Will Biden Allow Iran To Have A Nuclear Weapon?

Today on Sekulow, as the world prepares to sit down once again with Iran, will the Biden administration allow the Iranian Islamic Republic to have a nuclear weapon? We'll talk about that with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. One thing is clear is that the Biden administration is spending a lot of time trying to figure out who exactly is calling the shots in Iran right now on the nuclear file. Is it President Raisi? Is it the Supreme National Security Council? You know, what role is the Revolutionary Guards playing, etc. We want to hear from you.

Share and post your comments. Recall 1-800-684-3110. In his most recent report to the IAEA board, Director General Grossi told them there are sites in Iran where we have found the Iranians had nuclear material. They didn't declare it to the international community. They moved it and now we don't know where it is. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. We are taking your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110 if you want to talk to us on air.

That's 1-800-684-3110. We're tracking two things right now. Obviously, we've got more information on these Iran talks which are starting next month. Which, you know, it's probably towards the end of next month.

They haven't released the schedule yet. But what we know is that the U.S. is not technically going to be a part of that because we withdrew from the group behind the JCPOA, the Iran nuclear deal. But Iran wants to move forward. So, again, we will be analyzing this. We're going to be talking to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the next segment of the broadcast as well as our team to get a handle on this. But we're also tracking, of course, the infrastructure push that occurred, started this morning with the push on a potential vote today. President Biden is addressing the nation as we speak.

I want to go to some of that right now. We're going to break all of that down for you, too, in the broadcast with Dan Bennett, Washington, D.C. Let's go to President Biden. We're going to break all of that down for you, too, in the broadcast with Dan Bennett, Washington, D.C. Let's go to President Biden. We're going to break all of that down for you, too, in the broadcast with Dan Bennett, Washington, D.C. Let's go to President Biden. We're going to break all of that down for you, too, in the broadcast with Dan Bennett, Washington, D.C. Let's go to President Biden.

We're going to break all of that down for you, too, in the broadcast with Dan Bennett, Washington, D.C. Let's go to President Biden. We are talking about the $1.7 trillion plan. This is not the, again, $3 trillion yet, and so that would come through reconciliation.

So what are we already seeing? While this speech is occurring, it appears that the President has already started losing votes. Now, the question is, there were Republicans who supported this the first time through in the Senate. If they still hold, you could lose a Bernie Sanders type who said he doesn't support this and potentially still get this passed.

The House is a different question. There's 55 members of the Progressive Caucus now. AOC and Ilhan Omar, they've already said no. They've come out during this speech and said, no, we're not ready to go on this. Nancy Pelosi's line on this was, while the American people probably don't understand a lot about what's in this package, they do like it, and they will like it. And you hear the President, he's talking about things like the Internet.

That's the kind of infrastructure that we talk about, real infrastructure, whether it's the Internet, whether it's roads, bridges, things like that that do keep us ahead of the curve. I think that's something that would be totally bipartisan. It wouldn't be $1.7 trillion. But this is the actual infrastructure bill that we're talking about. The question is how they handle that additional $3 trillion through reconciliation. And they are saying today, right now, we want to vote on this today on at least the $1.7 trillion. And the President, I mean, the way that they reported this, that President Biden told members of Congress that his presidency hangs in the balance on this vote. He's about to go to Europe to attend a G20 summit on climate change and want some kind of legislative victory to be occurring back at home. The question is, which we're going to monitor very closely, is does this have the votes and have they explain this clearly enough to the American people? I'd like your thoughts on that, too. 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. But when we get back, we're going to jump right into it with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Iran, on some of this gain-of-function research, and Fauci. So, again, share this with your friends and family if you're watching online. We'll be right back on Secular.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Sekulow. We are going to start taking your calls next segment of the broadcast. 1-800-684-31.

Today you can start getting those in now. We are joined right now by former Secretary of State and Senior Counsel for Global Affairs at the ACLJ. Secretary Mike Pompeo.

Secretary Pompeo, let me jump right off because we've got a lot of news going on today. But one of the kind of breaking news international item that came about yesterday is that Iran is going to rejoin the nuclear talks with the remaining members of the P5 plus one that put together this deal. That won't be, the US won't be directly involved.

You said America will be less secure if we go back into this deal. Now that they're trying to move forward even maybe without the United States. My first question to you is, what do you think the Biden administration does to go get ahead of this?

Because it seems like to me the world is saying, well, and this kind of looking at how America's wielding its power around the world. Say, well, we don't have to wait for the Americans anymore. We can move forward with a plan like this.

