The Daily Signal - Trump Opposes Border Compromise, Snowy March for Life, Congress Kicks Spending Bills Down the Road | Jan. 19

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, January 19th. Here are today's headlines. Starting the show today from the 51st annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. It is snowing outside. It's about 30 degrees, but still, there are tens of thousands of people that have gathered here on the National Mall today to march in support both of mothers and of the unborn. And one of those marchers is joining us now. Andrea Truden is the vice president of communications and marketing for the pro-life and pro-family organization Heartbeat International. Andrea, thank you so much for being with us today.

Starting point is 00:00:54 Oh, thanks, Virginia. It's a joy to be here with all of our lovely friends. Our hundreds of thousands of people who have come to D.C., brave the cold, enjoy the beautiful snow. It's lovely outside and hear great music and just be together. It is huge. How far did you come to be here today? Actually, we just came from Ohio, so not too far. But it is something that we look forward to every single year, and we have great opportunities to meet with our friends from different pro-life organizations, get together, strategize, meet with congressmen, with our pregnancy help organizations, and really just express what we do and how we do it while sharing the good work of life. So, so critical. Now, this is the second March for Life since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Starting point is 00:01:35 Roe v. Wade was overturned. About a year and a half ago, and some people are asking the question, why are you guys still marching? After Roe v. Wade was overturned, what's your answer to that? Well, it's always great to celebrate life. So when we can come together and show that many people value each and every life that exists and come together to really celebrate how far we've come, because I know I've been coming here for years now. Our board chair and former president, Peggy Hartshorn, has been coming since the early days.

Starting point is 00:02:05 And the shift, we were talking about this the other day, the shift in momentum and energy has changed over the years and just following that because it is so important to stand up, be strong, and be that representative example that we are not just alone out there with our pro-life believes. We are a movement. And so it is important to reinforce that each year because while Roe may have been overturned, there's still a lot of change that needs to happen in order to really change culture to embrace life. Well, we've certainly seen that on a state level that we know that obviously Roby Wade gave individuals and states to decide, okay, how do we move forward on the issue of life? And at Heartbeat International, you all are really tackling that of, okay, how do we

Starting point is 00:02:49 protect life? How do we protect women on this issue? Talk a little bit about what y'all's mission is and how you are going about creating that culture of life that we need across America. So we at Heartbeat International, we're in an international association of pro-life pregnancy help organizations. That includes pregnancy resource centers, pregnancy help medical clinics, maternity homes, and nonprofit adoption agencies. We have nearly 3,500 locations around the world in more than 90 countries because even as we were seeing things rev up and the Dobbs decision was coming to the Supreme Court and we were getting all the pieces in play for what does this mean for pregnancy help? The reality is it doesn't change much for pregnancy help organizations. Our mission remains the

Starting point is 00:03:34 same. We are there to provide care and support to women at no cost to provide practical needs and training, parenting classes, material aid, such as diapers and formula, and things that really help support her in her time of need and to strengthen families through that work. So when the Dobbs decision happened, it was a very exciting moment and we celebrated it, but we also knew like, okay, well, our doors are still going to open tomorrow because even if abortion were illegal around the world tomorrow. A woman would still wake up, possibly fearing that she's pregnant, and needing somebody to talk to.

Starting point is 00:04:07 And that's where pregnancy help organizations really come into play. So since the Dobbs decision, while our work hasn't really changed much, even though it's gone to like the abortion discussion has gone to all 50 states now, the mission remains the same to serve women so that no woman feels abortion is their only option. But what we have seen is a much more aggressive attack. first, when the Dobbs decision happened, physical attacks. Organizations were literally getting vandalized and firebombed across the United States. Then we started seeing a political attack where senators, very pro-abortion,

Starting point is 00:04:44 were speaking against pregnancy help organizations, putting out blatant lies saying that they traumatized and tricked women, which is just blatantly wrong and false. And then we started to see states' AGs. putting out consumer alerts against pregnancy centers, which is, again, false. They're very progressive states in which these are happening. And then big tech is censoring them. So we've unfortunately had it to where Google doesn't allow certain pregnancy help organizations to show up on maps at all.

Starting point is 00:05:18 That's been a fight that we've been having ongoing. We manage the abortion pill rescue network. We cannot advertise it. We cannot get it in the hands of women. We cannot do Google ads or anything on Yelp. And then most recently, the California AG in September actually sued Heartbeat International for talking about abortion pill reversal. Just talking about it. We can still provide it to women in need, but they're trying to censor it so that it cannot be discussed or even mentioned on websites.

