House Moves to Force Taxpayer Funded Abortion

This is Logan Sekulow.

Today we're talking about what's happening in Cuba and also that the house has moved to force taxpayer funded abortions. Live from Washington DC, Sekulow Live. Phone lines are open for your questions right now.

Call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow.

This is Logan Sekulow. Thanks for joining me, sitting in for my dad and my brother. We're going to talk about a few topics today. We're going to talk in a little bit with Rick Grenell about what's going on in Cuba and his new blog that's available on ACLJ.org right now where you can find out more information about that.

I know it's a confusing time for a lot of people as we see people in the streets across our nation as well as in Cuba supporting the freedom for the Cuban people and for Cuba in general. So we're going to talk about that. Learn a little bit today. That's what I want you to do is to listen to this show. I'm going to learn.

We're all going to learn together. Also what's been going on for the last couple of weeks in terms of at the house, there has been a major movement and fan did this and we have videos coming up on the Hyde Amendment, which a lot of you have heard. You may have heard about during the election cycle because it was something famously that Joe Biden, President Biden supported for decades.

And then as of last year when it became election time, things started changing. Of course, the Hyde Amendment, if you don't know, to give people sort of a big picture understanding what it does is it eliminates taxpayer funding going to abortion services, which I know look, this is a topic we have to discuss and we have to be sensitive to it. It's not something to just jump in on and say, this is ridiculous, but look at your money as a taxpayer and what's happening is for the first time since 1976, there will be potential. It looks like the house is moving. I mean, then you can probably speak to it. The house is moving to try to strip away the Hyde Amendment, which again protects taxpayer funded, uh, elective abortions, not life of the mother, not any sort of medical reason, but for nonmedical elective reasons.

Yeah. For the first time since 1976, as you mentioned, Logan, and you know, I would start by saying this, this is an issue that pro-life pro-choice Republican Democrat and independent American voters, they pretty much agree on this slogan and overwhelming majority, even on the pro-choice side, if they don't think that their taxpayer dollars should be used to fund abortions in the United States of America. But you're right. President Biden flip-flopped on the campaign trail after decades of being in favor of the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits that direct funding. He flip-flopped and last week in the house of representatives, Logan, uh, the house appropriations committee essentially followed his cue. They have moved out an appropriation bill that would strip that protection from the bill. It's still got to go to the floor of the house of representatives, still got to go to the floor of the United States Senate. And at least some, including Tom Cole, Congressman Tom Cole says that he doesn't think it can pass the United States Senate. But here, here's what I think people have to understand. Logan, we've gotten to a place where we've gotten so radical in Washington DC on the abortion issue that even a consensus issue like this one with the American people, not good enough for the pro-choice pro abortion crowd in Washington DC, they are moving to repeal that protection. It's absolutely ridiculous and very sad.

It's a very sad time. Look for a lot of people who have been on the front lines of pro-life activism for the last 30 plus years to see these types of things when movement was happening, progression had been happening for the last many years as technology has evolved. And we've always said that we hope technology would eventually show and kind of debunk a lot of the myths on life. But instead it seems to have been just replaced with, it doesn't matter what the technology says.

It doesn't matter what the science says. This has nothing to do with that anymore. This just has to have, it has to be protect, you know, abortions at all costs.

Not, not as much as just protect, but you, the person who may be against it personally, privately, you know, maybe not something you're talking about on social media. You're the one who's still gonna have to pay for it when right now that's not the case and it hasn't been since 1976. So we're going to discuss that. We have a great video coming up. If you're watching on social media, I think you're going to see a shortened version of it in the break.

And then when you're watching later on in the segment, we're going to play the full length version. And there's a blog, great available blog right now on aclj.org that kind of gives you a breakdown about this. We are currently in a matching challenge and this is the kind of work that we do at the ACLJ. This is the core work and we could use your support at aclj.org. Make your donation right now.

$10 becomes $20.20 becomes 40 because someone on the other end is matching your donation. We appreciate it. We'll be right back with more on secular. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, the Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life.

Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Secular. We are talking about the current move in the House to remove the Hyde Amendment, a piece that has been in place for at this point, going on close to 50 years, 45 ish years. This has been an existence that essentially stopped taxpayer funded abortions. Look, we know it's a sensitive topic. We know it's a topic that maybe doesn't even get served very much on your social media accounts.

You may be going, Hey, I didn't see this show till later. Well, there are reasons because this is a very sensitive topic. We understand it.

I don't want to joke around about that or delegitimize this conversation. But what I do have to say is when there are moments where your money is going to something you very much oppose, maybe you believe is more extreme than some other pieces of legislation. This is where the ACLJ steps in. We have, as Will told me during the break, we have a petition right now available. It's available on ACLJ.org right now. That's right.

And if you're watching on social media, we're going to pin that to the chat portion of the video as well. So you can sign it there. But the, the petition is very simple. It says stop Biden and the left from forcing us to pay for abortions.