Secondhand, though, I'm also concerned about what we might be willing to give up just to get back into these discussions. Well, Jordan, it does appear that they're trying to move on when they tried to do that during the Trump administration. We put enormous sanctions on them. We made sure that the Chinese and the Russians couldn't trade with the Iranians either, right? Remember, the P5 is made up of three European countries, but also two true adversaries of the United States of America. We can stop them from moving forward without us. We have the capacity to control what takes place.

Second point is a more important one. I'm not sure this administration, even if they were at the table, they were sitting there, would cut a deal that made any sense to the United States of America. When they testified, when Secretary Blinken testified in his hearing and others, they said, we would do a deal, but it would be longer, stronger, and better than the 2005 JCPOA. There is no chance the Iranians are reentering these discussions thinking they're going to end up with deeper commitments. Remember, Jordan, many of those commitments from 2015 have already expired, including the capacity for the Iranians to sell weapons systems, to go back into that same deal, which is what the Biden administration has told the world they're prepared to do, right? We will lift all sanctions. He'll just go back into the old deal. Most of the major provisions have expired, and Iran will be on its path to a nuclear weapon in just a handful of years. This would be tragic for the Abraham Accords, tragic for the region, and really bad for the United States of America.

Secretary Pompeo, it's Wesley Smith. You know, the thing I think about, too, as we go back to this, you know, we have this commitment, you know, we've had a commitment, they're not going to have a nuclear weapon, but how do we address the issue, how are they going to unlearn what they've learned in the breakout time? The centerpiece of the JCPOA, as flawed as it was, was that we kept them several years down the road from a breakout time to getting a nuclear weapon. Now experts are saying the breakout time is down to a few months. So how do we go in and really address them unlearning what they've learned and increasing the breakout time?

Is that even possible? Well, you could absolutely increase the breakout time. As for unlearning what they've learned, that's much more difficult to do. But make no mistake about it, it's not a matter of just having the knowledge. There are lots of PhD nuclear scientists that have the knowledge, but the ability to execute, the ability to manufacture, the ability to deliver, the ability to all the components along the way in delivering a nuclear weapon that would wipe Israel off the face of the earth or to come attack the United States of America is very different from just knowing how to do it.

And those things you can stop. The first thing one would want to do is to dial in resources, to put real pressure on the regime. Because in the end, it's true, if this regime decides they want to move towards a nuclear weapon, they may well just go ahead and proceed. But you have to make the cost of doing so so enormous that the people of Iran, the amazing people who live in that country who don't want this theocracy, who don't want these kleptocrats or these crazy religious extremists in charge of their country, will have the capacity and the space to do what they need to do to make sure that Iran doesn't become a nuclear weapon state. And we've heard from Jake Sullivan and others that the lid's off, you know. And I think some of that, to your point, Secretary Pompeo, you talked about is that some of these provisions that were in the lid were already expiring anyway. So as this moves forward, is there a way for the United States, it's the sanctions, right? The kind of pressure to put on that regime because they're not talking that way.

The Biden team is not talking at all about sanctions. I think the big question for them is whether or not they're going to unfreeze assets to get back to this deal. Sadly, Jordan, they're going to unfreeze assets. You can write it down.

You heard it here first or maybe second. In some sense, they've already done that. When you have a sanctions regime but you fail to enforce it, it effectively is giving up the sanctions themselves. Today, China is importing massive quantities of crude oil from Iran. That did not happen on our watch. We never had perfection, but we had the number of barrels a day produced by the Iranians and paid in cash to the Iranians at very low levels.

Think several hundred thousand barrels a day versus several million barrels a day. This administration just hasn't taken that seriously. And I think that has not only provided money and resources to the Ayatollah and this horrible butcher, Ibrahim Raisi, that is now the President of Iran, but it's also made them aware that if they continue down a path towards a nuclear weapon, the United States will fold, simply acknowledge that they're a weapon state and try to manage the risk from there.

That is really dangerous. And I promise you, the Israeli leadership knows this, the Saudi leadership knows this, the Emirati leadership knows this, and some group of them, I am confident, will do all they can to make sure that Iran never gets the nuclear capability they can deliver. I want to shift a little bit to China, first on these announcements about these new weapon systems. First it was a hypersonic tested weapon that we think happened back in August. Then it was out that they've got a satellite that's got arms that can destroy our satellites. The idea that this is all being done, that the Biden team is just kind of talking about it, but like the nuclear, it's like they just kind of put their hands up and say, well, this is what we've got to deal with. But they don't really say, there's no strength behind the words, Secretary Pompeo.