Starting point is 00:05:50 Well, and some folks might not realize that over 50% of abortions happen with the pill. And so when women take the pill, take that first pill, it's usually a two-pill regiment. When they take the first pill, there's an option that you all provide in order to reverse it if they change their mind and say, I don't want to follow through. So that's critical. So we're certainly going to be watching that fight that you all are taking on between California of saying, no, we have to be able to talk about this. women have to know what their options are, what their resources are. Andrea, for anyone who wants to get involved with Heartbeat International, how can they do that? So if you want to learn more about Heartbeat, Abortion Po Rescue Network, or anything as to do with our pregnancy help organizations and to find your own, you can go to heartbeat international.org.

Starting point is 00:06:37 And one thing that I strive to encourage is pregnancy help organizations exist all over. So if you're not familiar with a pregnancy help center in your location, which thankfully the March for Life is focusing a little bit on pregnancy help now, you can go to optionline.org and type in your zip code, and it'll show you what you have right in your backyard. Amazing. Andrea, we appreciate the work that you're doing. Thanks for being out here in the cold on the 51st annual March for Life. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much, Virginia. It's been a joy. Former President Donald Trump says he opposes an emerging Senate deal on border security, according to the Hill. Republicans in the House and Senate have been trying to reach an agreement on a border bill that would also provide aid money to Israel and Ukraine. But Trump says that the Senate compromise does not include everything needed to secure America's borders. And he's telling Republicans to reject it.

Starting point is 00:07:35 This week, Trump wrote on true social that I don't think we should. do a border deal at all unless we get everything needed to shut down the invasion of millions and millions of people, many from parts unknown, into our once great but soon to be great again country. Senate Republican whip John Thume called Trump's remarks not helpful, according to the hell. Thune says Republicans should take the deal and vote for the Senate bill because it includes policies that Republicans have been trying to get done for years. The central pressure is on House Speaker Mike Johnson, who will have the opportunity to either kill the bill in the House or bring it to the floor for a vote and put his support behind it.

Starting point is 00:08:19 To be continued. Trump's attorneys continue to push back against the legal challenges the former president faces. In multiple states, Trump is facing a fight to keep his name on the primary ballot. In Colorado, the state has already acted to remove his name from that primary ballot. Well, on Thursday, Trump's legal team filed a brief with the Supreme Court arguing that a Colorado Supreme Court ruling to keep him off the ballot would disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump was not eligible to be a presidential candidate because he had violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment bans lawmakers from engaging in insurrections or rebellions against the Constitution. Trump's legal team is asking the court to act quickly, and they argue that the former president never participated in an insurrection.

Starting point is 00:09:15 In their filing with the Supreme Court, Trump's attorneys told the justices, President Trump never participated in or directed any of the illegal conduct that occurred at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In fact, the opposite is true. according to Trump's lawyers. They say President Trump repeatedly called for peace, patriotism, law, and order. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana also led the way in filing another brief with the Supreme Court in support of Trump's name being on the Colorado ballot in 2024. 177 House and Senate Republicans signed on to that brief calling for the High Court to reverse Colorado's ruling. The Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case and will hear oral arguments on February 8th.

Starting point is 00:10:05 The justices will have to make their decision and rule quickly before Colorado's primary election on March 5th. Check out today's show notes for the Daily Signals' full reporting on this case. The House voted yesterday to pass a stopgap spending bill to continue funding the federal government. The bill will keep the federal government fully funded and operational through early March, but 10 Republicans voted against it, including New York Representative Elise Stefonic. Punch Bowl News reports that members of the House Freedom Caucus tried to get House Speaker Mike Johnson to amend the spending bill and add Republican border security bill known as HR2 into it.

Starting point is 00:10:48 But that didn't happen, and the bill passed in the House 314 to 108, and in the Senate it passed 77 to 18. The can has been kicked down the road until March, which gives lawmakers. more time to debate spending levels with Republicans calling for spending cuts. But bear in mind that fiscal year 2024 began on October 1st, 2023. So Congress will be nearly halfway through the fiscal year before they pass a budget for this fiscal year. Well, we're going to leave it there for today, but a quick announcement before we go, we will not have a top news show on Monday because the Daily

Starting point is 00:11:28 Signal team is going to be in an all-day meeting discussing how we can continue to make the daily signal even better and bring you even more content that you love. But we will be back with you with top news on Tuesday afternoon. And of course, we will still have our morning interview edition shows on Monday morning and Tuesday morning. On Monday, our colleague Tyler O'Neill is sitting down with biologist Colin Wright to discuss why he wants to debate the Southern Poverty Law Center on their claims about the LGBTQ agenda. Be sure to catch that conversation Monday morning. Also, this weekend, if you have a little extra time, take a minute to leave the Daily Signal a five-star rating and review.

Starting point is 00:12:06 We love hearing your feedback, and it really means a lot to us to hear from you about what you think about the show. Thanks again for listening. Have an excellent weekend. We'll see you right back here tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop.

Starting point is 00:12:34 To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - Trump Opposes Border Compromise, Snowy March for Life, Congress Kicks Spending Bills Down the Road | Jan. 19

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.