While the part of President Trump’s agenda that he controls is off to a flying start, the portion of the agenda dependent upon congressional action is still trying to get off the ground. The timing of President Trump’s biggest priority — repealing Obamacare and defunding Planned Parenthood — is now uncertain. The hold-up is over the replace portion of the repeal-and-replace effort. A handful of moderate Republicans are reportedly saying they won’t vote for a repeal unless the replace is included in the same measure. That could prove problematic.

In my discussions […] with House Members on retreat in Philadelphia, the current House replace proposals, which they are trying to shoehorn into the reconciliation measure, may not exclude taxpayer funding of abortion. The reason? The mechanism by which the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act will be repealed — budget reconciliation — which only requires 51 votes in the Senate to pass, has significant limitations. The items included must be related to existing budgetary expenditures, and reconciliation cannot be used to introduce policy language that is not directly related to the budget. Because some members don’t want to repeal Obamacare without the replace included in the same legislative measure, they’ve crafted a replacement that relies in part upon refundable tax credits. While the fiscal approach may be more sound than Obamacare, it would very likely continue the taxpayer funding of abortion. It is unlikely that those refundable credits — which are subsidies by another name — will be restricted so that they do not fund elective abortion with taxpayer money.

As I discussed [yesterday] on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Obamacare’s accounting gimmicks did not prohibit taxpayer money from funding abortion, nor will the Republican’s tax credits unless it is specifically excluded. Republicans should not follow in the footsteps of Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats who hastily cobbled together the original bill that they passed, then read only to find more aliments than cures for our health care system. The wisest and most expedient move may be to simply repeal Obamacare and defund Planned Parenthood using the same reconciliation language that passed the House and Senate, which President Obama vetoed last year.

This could be done in time for President Trump to use his Feb. 28 speech to a joint session of Congress to lay out a well-crafted and thought out replacement plan — like the Republican Study Committee health care bill led by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) and the GOP’s “A Better Way,” which replace Obamacare with health care credits while also removing abortion. The president could then enlist the support of the American people to overcome the threats of Sen. Schumer and the Democrats to kill a market-based, patient-centered healthcare plan.

President Trump in his first week has established a record that is in total alignment with his campaign commitments and promises. The Republican-led Congress should keep those commitments and promises front and center as they move forward in repealing and replacing the failed policy of Obamacare.

Originally published here.

The Ayes of March

The media may try to ignore pro-lifers, but they can’t tune out the president! If the press had any doubts about that, they were dispelled in his first televised interview since taking the oath of office. In a sit-down sure to make the media squirm, President Trump used his new platform to bring up a subject reporters expertly avoid: the annual March for Life.

For years, the March has been one of the biggest events in Washington, but you’d never know it from the coverage. No matter how many hundreds of thousands of Americans descend on the National Mall to peacefully protest the loss of more than 59 million lives to Roe v. Wade, most major networks take every possible step to avoid the powerful display. Last year, Media Research Center’s (MRC) Curtis Houck pointed out that CBS and NBC “dedicated three times more coverage of one Neo-Nazi rally than they did the last four years of the March for Life.”

Already, the 2017 bias is on full display. On the eve of this year’s event, MRC’s Katie Yoder calculates that the networks talked about last Saturday’s Women’s March 129 times more than last year’s pro-life March. Thanks to President Trump, they have no choice but to talk about it now that he’s made it part of the conversation. David Muir tried to steer the questions toward the Women’s March, but his strategy backfired — in a big way.

MUIR: Let me just ask you while we’re standing outside, could you hear the voices from the Women’s March here in Washington? We know there were more than a million people who turned out, and you are their president now too.

TRUMP: No, I couldn’t hear them. The crowds were large, but you will have a large crowd on Friday, too, which is mostly pro-life people. You’re going to have a lot of people coming on Friday. And I will say this, and I didn’t realize this. But I was told. You will have a very large crowd of people. I don’t know as large or larger. Some people said it will be larger. Pro-life people and they say the press doesn’t cover them.

MUIR: I don’t want to compare crowd sizes again. I — I — I —…

TRUMP: No, you should. But let me just tell you. What you do say is that the press doesn’t cover them.

It was the perfect pivot to what has already become a centerpiece of the young administration: the sanctity of life. On the heels of reinstating the Mexico City Policy, this president isn’t just checking items off a list. He’s proving that protecting the unborn will be a central theme of his first term. That commitment will be on display in a powerful way [today], when the Trump team sends the highest ranking official to ever address a March for Life: Vice President Mike Pence. The former governor, who was a fixture behind the microphone as a congressman, will make a return trip in historic fashion. Although Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush spoke to the March by video, no president or vice president has ever attended in person.

That all changes Friday. A new chapter in the pro-life movement will be born when not one, but two top administration officials take the stage in front of the Capitol. Kellyanne Conway, a counselor to the president and longtime friend of FRC, will also be speaking. If anyone had doubts about the sincerity of Trump’s pro-life priorities, they’ve been dispelled — along with any of the abortion industry’s hope that he would back off his promises once in office. As Vice President Pence said at our Values Voter Summit in September, “Let me assure you the Trump-Pence administration will stand for the sanctity of life and defend the unborn from the first day that we take office. I want to live to see the day that we put the sanctity of life back at the center of American law and we send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history.” And thanks to the bold leadership of this new president, they are well on their way to exactly that.

Originally published here.

Atheists’ Lamentations over Bible’s Exodus

Atheists may not believe in God, but they certainly have a healthy fear of Him! What else could explain their obsession with kicking faith out of the public schools? And despite often being on the losing end of these battles, groups like the American Humanist Association don’t know the meaning of the word “quit.” Over Christmas, it picked on a familiar target: a small school district in Missouri that it thought it could bully.

Turns out, Joplin’s middle schools aren’t easily intimidated. After a single parent complained about a morning Bible study in the auditorium, AHA fired off a threatening letter, warning that the district should suspend the club — or else. The events were entirely student-led and funded with private dollars from the community. In other words, the atheists didn’t have a case. And the district knew it. It stopped the breakfast events long enough to investigate, but concluded — as any rational staff would — that nothing about the Bible studies violated the law. Much to the frustration of AHA, the group is set to reconvene next week. Lew Poe, a youth pastor at Wildwood Baptist Church, is just one of the relieved locals. “What the ultimate goal is, and was before, is to lift up student leaders,” he told reporters.

Isabella Lankford, a sixth grader who campaigned to keep the study, is obviously one such leader. “My life pretty much centers around my faith and my relationship with Jesus. I chose Eagles for Christ to meet other students who have the same belief in Jesus as me. This has provided me with richer and more meaningful educational experience… In the future, I would hope it will be as accepted as my running club, drama club, and creative writing club.” Let’s hope more school districts take a page out of Joplin’s book and stand up for the rights of all students — including Christians!

Originally published here.

---

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.