That's why I think that people are hoping to at some point hear some kind of strength that we're not going to just sit by and allow all this to keep going on. No, the language early in the administration on China was pretty good, but there's been no evidence that real actions will be taken that will support that, to your point. This administration has continued to let China grow and build its capabilities, not only in the military space, but what they're doing in cyber and in the space realm itself.

We've seen this in the financial world as well. This administration has simply kowtowed. I don't know if you saw today, one of America's companies, Apple, took the Bible off its applications inside of China. This is the kind of appeasement from both the American private sector and from the Biden administration that will greenlight the Chinese Communist Party to continue to impose its tyranny all across the world.

I can't let this happen. The Trump administration refused to turn the other cheek. We stood up to the Chinese Communist Party bullies. I pray that this will become a bipartisan issue and this administration will get serious about protecting Americans from the very real threat from General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. What do you make of Taiwan's President confirming that there's some U.S. military on the ground there, whether they're in some kind of training function?

Is that some sense of what we want to see out of the administration when it comes to putting the partisan politics aside just to throw national security for our allies, national security? Or is that normal that we've got troops there kind of trading and working with the Taiwanese? So I applaud both the Biden administration and the Taiwanese leadership for conducting this work that's been reported. If that's the case, I think that's the right approach. I think even providing more defensive capability, more defensive support as we are required to do under our promises to the people of Taiwan would make sense.

I'm confident the Taiwanese leadership would appreciate that and I know it would be the right thing for the United States of America. Finally, you've got a new blog up at ACLJ.org. It talks about how we know that the National Institute of Health and Dr. Fauci did fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which they were on the record denying that they did. So what should happen next?

I mean, people are upset about it. We're hearing about all these other tests that we were funding as well. But what should happen next? What should happen next is when someone lies to the United States Congress, which it appears Dr. Fauci has done, bring him back in, let him clean it up and fix it and then correct and apologize for what he did for having lied to the American people. But goodness gracious, if he's lied, he should be prosecuted for those lies. And frankly, the administration shouldn't want anybody who's their senior face for how we're battling this continuing threat from the Wuhan virus. The senior face for this administration is someone now who's credibility is completely shot. That doesn't serve the American people well. He should be permitted to go into retirement and write yet another book. This is a person who has now deceived the American people consistently for coming on two years.

He has no role, no place to be in the United States government. This issue about taxpayer dollars going to this laboratory is a serious one. And both the American government and the leaders who acted on that need to be held accountable. Secretary Pompeo, as always, we appreciate you joining us with this insight. We just hit Iran, China, Taiwan, and also the gain of function research here in our own country. Talking about all these issues, we appreciate that. And again, check out Secretary Pompeo's new piece up at ACLJ.org on the very issue about the NIH, Dr. Fauci, and the gain of function research going on. I appreciate that, Secretary Pompeo. We come back, we're going to get more into Iran, what the Biden team is saying, and we're going to start taking your calls.

Two issues. Iran, the nuclear deal. How do you feel about the Biden team going into and handling this situation with Iran? Do you have confidence that they could actually do it? But I want to get your thoughts on it.

It's not just a joke. 1-800-684-3110. Second is the infrastructure package. Have you been activated to your members of Congress, the House, the Senate, because they are pushing for trying to get a vote today? We'll go to Thad Bennett, Washington, D.C., to get all those updates. But again, give us a call. We want to have you on the air today at 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back on Secular. 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. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

ACLJ.org. So we're tracking everything that's going on with Washington, D.C. on infrastructure. Thanh Bennett will be joining us at the second half hour of the broadcast to get into that, as well as more members of our team.

But on Iran, I want to play this for you. This is at the White House talking to Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor. Remember before, previously he was a lead negotiator on the Obama administration and a lead architect of the JCPOA, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I mean, if you could get any more Washington, any more bureaucratic talk and, you know, just kind of remember it was two pages of bullet points. That's the whole thing they're talking about here. So keep that in mind when you listen to him be asked, has the point where, you know, has Iran passed the point of being able to stop them from getting a nuclear weapon?

Take a listen by 24. At what stage will the White House decide that Iran has passed a new point of return? I'm not fixing a date on that. Within the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, there were constraints on that program that were significant and substantial. We had a lid on that program. Now we do not because we don't have that deal. So our first and highest priority is to get back to the table and get back to a deal.

So Wes, I mean, the whole idea here is that they want to blame this on the Trump administration. But as we just heard from Secretary Pompeo, the toughest restrictions within the nuclear deal have already expired. So if you just go back to the deal that was already on the table, it was a 10-year deal. We're pretty close to that being done.