And it has this line in it that President Biden, Planned Parenthood and the radical pro-abortion left are trying to eviscerate the pro-life Hyde Amendment that has barred your taxpayer dollars from directly funding abortions for the last 45 years. We have 136,000 signatures, over 136,000 signatures on this petition. Now it's part of what Thanh does every day in Washington, DC is use these petitions to go to members of Congress, show where the people are on these issues.

And so it's a really important thing for you to sign because it helps our work on the Hill. Thanh, I want to play this video here in just a moment, but I did want to encourage everyone. If you are watching on Facebook or watching on YouTube or Twitter or however you get this Instagram, I would encourage you to share this because that's how videos like this, shows like this become more widely available. Because when you talk about these hot button topics, sometimes they don't get as much traction, if you will, on social media without you interacting.

So what I would encourage you to do is obviously comment, re-read your comments. We're going to take some of them on the air probably, but here's what you need to do. Share it if you're on Facebook and if you're on Twitter, retweet it. And if you're on YouTube, you have to hit that thumbs up that's right under the title and subscribe.

Those are great ways to make sure it gets in other people's feeds. So this kind of news happens because what happens is there's so many crises and chaos. Sometimes Thanh important pieces that are happening in the world get swept under the rug because there's more salacious stories that will get covered on the news media.

Yeah, they get lost Logan. I mean, especially I think a technical legislative provision like this one that moves through the appropriation process, it sounds very confusing. What we try to do Logan is explain it to our members, get them to sign the petition, and then we will use those with members of Congress. In fact, let me tell you exactly how this particular petition is going to be used. I referenced in the last segment of the broadcast that Tom Cole said that everyone in the room knows that this bill will never pass the United States Senate without the Hyde Amendment. Well, Logan, we don't want to take that as a foregone conclusion.

We've seen moves in the legislative debate happen quickly before. So what we're going to do is we're going to take these 136,000 names plus any who join going forward, we're going to break them down by state, and then we're going to make sure that the United States Senate, every single office, Logan, who will have a vote on this when the appropriations bill moves to that side of the United States Capitol, we're going to let them know how many voters in their state want to maintain the Hyde Amendment provision. And I would just say one of the things we'll stress with them, Logan, these will not be all pro-life Americans.

Certainly that voice is very, very important. But even on the pro-abortion side, many people think that forcing taxpayer dollars to fund abortions directly is a step too far. And quite frankly, when we can find consensus in this country, they're fewer and farther between.

But when we can find them, Logan, we should take them and we should let the American people's voice be the one that carries. So to put this in context, Stan talks about how there are people on both sides of the aisle that support this idea that the taxpayer shouldn't be forced to pay for abortion. But the left wing of the Democrat Party has made this their cornerstone of their party now.

And so a member of the squad, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, she tweeted this last week about this very topic. Abortion care is healthcare and healthcare is a fundamental human right. We are now closer than ever to passing federal budgets that eliminate the racist Hyde Amendment and affirm the dignity of all people.

I mean, there's a lot you can unpack there. But one, it is saying the affirming the dignity of all people, you're taking the abortion conversation and just completely washing away the dignity of the unborn child. What I can say is they have done a terrific job at PR in the sense of taking a topic that was at least sensitive to a lot of people and flipping it completely to where now, if you're on one side, you're the enemy.

If you're on the other side, you're the enemy. And it's, it gets, like you said, like they just put that tweet out. That's not something you would have heard years ago or even maybe, maybe a year ago or two years ago. Look, one of my neighbors has a pro-abortion sign in their yard. They may be listening. Okay. It's a little weird.

Like I'm not saying that like, I'm not out there. I don't even have a pro life side of my, I don't have political statements in my yard, but all year long, they have a display that is a pro-choice flag, essentially, that's in their yard. And it's like, wow, this issue has changed so radically over the last few years.

I do want to get to the video, make sure we have time to play it, but yeah. But yeah, during the Clinton administration, who we did not agree with on the issue of abortion rights or pro-life rights as we, as we advocate for, but they at least said safe, legal, and rare. They wanted it to be rare. Now members of the squad are saying abortion care is a fundamental human right. So it's like you're saying they have moved it way beyond this is a sensitive topic. And you know, in there's people on both sides. Now it is a war that if you're against even taxpayer funding of abortion, as she is pointing out here, then you are against a fundamental human right.

So it's taken it to a much further extreme than it ever has. All right, I'm going to play this video. This is done by our excellent team here, the digital team and video team, and everyone who put this piece together here in our media center. Take a look at this. If you watched during the break, if you were watching on social media, you may have seen a shorter version. Here's a little bit of a longer version at the end of it.

I'm going to come back in about two and a half minutes. I'm going to tell you how you can get involved. Take a look. Our God-given freedoms are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Protecting life is not and should not be a partisan issue. That culture and value of life is under attack. Abortion is not healthcare.

