctions a chance to work and demonstrate that he's never
17:47 been interested in negotiating in good faith, then it gives us a chance to, again, remind ourselves that the reason we're in this mess is because of Putin, and we must up the cost and the risks so that
17:59 he realizes it is in his best interest to stop this conflict.
18:04 Well, I tell you, general Teichart, we always love having you on. Your ability to break this down and and give a good perspective is always appreciated. Thank you so much, general John Teichart, for joining us today on
18:16 Washington Watch.
18:18 Jody, I'm grateful for you and Tony and FRC. Thank you very much.
18:23 Alright. Happy Thanksgiving to you. Our friends coming up, we have a single mom in the state of Maine that has catch this, she has been barred from taking her 12 year
Religious Freedom and Legal Battles
18:35 old daughter to church. Her case is gonna be heard before the Maine Supreme Court tomorrow. Matt Staver from Liberty Council will be joining me next to unpack of
18:47 all of this. So don't go away. You wanna hear this. We'll be back.
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21:55 Good afternoon. Hope you're having a great day. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I'm Jody Heise filling in today for Tony, and thank you for tuning in. Alright. Tomorrow, the Maine Supreme Court
22:06 will be hearing oral arguments in the case of a single mom who has been barred by a custody order from taking her 12 year old daughter to church or
22:18 religious organizations. According to the custody order, the father took issue with his daughter attending Calvary Chapel Church in Portland because it
22:30 teaches the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter. So he hired a sociology professor who testified in court that it was evident that the
22:41 church posed a potential for psychological harm to the girl. Wow. Absolutely incredible. So what's at stake at
22:53 this case? Not not just for the mother and the daughter, but more broadly. Well, joining me now to discuss this is Matt Staver. He's the founder and chairman of Liberty Council, which will argue in
23:05 behalf of the mother tomorrow. Matt, welcome back to Washington Watch.
23:09 Thank you, Jody. I wish that your description was an exaggeration, but sadly, it's not. It's actually even worse.
23:17 Yeah. That's
23:18 Fucking thing.
23:19 That's what I wanted to say. Did I miss something here, or is this for real? I it's unbelievable.
23:24 For real. It's for real. We weren't the trial attorneys, but we are the appellate attorneys. And we don't get involved in a lot of domestic custody type of cases unless they have a real significant religious freedom
23:36 component. And this 1 certainly does. It jumps off the page. So this particular mother, Emily Bickford, she had Ava out of wedlock with Matthew Bradine over
23:48 12 years ago and Ava now is 12. In January, she'll be 13. And so from the time that she was born until now, Ava has been in the primary custody
24:00 of her mom, Emily, and Matthew has had visitation rights. But so Emily and Ava start attending Calvary Chapel Church in Portland in May of 20 21. And then Ava, as an 11 year
24:11 old, wants to get baptized. Well that sends, Matthew Burdine ballistic. So he runs to court, finds the sympathetic judge, brings this, as you said, the so called individual from,
24:24 California, a former sociology professor who
24:27 testifies
24:28 that churches that teach the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, that believe in heaven, hell, angels, demons, salvation, and the second coming of Jesus, that
24:39 those are cultic and they follow a Moses model when you have an authoritative right and wrong position based upon the Bible. That's the Moses model. But, you know, we thought
24:51 Moses was a great leader, but she turned it into a bad example. And so the judge bought that, and then in the order, Jodi, I've never seen this, every time the judge in this order
25:03 mentions God, it's lowercase. Now everyone knows what that means. Instead of having an upper case g o d, God, that signifies a significant
25:15 supreme being, she lowercased it mocking the monotheistic religion and faith of Emily and Ava because lowercase god means multiple gods, it means
25:27 polytheism. So she not only did that, she also says by the way that there's no evidence of harm to Ava from being introduced to anything associated with the Bible. But these
25:39 kinds of teachings about heaven and hell, right and wrong, demons and angels, the second coming and so forth, and having salvation only through Jesus Christ and teaching the Bible,
25:51 those kind of teachings, even though there's no evidence of harm, they have the potential to cause psychological harm. So she removed all decision making from the mom and put it into this atheist and since
26:03 December of 20 24, Emily has not been able to take her daughter to any church, religious event, Christmas event, Easter event. Hasn't been able to have bible studies with her.
26:15 Nothing. She couldn't go to a funeral. She couldn't go to a wedding. She cannot associate with any person with Calvary Chapel of Portland that she's had friends
26:27 for almost 4 years. She had to completely cut them off based on this court order and it doesn't just apply to Calvary Chapel, it applies also to reading the Bible, having any exposure to religious
26:39 literature, videos, or religious philosophy, whatever that is. This is unbelievably broad and unconstitutional.
26:46 Yeah. I was gonna say, I mean, this is a massive overreach, is it not?
26:52 Yeah. Absolutely. You know, it's So
26:54 so what are the implications of this? What what are the broader implications of this order, man? I mean, I know it's specific to this family, but what what potentially could go beyond this?
27:06 Well, we're at the Maine Supreme Court now, so it affects the entire state of Maine. And then in other states, other states rely upon other state Supreme Courts for precedent. And so this will set precedent not only for
27:18 Maine but for other courts as well. If this is upheld, what this does to parents who are Christians is allow someone to have a total absolute veto that's
27:29 not reviewable by anyone. Just an absolute veto over anything regarding Christianity. Church, bible, events, you name it. Friends, all of that
27:41 combined. That's why it's so significantly important. It's unbelievable that it's actually in print, but it is. And now it's at the Wayne Supreme Court. So continue to pray for Emily Bickford and her daughter, Ava,
27:53 and also, you know, even for Matthew that he has a change of heart. But the implications of this, Jody, are far beyond just this case. It affects people all over the country.
28:04 So what needs to happen here, and what do you anticipate is going to happen?
28:10 Well, there'll be 6 justices on the main Supreme Court, and we need to obviously get a majority of those to win this case. But we actually are raising the first amendment under the United States Constitution. So if the
28:21 main Supreme Court doesn't go the right way, we still have the US Supreme Court as a backup. However, as you know, it's hard to get cases before the Supreme Court. They only take about 1 percent. So really, this is the
28:32 ultimate battle. So pray for Emily Bickford and her daughter, Ava, that we have a resounding victory.
28:39 Alright. The fact that the the judge used a little g for god here, would this also apply not just to Christianity but any kind of religious teaching from, any any
28:51 position, that may be deemed religious.
28:54 Yeah. In fact, you know, we've actually made this argument that it's insulting to to all different religions that are monotheistic, particularly, you know, Christianity and Judaism. And to even use the phrase model
29:06 as though it's a bad thing. It's really an insult to against Christianity and and our Judeo Christian faith.
29:14 Absolutely. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. We will be following this. Thank you, Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Council. Always great to have you. Thank you for this. And god speed. God be with you and all
29:25 tomorrow as you deal with the Maine Supreme Court. Thank you for joining us today.
29:30 Thank you, Jerry. My pleasure.
29:32 Alright. Coming up, there's a new legal effort to stop the trafficking of dangerous abortion drugs across state lines. More legal battles all over the place. Missouri attorney generalShow more
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