Oh, yeah. The highest priority should not be renegotiating the JCPOA, which did not keep them from getting a nuclear weapon at all. It delayed it, and they've also cheated on it for years. So why is our highest priority renegotiating something that is fatally flawed? Our highest priority should be, as Secretary Pompeo alluded to, keeping them from getting a nuclear weapon.

It's that simple. And, you know, normally when Iran says we're going back to the negotiating table, and of course, it's this shuttle diplomacy. Our delegation is in Vienna at one hotel, and they're meeting at another one. And then the P5 plus one goes back and forth to negotiate between Iran and the U.S. But they say they're going back to the negotiating table. You might think that's good news, but in light of what happened just prior to this, that is not good news. On October the 13th, Robert Malley, who is the chief negotiator for the U.S. team, said this. The U.S. and its allies must brace for a world in which Iran is a nuclear power without constraint.

In other words, sort of giving in to the inevitable as he sees it. But at that same meeting, Robert Malley also said, we are prepared to remove all sanctions that were imposed by the Trump administration. Is it any surprise that in light of these two statements, that 12 days later, Iran announces, okay, we're willing to come back to the negotiating table.

That is no surprise at all. There is a flawed strategy here. The Biden administration is negotiating from a position of weakness, not strength.

And the real commitment should be at whatever it costs, we will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, not going back trying to lift sanctions and negotiate a plan that is flawed from the get go. Let me go to the phones. Tim in California online. Hey, Tim, welcome to Sekulow, you're on the air.

Thank you for taking my call. My question is this. Why is the Biden administration so determined to make it so Iran can get a nuclear weapon?

I like the way that you said that. Why make it easier for them to get a nuclear weapon instead of heavy sanctions? This is a terror state. This is a threat to the United States. It's a threat to our allies. It's not just about Israel. It is also about the Gulf States. And do we want to see a nuclear arms race in the Middle East? Because how do you tell an ally who's made peace with Israel, like the UAE, who's right there on the Persian Gulf or Arabian Gulf, depending on who you're talking to about that, and to say, you know, they've got the resources. Do we need to have nuclear weapons ready for them? Do we have to house that in a U.S. base in Qatar?

Or are we going to continue with an arms race? Because the U.N., the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said that they can no longer monitor Iran. It's not intact. They didn't repair.

I mean, this is how ridiculous it gets, Wes. They didn't repair the cameras that the U.N. could use to monitor one of the key facilities where they enriched uranium. And the Iranians just said, all right, we're not going to repair these cameras.

They broke. And they said they could never then figure out, you can't reconstruct what was going on. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, this is this is insane. It's a true break from reality on the part of the administration. Already they're enriching uranium at 60 percent.

It's a short step from there to 90 percent to have a weapon. They've increased the number of their centrifuges that are high capacity. Here's the most disturbing thing that's come about lately. We've discovered that they have one facility that is doing research and development on shockwave generators. Shockwave generators have one purpose, and that is to miniaturize a nuclear weapon so you can put it on the tip of a missile. We know they're doing that. They've also, of course, researched development on ballistic missiles and have the capability to deliver the weapon once they have the weapon. And so all of this is a break from reality to think that Iran will somehow discard the progress they've made if we'll only lift the sanctions and give them what they're asking for. And yet it appears the Biden administration is more than likely going to lift those sanctions. You know, if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, it should be despite the efforts of the United States, not because we helped them or, you know, by default allowed it to happen. And that seems to be where we're going. It's very alarming.

Robert Malley has taken over as the U.S. chief negotiator with Iran on the nuclear deal. This is what he had to say about, remember, we were just talking about how you've got to answer this with tougher sanctions. That's how you answer these threats without, you know, using military forces is sanctions. You know, cut them off from the world's economy, cripple the economy. We've seen it work time and time again with Iran.

That's not where the Biden team is. Take a listen to Robert Malley. They're the exact opposite. I mean, you cannot be more diametrically opposed to your foreign policy.

Take a listen by 28. We are prepared to remove all of the sanctions that were imposed by the Trump administration that were inconsistent with the deal. And therefore we could get back to the business that we should have been on.

Think about that. We'll remove all the sanctions. That's what they're telling the world before Iran's even agreed to allow the U.S. back into this negotiation or allow the U.S. to be part of this, that we'll just, all the sanctions that are inconsistent, which they get to then defined, we will lift. You're already, so you're giving away so much Wes before you've even gotten back into the room, which I, you know, I, again, I think you could, you should just do the sanctions and not get back into the room and encourage those other countries as well. Make it like secretary Pompeo said, make it basically impossible for them to legally do business with Iran and cut off the Iranian oil from Europe, which is starting to flow again already because they're back to the deal. They're back to just discussion.