It is murder. The Hyde Amendment has been a part of federal law since 1976, when it was first passed as part of the annual appropriations process. Very simply put, the Hyde Amendment is a prohibition on U.S. taxpayer dollars used to fund abortions directly in the United States. This Congress must take back its congressional responsibility and craft spending bills which protect the lives of the unborn. Every life is blessed with inherent worth, infinite potential, and sacred dignity. Imagine a world where every child was given the opportunity to dream, accomplish, and succeed.

The world would be a much better place, our future brighter than ever. The majority of Americans agree that taxpayer dollars should never be used to fund abortions. To represent the values of all Americans, Congress must respect their rights of conscience and not disregard them. The Biden administration has now proposed repealing the Hyde Amendment for good. That is why members of Congress are going down to the floor of the House in defense of the Hyde Amendment and actually calling for it to be made a part of permanent U.S. federal law. No one should be forced to financially support the abortion industry. We must put faith and family back in the center of our lives and promote policies that support our innocent unborn.

Every President since Carter has signed the Hyde Amendment into law. Madam Speaker, the question before us today is a simple and straightforward moral issue. There is no more vulnerable person than a child in the womb. Do they not deserve our care and our protection? It is a critical, life-saving protection that goes beyond party-line politics. It is about human life and protecting the most innocent among us. Biden administration has now proposed repealing the Hyde Amendment for good. That is why members of Congress are going down to the floor of the House for 18 consecutive days in defense of the Hyde Amendment and actually calling for it to be made a part of permanent U.S. federal law. We think that is the right move, and we are asking you to stand with us in defense of the Hyde Amendment.

All right, so that gives you an understanding of what has happened the last couple of weeks. Now I want to tell you how you can get involved, and Thanh, I am going to pitch to you for a second and tell people how important it is because some people may be new to the organization. They may even listen to this radio show or TV show and however you get it, social media for the last six months and last year, maybe they have seen a lot of political content. Yes, sure, this is political in nature, but this is the real bread and butter work that the ACLJ does and has been doing for the last 30 years. Yeah, and Logan, there are a lot of voices in Washington, D.C.

I really think the one that sets us apart is the fact that when we go into a congressional office, we bring both the legal analysis and the voice of the American people. So we are not just asking you to sign a petition so that we can say there is a big number that has signed this petition. No, we are going to take those names, Logan, into the offices of the people, the federal officials that those signers actually elected, and we are going to say this is what your voters, your constituents want us to do.

It lends a lot of force to that argument, Logan. And we can only do that with the support of all of you who are watching and listening right now. So you can sign that petition.

You can also make a donation because it is a matching challenge right now, which means if you give $10, there is someone on the other end who is going to match that $10 for the rest of the month. So make sure you go to ACLJ.org, sign the petition, read the great blogs that are out right now by Dan, by members of our team, by our guest coming up and a member of our team, Rick Grenell. We are going to be talking about Cuba because we talk a lot about human rights in general.

We are going to do that when we get back. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that is exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We have created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It is called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we are fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we are engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there is an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family.

Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Sekulow. We're excited to have our frequent contributor to this show and senior advisor at the ACLJ for national security and foreign policy, Rick Grenell.

Rick, thanks for joining us. You have a new blog that's up on ACLJ.org specifically talking about what's going on in Cuba. And I think there is a lot of misunderstanding. There's a lot of confusion of what's happening in Cuba and how that relates to what's happening even in the streets of America. As we saw over the weekend, there were protests and demonstrations, I guess more would you say, throughout the streets of America with people supporting the freedom of Cuba. We saw a protest in front of the White House where they were flying Cuban flags, American flags, Trump flags.

It was an interesting display to see. And I think for people to take a look at what's happening, because I think they see the Biden administration and there may be a little confused. We've talked about this show, about human rights in general, including all of our pro-life work that we're doing right now. Well, I think that also relates to things like this and what's happening in Cuba and that it doesn't seem like our support is as strong as it should be for the people when we've all known for decades that it's been a rough situation there. It's such a good point, Logan.

It's great to be with you today. Look, I think that something has happened over the last couple of days. And when you talk about our reaction hasn't been as good as it should have been, it really means that the U.S. government's reaction hasn't been very good, because I've noticed something different when it comes to the people of the United States in that the issue of Cuba freedom, anti-fascism, anti-socialism has just become an issue for all of America, not just South Florida.

And from my lifetime, I've really seen this change. Usually when something happens in Cuba where the communist government cracks down on its people, this is largely a Miami issue, South Florida, maybe Florida, Florida politics. But what we've seen, as you rightly pointed out, is protests at the White House in our major cities across America. And I think the reason is that people are feeling like they're seeing the signs that the government, the media, big tech here in the United States are beginning to collude against them. And that feels like early warning signs of socialism and fascism. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that is a concern for everyone and for a lot of people. This is, like you said, this isn't necessarily even a right or left situation. Now, obviously, for some reason, it does seem that way from a government point of view, from a political point of view, Will, that the discussion seems to be, again, as everything has to be, it seems like right now, a party line. And I watched videos of college campuses with kids trying to explain why they were asking, why is there American flag flying in the Cuba protests and they're saying things like, well, they just don't know any better of the atrocities that that flag stands for and we all know the best. There are people who just don't get it, but you're right. I mean, there are these demonstrations happening, not just like in South Florida. My friend was in one in Charlotte, North Carolina.

