Fighting For Faith, Family, Freedom & Israel
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| Gary Bauer |
Fighting For Life - Last night, I attended the Susan B. Anthony List's annual gala. Vice President Mike Pence was the keynote speaker. More than 1,000 people attended, including dozens of congressmen.
I spent the evening speaking with many of them about the pro-life issue, repealing Obamacare and reversing attacks on religious liberty. (More on that later). I also spent significant time with my good friend White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway.
This morning, I went to the Trump Hotel for a meeting of pro-life leaders to discuss the legislative challenges we will face this year, the political challenges we will face in the 2018 elections and priorities for our movement.
Has Planned Parenthood been defunded yet? No. But Vice President Pence made it clear last night that this administration won't give up trying. (See below.) And with Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court -- and the prospect of another conservative justice perhaps this summer -- the entire battlefield is shifting in our favor!
Fighting For Faith - After my morning meeting, I went to the White House and joined other leaders of faith-based ministries for an event marking the National Day of Prayer.
I can't tell you what it felt like after the past eight years to be back in the White House with Jewish, evangelical, Catholic and other church leaders. First, Obama cancelled National Day of Prayer events at the White House. Then he blocked Franklin Graham from speaking at the Pentagon.
But to see this event today -- to hear President Trump's remarks and witness the president calling the Little Sisters of the Poor up to the podium -- was incredibly moving.
President Trump also addressed his newest executive order promoting religious liberty, which takes the first steps toward repealing the Johnson Amendment. As you may know, the Johnson Amendment was introduced by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson (D-TX) as a means of silencing his political opponents in the 1954 election.
President Trump's order restricts the IRS from threatening churches that speak out on biblical truths and their impact on our culture. Legislation from Congress will be required to completely repeal the Johnson Amendment and we are helping to educate conservative candidates so we can get the job done.
Today's executive order also provides additional regulatory relief from Obamacare's contraception mandate, hopefully bringing an end to the government's harassment of faith-based organizations -- a shameful chapter in our nation's history courtesy of Barack Obama's radical pro-abortion policies.
Like previous White House visits, I had many opportunities to speak with key administration figures and leaders in the conservative movement.
Fighting For Freedom - In addition, because of our work helping to elect more conservatives to Congress, the House just passed the American Health Care Act by a vote of 217-to-213. This legislation begins the process of repealing/reforming Obamacare, and enables Congress to start working on tax reform.
Is this an ideal bill? No. We elected a president, not a miracle worker.
Democrats will fall on their sword to protect Obamacare. (Many have over the past few elections.) And there are a handful of RINOs who are not fully committed to repealing this disastrous law. And it is a disaster.
There is news today that Aetna is abandoning Virginia's healthcare exchange. In much of Virginia, there is only one insurer left. And one of the last major insurers just abandoned Iowa's Obamacare exchange, potentially leaving 70,000 people without coverage.
Clearly, we cannot continue with the status quo. Today's bill may not be perfect, but at least it gets us going in the right direction, including defunding Planned Parenthood.
Keep in mind that it took Barack Obama 14 months to pass Obamacare and he had 60 votes in the Senate. Today, there are only 52 Republicans in the Senate. If last year's election had turned out differently, today's vote would not have happened. Government would be getting bigger. The assaults on faith would be intensifying.
Fighting For Israel - After the White House prayer event, I headed to Capitol Hill to meet with key people who want to support our efforts to restore the U.S./Israel alliance. As you can imagine, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in town, there is a lot going on behind the scenes that I can't fully divulge right now.
But I am pleased to report that President Trump called Abbas out for funding terrorism against innocent Israelis, something we have repeatedly encouraged the president to do.
Later this evening, I have been invited to the home of my friend Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, to meet with one of Israel's leading rabbis. I am looking forward to a stimulating night of discussion about the Jerusalem described by the prophet Isaiah and the reality of Jerusalem today, a city surrounded by enemies who want to destroy it.
At all of these events, I am there representing you, defending our shared values. While I am doing all this, our professional staff is doing all the day-to-day work, research and policy analysis, tracking votes, interviewing candidates and monitoring key races.
We can't do this without you! And, please do not forget to join Carol and me in praying for our country on this National Day of Prayer.
As Ronald Reagan said, "If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
I still believe America can be the "shining city upon hill" that our Founding Fathers and President Reagan believed in. We will continue fighting the good fight for faith, family and freedom!
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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families
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