Right. During the previous administration, we really had Iran pretty much isolated and even put our allies and other nations on notice that if you do business with them, we will cut you off from our business as well. We had them where we wanted them to try and push them towards not to get a nuclear weapon. That is all being abandoned. And it almost makes you wonder if somehow secretly the Biden administration either thinks this is inevitable or unavoidable and that they're going along with this, knowing that in the end they're going to acquire a nuclear weapon.

That's why Malley's statement earlier was so disturbing to me because that is not the case. We can still prevent them from getting a weapon, but you have to be willing to do it and to take a tough stance. And if need be, increase the sanctions and Jordan walk away from the table and say, no, we're not doing this. That kind of resolve is what we need at this point, that kind of strength.

All right. Remember, second half hour is coming up. We're going to bring more of our team in. We're going to keep talking to Iran. If you got questions about that, 1-800-684-3110.

That's 1-800-684-3110. We are going to get a bigger update on what's happening to this massive legislative package on the infrastructure deal. Remember, the main provision that we were talking about yesterday on the IRS, that's in the reconciliation. That's a different vote, but there is a lot of money potentially for the IRS in this infrastructure package, which the Democrats are trying to force a vote on today.

They want to vote today. So we're going to get into all of that. If you got questions about that massive spinning bill, get them in now.

1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines, protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today.

ACLJ.org. Keeping you informed and engaged. Now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Jordan Sekulow.

Welcome back. We're going to take your phone calls to 1-800-684-3110. So two issues, but I want to go right to Thanh Binh in Washington, D.C., because we talked about this throughout the first half hour of the broadcast, but we spent a lot of time on Iran.

We opened the show. President Biden was addressing the nation on this infrastructure bill, which they want a vote on today. Thanh, this is, again, as I told people last break, this is different than the reconciliation package, which has that troubling provision about the IRS that Senator Manchin's been opposed to.

But as we've talked about earlier, before we were on the air, this is still a big question about whether or not this one can get through the House and the 55 progressives, because we've already seen AOC and Ilhan Omar. While President Biden was speaking, they said no. We also saw Bernie Sanders from the Senate say no.

This is to the $1.7 trillion. But there was some bipartisan support for this so that they don't have to have every Democrat, I guess. Where do you think this stands? Are we actually going to see a vote on this today in Washington?

Well, it's so convoluted, Jordan. I mean, to be honest with you, both of these bills are running together now, and this is something that we warned about when the Senate did pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which is a little north of a trillion dollars. Like you mentioned, Jordan, that bill passed with 69 votes in the United States Senate, so 19 senators on the Republican side voted for that when it passed the House.

Jordan, and look, I mean, it depends on your interpretation, but I think probably at least half of that bill is on true infrastructure. So I think if that bill came up in the House in a vacuum, I think it would probably pass in a bipartisan fashion. But today what you're seeing is you're really seeing both of these bills being conflated.

So maybe let me just back up and kind of describe both of those bills. The bill that you're talking about, the one that's just north of a trillion dollars, could be taken up in the House today if Nancy Pelosi wanted to do that. It passed the Senate in August. But what President Biden just did, Jordan, is he came out and he talked about both of these bills. And he is claiming to have a framework deal on both of these bills and is asking the House to move them. But here's, well, there's a litany of problems, Jordan, but the biggest problem for him procedurally is the only bill that's ready for a vote in the House is that bipartisan infrastructure bill. Now, he is claiming that he has a deal in his caucus on the larger reconciliation bill as well. And he's put out three pages of bullet points totaling $1.7 trillion in spending. And then he says he also lists a few bullet points about how he's going to pay for it.

Jordan, we can get into some of those details if you want to. But like you mentioned, his big problem on that, literally before he came out to speak, Senator Sanders and members of the progressives in the House said, you know what, we don't know. We don't know if we will go for this until we see the legislative text. And the other problem he has, Jordan, those same members said, we're also not going to vote for that bipartisan bill until we have that legislative text. So we're waiting on Speaker Pelosi now to come out and tell us when she is going to schedule this vote on the bipartisan bill, whether or not it will be later today.