This is happening everywhere. Well, and one question I had for you, Rick, was the far left of the Democrat Party has been able to affect the policy of the Biden administration very effectively. They are able to ensure that their far left policies are the ones that are promoted and end up becoming the administration's policies. And we had a Washington Post reporter speak truth on CNN yesterday that many in the Democrat Party don't want to go too hard on Cuba because they actually like a lot of the things that the regime does as far as their socialist policies. Are you concerned that once again, we're going to see a not a strong response from the Biden administration because the far left is pushing these socialist narratives? It's such a good point because literally the squad and some of the radical elements of the Democratic Party have really made Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden afraid.

They're afraid to step out and do the right thing. We used to always just innately be against communism and socialism. And Joe Biden gave that great line last week where he said, you know, yes, communism is bad.

Socialism is bad. Most people were surprised. And in the Democratic Party, they were a little bit annoyed that he was being so clear.

I was happy to see him say it, but I was puzzled as to why it took him so long. I think that the Democratic Party is really in danger right now, as I was saying, that this is beyond a Florida issue of permeating into immigrants. You ask yourself why first and second generation Americans were so for the Republicans and Trump last time, like never before.

It's because they left totalitarianism, fascism, socialism. They know the early warning signs. They see it here with the Democratic Party. They're very concerned about it. And I think that the Biden team is over calculating that this is just a Florida issue. The Democrats have given up on Florida and they've written it off towards Republicans. And when they see the Cuba issue, they chalk it up to, well, let's just ignore it because it's just a Florida centric issue. They're missing that it's not. It's a first and second generation American issue yearning for freedom and liberty.

Yeah. This is an uprising of people that we really had hoped and dreamed would happen at one point in Cuba and then also in our own streets. And you brought up in your blog that in 2009, when there was the green revolution in Iran, that there was also sort of a soft response to what happened with the Obama administration. Now you're talking about Cuba, which is not across the ocean and the other side of the planet. Maybe the Americans can kind of disassociate with it.

You're talking about Cuba, which has been our neighbor, not necessarily a neighbor that we are connected with, but has been as close to America as practically you can get. And we have hoped and dreamed for a day when those relations could be better. And now it's finally looking like something is happening. Progression is moving and the people are taking control and we kind of return in silence. I'm missing it.

Yeah. The Obama Biden team in 2009 missed the green revolution going on in Tehran. They really missed the Arab spring moments. And I don't mean to send us troops. I mean, that, that seems to always be the default position, but there are ways that we can help like making sure that the people have access to the internet so that they can talk amongst themselves and coordinate a response.

Having them being able to communicate is certainly one big thing. But I think what we're seeing now is, uh, Iranian Americans, Chinese Americans. Um, there are a whole bunch of people who are watching what's happening in Cuba and sensing that the Democrats keep missing these big moments in other countries when people are yearning for freedom. And so the Cuba situation is just a reminder to a whole bunch of other people that the Democrats have really failed to represent them.

That's right. And thank you, Rick, as a, as a Christian organization, as a, as a conservative, uh, you know, leaning, uh, amount of people that are on this show and who you hear from, uh, these are issues that are like, we are human rights issues that we're going to always talk about here at the ACLJ. You may not hear this kind of point of view from a lot of places that comes out with a more humanitarian style.

You may hear something that's more aggressive and more intense and you may go, yeah, that's not really for what we do. That's what we do here. We spent the first half hour talking about what was going on with the Hyde amendment, how you can help, how you can sign the petitions and get involved because they're trying to take your tax payer money and fund abortions.

The Congress would talk about what's happening in Cuba because these are humanitarian crisis and we're going to get involved wherever we can. And that's what we do here at the ACLJ. We support people, we support human rights and you can get involved as well. Go to ACLJ.org, sign the petitions, make a donation.

It's part of your matching challenge. Read all the great blogs. Rick's got this great blog that's available right now and you can do that right now. Also, while you're at it, got some phone lines open.

I haven't said that I'll show, but I want to hear from you. We can talk about the Hyde amendment. We can talk about Cuba. Give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110.

We'll be right back with more on Sekulow. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.

For the right to live in freedom. Live from Washington, D.C., Sekulow Live! And now your host, Logan Sekulow.

Welcome back to Sekulow. Thanks for joining us. We are live right now. If you're watching on Facebook, if you're watching on social media, thanks.

If you're watching Facebook Share, if you're on YouTube, hit the thumbs up. Subscribe. If you're listening on the radio, just tell your friends. And hey, give us a call. We've got some phone lines open right now at 1-800-684-3110. We've been talking about what's going on in Cuba. We can talk about what's going on in the Hyde amendment. And we've got Colonel Wes Smith joining us in studio for this segment for the remainder of the show.

But again, I want to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110. We're going to continue this discussion, Will, on Cuba, correct? We do have a lot of great content on this. I think it is an issue that can get confusing and you can feel disconnected from as an American and kind of go, well, why is this important? They are a country very close to us from a proximity standpoint.

You could be in Key West and practically be there very, very fast. We saw cruise lines start visiting in very secured, small travel trips to Cuba a number of years ago now. So when there is a humanitarian uprising, we have to get involved.

And it's something we should at least discuss and you should at least understand. Well, and honestly, it's surprising to see this kind of protest movement happen in Cuba because the regime there has been so strong and such an authoritarian regime that we haven't seen this kind of protest or in the streets movement in 60 years. It's been a long time. So it's one, it's new to see and it is what we've been hoping for as Americans that want freedom and we want the best for the people of Cuba that are our neighbors, as Logan points out, 90 miles away from the Southern tip of Florida, that you hope that this can be a moment for the Cuban people.

Yeah. Unlike what the Obama administration did with the green revolution in Iran, which we basically did nothing to support them. The United States has always been, you know, when people cry out for freedom and for justice, the United States historically always responds sometimes covertly, sometimes overtly, but always publicly that we respond to people who are crying out for freedom from oppression. That's what we should be doing with Cuba and your rights. The first time in 60 years, things have changed in Cuba. As long as the Soviet union was paying their bills and Venezuela was giving them part of the money from their oil, things were not as bad as they are now in Cuba. That's part of the reason the protest are rising up now because the economy has changed. But the other thing about Cuba and its communist government, like historically every communist socialist regime in history, there's always a select few at the top who are very wealthy. And then the rest of the people, it shared misery, it shared poverty, and that's what's been going on in Cuba for over 60 years.

And so now the people see their chance to rise up and try to stop it and change it and to have freedom. And what is amazing is that the people on the left in the United States, they're not supporting the demonstrators. They're supporting the Cuban government, the Cuban regime and lauding socialism, which is the very reason the people there are suffering. And it's sort of scary and it is surprising, but people like the head of Black Lives Matter and the 69 project and AOC, I think they actually want the same conditions here, at least the same policies that Cuba has. And yet it is a miserable failure there.

You think you look to it and go, well, clearly things are not going well. Clearly things are wrong in Cuba. I think we benefited, and of course you'd as well, of growing up in benefits the wrong word, but of understanding the situation because Fidel Castro was such a ominous villain, if you will.

When you saw him on TV, when you saw him speak, you clearly could associate that with evil. Maybe this generation, just because he's been not with us for quite some time now, did not grow up on that. They did not grow up and see the change. They did not grow up with Cuban immigrants, younger Cuban immigrants who were older when we were younger, who came in at a time when Cuba wasn't what it is now.

Talk to your friends, talk to people around you, get a little bit more cultured onto what all went on. And don't just, like you said, accept, oh, there's probably some good stuff they do there. Bernie Sanders, oh yeah, there's good things that happen in Cuba. So, hey, we'll be back. I'm going to take some of your calls coming up on this, as well as on the Hyde Amendment.

We have Wes Smith, we have some others. ACLJ.org. Support the work. We're in the matching challenge right now. Again, every donation you make is doubled. We appreciate it. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their life, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes 100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support.

Take part in our matching challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice, to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift.

Welcome back to Secular. We're going to continue discussion on Cuba, but first I want to take some phone calls. Some of you guys have been holding for a while now specifically about what we talked about in the first quarter of the show, which was the Hyde Amendment and the potential removal of the Hyde Amendment, which means taxpayer funding for elective abortions. This isn't life of the mother. This isn't a medical reasons. This is for elective nature abortions. Obviously for those, we understand the medical specifics.

This is not that. So we're going to take some calls. People have some questions.

I want to answer them as well as we can. So let's go to Cheryl who is calling online. One Cheryl, welcome to Secular. Thank you.

And I support everything you do. My question is, I remember when President Trump first was in office, he had to negotiate to get the bill passed to upgrade the military and he provided what I thought was money for Planned Parenthood. So my understanding is, isn't Planned Parenthood already getting tax dollars?

This is where, where things get moved around. It is a little bit like we've discussed the defunding of Planned Parenthood many times. There are technicalities that say that those funds do not go to abortions. Now, what we know is that obviously frees up other funds that then go to abortion.

So it's a bit of a line item shell game with that. So yes, there is funding to Planned Parenthood. This is something we've fought against for years, but there at least was the Hyde amendment or is still with the caveat to not directly fund abortion services, even if it is providing, you know, what Planned Parenthood would argue is that it's for their other services that they provide.