Jordan, we will see what she says. But here's what we have at this moment. President Biden says he has a deal on both of these bills, and when in reality, he doesn't have a deal on either of them. And with inside the infrastructure bill, I mean, we see, you know, Harry, there's $555 billion for the Green New Deal. There's $400 billion in IRS investments, which is different than the provision by getting into people's bank accounts. But you can see how that could be utilized to do the same thing, because that's a lot less than the $80 billion that they need for their $80,000 new employees. There's a lot of stuff in this that people, there's a reason why I didn't get full bipartisan support. It's not basic infrastructure. It's not just roads and bridges, or, you know, expanding that even to the internet and internet access. We saw that as an organization.

We assisted a lot of families who did, you know, President Biden talked about that during the, when the schools went virtual, and we assisted families in making sure that the school districts prepared, provided what they needed. So, you know, I think if you talked about those things, and that was it, yeah, that's real, but when you talk about $500 billion of Green New Deal, that's not going to, you know, this is why they don't get into the details with us. I think that's correct. And consistent with your point, this particular reconciliation bill also commissions climate police so that they can look at every single energy transaction you and I engage in. Folks, we come back, we're going to get further into this.

Take your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. More on Iran as well. So give us a call. We want to hear from you. Let me ask you specifically on Iran. How dangerous do you believe this administration is in dealing with these issues internationally? I mean, I feel like they make things worse, not better, by their actions, by their words. Like, hey, we'll lift all the sanctions.

1-800-684-3110. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. And we have an exceptional track record of success.

But here's the bottom line. We could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work.

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Request your free copy of Mission Life today online at ACLJ.org slash gift. Welcome back to Sec Hill. We are taking your phone calls. We're going to get track of the reconciliation. We're watching to see and also the infrastructure bill to see more comments after President's speech. He's heading off to Europe on a climate summit later today, so the question is does this vote occur?

The votes aren't going to occur while we're on the air today, but they are trying to push for this to happen as we speak sometime today. At least now you've got the opposition that's come out to it primarily has been from inside the President Biden's own party. Most Republicans now, you can start parsing that based off of you talking about the infrastructure bill or the reconciliation package and what's actually going to be voted on. All of that is very similar. I was listening to Nancy Pelosi yesterday, very similar to we'll find out what's in it after we pass it.

She said people don't really know what's in it, but they will like it. So it's the same thing for Washington. This to me is what I'm obsessed with. These are massive spending bills. So the fact that any of these members of Congress, especially I think about the 435 House members, most of which are not in the leadership, who are getting their information from the leadership. Do they even know what they're going to be voting on in this if they vote today?

The answer to that is no, Jordan. I mean, I'm holding the three pages of framework in my hands that President Biden has released. Two of them are bullet points for expenditures. The third one is the proposed revenue that will be generated.

You have to read revenue as tax increases, Jordan. This is why we said several months ago that if they just brought up a clean infrastructure bill, they could probably get it moved. They could probably get it moved in a bipartisan fashion.

But as soon as you move to the reconciliation process, Jordan, that is an intentional decision to go it alone. It's an intentional decision to block the minority party out of the room, and you have to get it done with your own votes. So all of the debate that we're talking about today on this new $1.75 trillion framework for reconciliation, Jordan, that's all inside the Democrat Party. That is not dependent on any Republican votes.

And you have to get both Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema and the progressives like Bernie Sanders and AOC to go along with it because they have razor slim majorities. But based on what's in it, Jordan, I mean, look, let me just give you a couple of examples. The bill says that they're going to spend 1.7 or the bullet points, I'm sorry, say they're going to spend $1.75 trillion unless they can get the parliamentarian to agree that they can also put another $100 billion in for some sort of immigration proposal.

And that's really all we know about that, Jordan. So you have $100 billion on a topic as important as immigration, and they literally don't give you any details of what's in it. And as far as how they're going to pay for it, Jordan, I mean, there's been some sort of breathless reporting that this IRS provision that we're so concerned about is not in here.

Jordan, I'm not willing to buy that yet. And for this reason, one of the main bullet points in here about how they're going to pay for it is called tax compliance. And they say they're going to invest in IRS enforcement. And it says IRS enforcements to close the tax gap. And the number that they list for that to raise revenue is $400 billion. So, Jordan, when we get legislative text back, I'm just telling you, don't be shocked if something that looks like the IRS snooping provision that we've been talking about is what they mean by that bullet point there. Well, this is, Andy, to me, it's always got to be about Washington, D.C., is the rushing to have a vote with these members of Congress who have staff. But still, there's no way, like they said, they're basing this on a three-page summary of bullet points. And then they pass it.