Right. So Planned Parenthood plays a very successful in their for their own benefit accounting game, essentially where they will take title 10 money from the government to pay for other things. We know they are the largest provider of abortion in the country. And also if you alleviate budget stresses in certain areas, it frees up more money to do things like abortion that isn't directly paid for by the US taxpayer.

But we also know how that works. What the Hyde amendment language does is creates that barrier where theoretically they aren't supposed to be using taxpayer dollars for the abortion services. But what the Democrats in the house are trying to do now is to just even get rid of that shell game, that accounting gimmick that they do, and just say, now, any US taxpayer dollar that goes to Planned Parenthood, they could use it on whatever in in the height amendment has to be re upped every year.

So them trying to get rid of it, it doesn't necessarily mean it couldn't come back. But once you get rid of those protections that have been there for 45 years, it makes it much harder to take that next. It shows you how progressive and how things have changed so rapidly, because this was through Carter, through Obama, through, you know, Clinton, through Clinton, these were, you know, these this wasn't something that was a, you know, like we talked about the Mexico City policy, which often changes day one to day five of an administration, whether you're a Republican, is in or a Democrat is in. That's something that's kind of always one of those things that switches immediately. This is one that's been a mainstay, a standard now for 45 plus years. Now, obviously, there are things that need to change and things happen.

But it shows you how quickly, you know, a big, a big topic like this can shift dramatically. Let's go to fill in California. And let's probably wrap up our discussion on the Hyde Amendment. But if the other calls come in, that's fine, too. 1-800-684-3110. We'll continue our discussion about Cuba after this call. So, Phil, welcome to the show.

Thank you. I would I would like to know what the Hyde Amendment amends. I mean, if the Hyde Amendment is amended to the Constitution, are they trying to do away with a piece of the Constitution? So, Phil, actually, the Hyde Amendment is an amendment that gets attached to spending bills. So it's not a constitutional amendment. It's an amendment within spending bills. And that's why it has to be re-upped every year.

Now, there's a group in the House right now, a group of Republicans that are trying to get H.R. 18 passed, which would make it a law. So it doesn't have to be an amendment every year.

It doesn't have to get tacked on to spending bills. But as of right now, this amendment is something that gets put. It's a language that they put into a spending bill each year and Congress has to pass it. And once that passes, it covers it for the next year.

So for 45 years, this language has been placed into spending bills and continues forward. What would happen if they get rid of that amendment is that these spending bills would go forward, which allocate money all over the place to Title X programs, to people like Planned Parenthood and other groups like that, without the protection that the dollars that are being given to these groups cannot be used for abortion services. So that's where that amendment process comes in and hopefully a piece of legislation like H.R. 18 would get put in place. I don't think it's going to happen under Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House, but where you wouldn't even have to re-up it every year.

It wouldn't have to be a political battle. We can just say, you know what? We agree. This is law. The United States is not going to be using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion.

Yeah. That's why we have to work at the ACLJ to try to secure those kinds of things, to go for the wins for all of those with pro-life feelings in their soul, in their heart. They know this is something that's important to them and they don't want their own money being spent for it. And I know, look, that's a tough topic again to discuss. It's not something we jump at or take lightly here at the ACLJ.

So check out aclj.org, read more information. We're going to move back a little bit to what we're talking about with Cuba. Well, Rick brought up that though the Biden administration may be quiet on Cuba or maybe originally said, well, this is because of vaccines and this is because of COVID and not taking responsibility for really what's happening or really even bringing it up in the discussion.

We are seeing not only people obviously in the streets, we're seeing news outlets, also responding in maybe ways that are unexpected, if you will, when it comes to whether this issue is quite, you know, frankly, another issue they could divide people on. When we've all known that Cuba was under a leadership and a dictatorship for our entire lives and for most people living right now for a good portion of their lives. That Cuba has been a mess.

It's been something that we all hoped for change, but we even are seeing news media on both sides going, hold on, we're not siding with the Cuban government in this situation. So there was an interesting moment of truth on CNN yesterday. And this was, they had a Washington Post reporter.

So this is kind of a double whammy for our audience. We have a Washington Post reporter on a CNN show talking about the Cuba situation. And he had a really interesting insight of why we're not maybe seeing as strong of a response from the left wing of the Democratic Party than we would have, say, even 10, 15 years ago. I feel like this would have been a moment 10 or 15 years ago where people have been like, oh, my goodness, this is great for the Cuban people. But take a listen to Bite 1 at what this reporter had to say about what's going on in Cuba. The progressive wing of the Democratic Party does not want to go hard against Cuba, against some of the things that the Castro regime may have been a part of, in part because there are some Democrats, there are some progressives who agree with some of those things. They agree with universal health care. They agree with some of the programs that were in place in a more socialist kind of society.

Yeah, so saying, hey, hold on. The reason this is happening is because some Democrats and some on the more extreme progressive side see Cuba and go, hey, that's a good example. As someone who has been in the military, who's had to deal with situations, I'm sure, involving these parts of the world, not exactly who you want to be, friends and family. No, you do not want to model the United States of America after Cuba or Venezuela or countries like that. It reflects, I don't know, a bias maybe, but maybe some naivete.