We find out the horribles that are there as they go on. But you know what? The authors, the top folks, whether it's the White House, the Pelosi's of the world, the Schumer's of the world, they do know how they're going to be empowering the federal government, the bureaucracy, which they love so much. Oh, yeah, they do. And they love the bureaucracy. They love the federal government.

They love the central government getting in your lives. And don't tell me that Schumer and Pelosi don't know what's in the text. They do know what's in the text of the bill. And it sounds, when I heard this Pelosi statement, well, you're going to love it when you see it. Don't worry about it.

It put me back in mind of Obamacare when she came out with a big gavel saying, you're going to vote for this. We haven't read it. We haven't looked at it.

We haven't analyzed it. But when it comes out, you're going to see it and you're going to like it. What kind of legislator does that? What kind of legislator says you're going to love the bill?

You just trust me and you just go ahead and vote for it and get on the bandwagon and support it and it'll be fine. I'm still concerned about this IRS provision, the snooping and the spying provision and where it fits in. And I said yesterday and I say it again today, we are going to create an army of internal revenue agents and revenue agents who are going to snoop into your personal bank accounts to find out how you spend your money. This is a militia.

This is 80,000 new revenue agents. Where does this fit in this package? They don't say.

How does it come in? They don't say. It's too vague for me. Yeah, I mean, all we've heard is that Joe Manchin doesn't support that provision. But depending on how this works in and how the language is written, will they even know what they're voting on? Maybe it's not going to be so direct. President Biden, this is the reporting. The White House hasn't said that it's not true or not accurate. He's been having all these meetings with the House Democrats on the Hill. He had that this morning before he addressed the nation from the White House.

He supposedly told people, quote, we badly need a vote on both these measures. I don't think it's hyperbole to say the House and Senate majorities and my presidency will be determined by what happens the next week. I mean, this is about a spinning bill that they've been talking about. I feel like for months I don't want people to get weary and bogged down by it because this is how they try to move things. It's always about the last minute. All right, we'll put the pressure on and they're going to see if they can test their usual Democrat strategy, which is they'll ultimately stick together.

Yeah. And at this point, unlike most of these kinds of controversies in D.C., it's not the other party that is blocking the bill. It is their own party because they can't come to agreement. And what they're trying to do, they're trying to push this through as if somehow in the last election they obtained significant majorities in both houses of Congress.

They did not. They can only afford to lose things and correct me, three or four votes in the House and the Senate is 50-50. And what they're trying to do is radically transform the country.

It's a massive expansion of the federal government with a massive tax increase to pay for it. It's troubling. And no wonder they're having trouble pushing this through. Their own members of their own party have serious doubts and reservations about it.

And that's only the ones we know about. There are probably a lot of others in the Democratic Party who also have serious reservations about this bill, these bills. Yeah, it's all, when it gets this big, like, I directly ask this, do people even know what they're going to be voting on if they vote today?

No. I mean, that is, that should not be acceptable in Washington for either party on any kind of legislation. They need to at least know what they are doing. Especially, again, you're talking about the significance of this spinning because what this will likely trigger is then a vote on trillions of dollars of more spinning. So, you know, 1.7, another 3 trillion.

I mean, this gets, so remember, this vote would trigger that vote and then you're talking about a massive, a massive expansion of the federal government. Let me go to the phones. Bill's calling on Iran. We're talking about that issue too because Iran announced yesterday they're heading back to the negotiating table with Germany, France, the UK, and Russia, and China.

The US is not yet part of that group again, though we know the Biden team wants to rejoin. Hey Bill, welcome to Secular, you're on the air. Hello? Yeah, me? Yeah.

Oh, okay, sorry. I do have a comment about that IRS, the fact that they're trying to make the banks part of the US government's spying. But I want, my question is, could you, in heaven's name, help me out with my confusion on this Iran deal? What the heck does this administration expect to get out of making a deal with Iran? You know, to me, it's a legacy. So it's not actually about the deal or whether it stops Iran's nuclear program, it's about the Obama-Biden legacy. Biden tried to, with the same people, Jake Sullivan, Robert Malley, tried to re-correct that West. I think that's where that is. It's a, you took this away from this, we want that deal back.

Yeah, yeah. They're desperate for a win, even if it's a hollow win, and there are things about this that are so very, very troubling. And again, as we mentioned a moment ago, and to Bill's point, they are much more intense and committed to renegotiating the Iran nuclear deal than they are to actually keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Because even the original deal did not stop it.