I mean, people, I guess the old adage, people believe what they want to believe. If AOC and the far left wants to believe this, they can, but it's crazy. The Cuban people have suffered for over 60 years under an oppressive regime with secret police, prisons, summary executions, and lots of need.

And right now the need is super, super great. Cubans right now stand in line for hours in order to buy groceries. They cannot find the medical care that was promised to them under the present regime. I mean, it is a bad dire situation, which is why they are rising up in the streets and showing great courage in doing so to do that. The government's response there is to send out what they call the Ready Reaction Brigades and volunteers, other civilians from the communist party who carry big sticks, basically baseball bats, to beat the demonstrators. That's their response to this, as well as cutting off the internet and selectively cutting off people's phone service. Of course, in Cuba, in addition to all the other financial and food needs and that kind of thing, they have rolling blackouts, they don't have enough electricity, and it's a horrible place to live right now. And the people have absolutely had enough. And there are things the United States can do, Logan.

We talk about, well, maybe we should explore the option of restoring the internet. We have a US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They said the other day that one government official, well, customs wouldn't let us fly anything into Havana. Don't fly it into Havana, fly it to Gitmo and set it up. There are things we can do as well as publicly supporting the Cuban people.

Yeah, that may be something to discuss, too, is I think people don't necessarily understand also the situation with Guantanamo Bay and how we work with that in Cuba. So maybe we'll discuss that in the next segment. Hey, if you want to be on the show, I'd love to take your call in the next segment.

And again, I want to thank you for supporting the work of the ACLJ. But you can also give us a call, get your feedback. I'd love to hear it. 1-800-684-3110.

If you're watching online, the number is right there. 1-800-684-3110. Give us a call. I'd love to hear from you. You can talk about any of the topics we brought up today or any of the work of the ACLJ. We'll do our best to get to you coming up.

And again, I appreciate it. Thank you for all your support. We do great new content available on all of our platforms on YouTube, on social media, and of course, ACLJ.org. Only when a society can agree that the most vulnerable and voiceless deserve to be protected is there any hope for that culture to survive. And that's exactly what you are saying when you stand with the American Center for Law and Justice to defend the right to life. We've created a free, powerful publication offering a panoramic view of the ACLJ's battle for the unborn.

It's called Mission Life. It will show you how you are personally impacting the pro-life battle through your support. And the publication includes a look at all major ACLJ pro-life cases, how we're fighting for the rights of pro-life activists, the ramifications of Roe v. Wade 40 years later, Planned Parenthood's role in the abortion industry, and what Obamacare means to the pro-life movement. Discover the many ways your membership with the ACLJ is empowering the right to life. Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. Whether it's defending religious freedom, protecting those who are persecuted for their faith, uncovering corruption in the Washington bureaucracy, and fighting to protect life in the courts and in Congress, the ACLJ would not be able to do any of this without your support.

For that, we are grateful. Now there's an opportunity for you to help in a unique way. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's Matching Challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20.

A $50 gift becomes $100. This is a critical time for the ACLJ. The work we do simply would not occur without your generous support. Take part in our Matching Challenge today. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secular, last segment of the day. If you want to give us a call, 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110.

I'd love to hear from you. Well, I think we should start off this segment by hearing from President Joe Biden. That's right. Now we're going to play a sound bite that when he was talking about Cuba, they shock you. And it shouldn't be newsworthy.

This sound bite should not be newsworthy. This should be and is something that many Presidents have said something very similar to for the past, you know, 40, 50, 60 years. But in this day and time, probably more than 40, 50, 60 years, this is a very shocking statement coming from President Joe Biden.

Let's play bite 16. Socialism is a failed system, universally failed system. And I don't see socialism as a very useful substitute, but that's another story. With regard to Cuba. Cuba is a, unfortunately, a failed state in repressing their citizens. There are a number of things that we would consider doing to help the people of Cuba, but they would require a different circumstance or guarantee that they would not be taken advantage of by the government. You're Joe Biden making a statement, the first part of that statement saying communism is a failed system, universally failed system. And I don't see socialism as a very useful substitute, but that's another story. Not sure exactly what that last part means. Another story because most of his party doesn't agree with him on it.

That's the other story. Yeah, I've been on TikTok. Most of the far left on TikTok are socialists, communists. It's very interesting to see them. That's not, I mean, I see it a lot.

I see it in your feeds continually. And these are like, you know, the most American people you've ever seen who are obviously very socialist communists who are in support of the Cuba, Cuban government. When you hear this though, there are those shades of, oh yeah, this is Joe Biden is like a classic DC Democrat, a politician, but a American who says, oh yeah, we don't like communism and socialism, but that's far away from where his party is going. Not unlike we talked about the Hyde amendment. You talked to Joe Biden in 2019.

You would have been like, oh yeah, this guy is more of a traditional, you know, DC Democrat, someone who has been in this forever. And you're not going to have, you're going to have opposing views, but you're gonna be able to get along. There's not going, there's going to be some issues you could actually find some common ground with. But when he says a statement like this, communism failed system, we all can agree universally failed system. And I don't see socialism as a very useful substitute, one substitute.

It gives you a little bit of concern of who he's going to potentially bow down to. Though the first part very strong, it was nice to hear very strong statements saying, no, this is not something good. Cuba isn't a crisis. It has been for the majority of people's lives. Yeah, but we need to have unequivocal, unequivocal public support for the demonstrators in Cuba. And that's not what we've heard just yet. We really haven't.

What the President said was a blinding flash of the obvious. Of course, communism is bad and socialism, I'm sorry, they're virtually identical. You know, the, the difference in the two systems is basically how their leadership is selected. But in every case, it's shared misery for most people. And then there's always an elite power group at the top of every socialist, every communist society. So yeah, our support for the people needs to be there.

There are things we can do. I think it's fascinating, Logan, that in the midst of all of this, I mean, there are literally thousands of Cubans who would give anything to come to the United States of America. And, and secretary of homeland security has issued the statement in the last few days that if Cubans try to cross the 90 miles there and come to America, they will not be allowed in. And yet, meanwhile, our Southern border, we've had over a million people cross that we've encountered this year, tens of thousands more that we didn't catch. But if the Cubans try to flee that regime, they won't be allowed to truly be refugees in that sense of trying to get out of very dire circumstance.

Yeah. We don't, we were not going to support that. That is where the, the hypocrisy gets a little bit hard to believe. It'll, we grew up with this, you know, and I think for us in the nineties, the first thing that we encounter a lot was even you think about the, like the alien Gonzalez case, you think about that though, these are the moments where you can't let them slide because eventually it just goes back into the ether. We don't even think about Cuba, what's going on there.

And then 25 years later, another big thing or 20 years later, they happen in 97, 98, something like this happens where it goes, oh yeah, the Democrats did that before too. Remember when Jana Reno, Bill Clinton sent in, you know, the guns a blazing to get this little kid. I mean, do we not, I mean, we easily, we quickly forget the way we have treated this situation. And I think if there are moments where we can seize the day and say, no, we need to support these people.

We need to, we need to stand up. Well, and to Wes's point, I think there's a couple things that shed light on kind of the the inability of the Biden administration to really tackle this because I don't think they understand the real crisis here. And one goes to secretary Mayorkas statement that if you come by the sea, you will not be coming to the United States. Well, one 22,000 Cuban refugees have tried to go up through the U S Mexico border in just this fiscal year. Now we, we think that they're probably have a pretty legitimate refugee claim. If they were to make it to the United States, there's a legal process for that. If we weren't having 188,000 border encounters just last month, over a million in the last fiscal year, they may be able to handle a caseload of 22,000 Cubans using the legal system, claiming refugee status through the border. But instead that crisis continues to grow, it's unchecked.

And so they can't help legitimate refugee claims. Second, this happened right after news of the, of the uprisings and the protest in Cuba happened. This is from the acting assistant secretary of U S department of state's Bureau of Western hemisphere affairs.

This is Julie Chung. She tweeted out peaceful protests are growing in hashtag Cuba as the Cuban people exercise their right to peaceful assembly, to express concern about rising COVID cases and deaths and medical shortages. We commend the numerous efforts of the Cuban people mobilizing donations to help neighbors in need. Now she quickly had to change the language and come back with something stronger, but it shows that this acting assistant secretary doesn't really have any idea what the reality on the ground is in Cuba. They don't have the right in Cuba to peacefully assemble. This hasn't happened in 60 years because the regime puts down protests.

So the fact that someone that's an assistant secretary of state is able to make a statement like this and put it out on Twitter is absurd. It shows that the administration doesn't know what's going on in these failed socialist countries. And there are no signs down there saying in the embargo, because what the reason we have an embargo, we're trying to deny the regime, the ability to oppress their people, right? There's no science in the embargo.

There is no science about COVID or vaccines. There are thousands of American flags flying in these demonstrators when they fly the American flag and they cry out freedom. That's what's going on there.

It's a symbol of hope and freedom across the world, not just for America. And we're getting, you're seeing that not only streets of America in support of Cuba, you're seeing that in Cuba. Look, I want to tell you all, we've got a minute left. I want to thank you for supporting the work of the ACLJ. I want to thank you for listening to this show.

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See you tomorrow. At the American Center for Law and Justice, we're engaged in critical issues at home and abroad. For a limited time, you can participate in the ACLJ's matching challenge. For every dollar you donate, it will be matched. A $10 gift becomes $20. A $50 gift becomes $100. You can make a difference in the work we do, protecting the constitutional and religious freedoms that are most important to you and your family. Give a gift today online at ACLJ.org.