It delayed it. They want to go back and renegotiate a deal that simply, eventually allows Iran to become a country with nuclear weapons, the world's most dangerous country, possessing the world's most dangerous weapon. And you are correct, Jordan. It's all about legacy and this political win in their column, even though our national security is on the line because of it. Yeah, but here, they don't want more oil from Iran. They don't want the Green New Deal, they want that all gone. So, you know, it's not like that we're, like you're talking about with Bill, there's not like an exchange here. It's like begging Iran just to allow us to have this idea that we can then tell people, well, we have a nuclear deal with it.

I think that's correct. I think the Biden administration wants to be seen as a firm member of the global elites. So I think the primary benefit for the Biden administration is that they can virtue signal not only to themselves, but to the rest of the world that we believe in collaboration, we believe in openness. Well, maybe Iran gets a nuclear bomb out of all of us, but we feel better about ourselves.

It's all about their own selfish interests. All right, folks, we come back. We continue to take your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. If you've got questions about infrastructure, this vote, I mean, within 24 hours, you know, the rush to vote today, what would you tell your member of Congress? Give us a call 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110.

Track it closely. We'll be back with Dan Bennett. We come back on Secular.

Is there any hope for that culture to survive? And that's exactly what you were 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. The challenges facing Americans are substantial. At a time when our values, our freedoms, our constitutional rights are under attack, it's more important than ever to stand with the American Center for Law and Justice. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena.

And we have an exceptional track record of success. But here's the bottom line, we could not do our work without your support. We remain committed to protecting your religious and constitutional freedoms.

That remains our top priority, especially now during these challenging times. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life changing work. Become a member today, ACLJ.org.

Welcome back to Secular. So we're tracking two major issues. One, Iran, because yesterday, as we told you, we broke the news that Iran had announced that they were going to rejoin the nuclear talks. There weren't a lot of details yet, unless it was their U.S. push there. Now it does look like the U.S. is not at the table, won't be, at least as of right now. Between now and when they hold these talks, I have a feeling the Biden team, they've already announced to the world that they're ready to lift all the sanctions. They've already told Iran that. Iran wants something more, though.

They want unfrozen assets, about $10 billion. So again, the Biden team, I can hear them already saying to you, like they talk about this bill paying for itself, that's not really giving Iran anything. It's not like we're giving Iran money. It's their own money.

It was frozen during the revolution with the hostage crisis, and because they've continued to support terrorism, we've kept those funds frozen, but it's not actually costing the American people anything. That's what they're going to have to do if they want a seat back in these discussions instead of ratcheting up the sanctions, making it tougher for Russia and China to do business with Iran. So that is obviously, Tom, as you know, an issue we're going to track very closely, continue to go back and update you as we need to as we get closer to these talks. But I do want to get to Lisa talking about the spending bills, because these two massive spending bills, they're making a push for votes today. That was the announcement from, you know, the White House came out, Pelosi's come out, Schumer's come out. Now, they're not 100 percent thinking they're going to actually finalize voting today.

They can leave the vote open. We'll get into some of those details as well. But Lisa in Idaho on Line 1. Hey, Lisa, welcome to Secula.

You're on the air. Hi, thank you. I think the IRS, the IRS aspect of the bill is a way, one of the major ways they're going to collect data on our, you know, like a social credit system like China, because they will be able to see where our finances are going and such and everything that goes along with that. It's a data collection, and then they'll be able to enforce the whatever it is that their, you know, their agenda is even further. Well, it's figuring out every aspect of your life with a government sign off, with a check mark, so that they don't have to go to court, Lisa, to get that information about you or any of us. So similar to the Chinese system, but maybe even somewhat more invasive, because we know that the IRS is more sophisticated, more feared, and more open to political bias in our own country. But yeah, I think that we'd be moving towards a Chinese-like system, Harry, if we allow the IRS to just go in and look at every transaction from everyone without needing court authority.

I think Lisa is absolutely correct. So the IRS provision, in addition to the climate police provision, allows enormous federal government intrusion in our lives. It's also important to keep in mind that the proposed reconciliation bill contains a provision to reduce pass-through deductions.

What does that mean? It raises taxes on small businesses. It's also important to keep in mind that under the bill, at least as proposed, there is a provision which would fine businesses up to $700,000 per year as a penalty for each employee who is not vaxxed.

This is simply a statutory vaccine mandate proposal. So if you look at the overall Biden framework, it basically would achieve two things. Number one, it would wreck the economy.

Number two, it would wreck the lives of the American people. So while President Biden has taken a victory lap today with respect to this so-called framework, the Biden victory lap appears to be just as empty as his victory lap surrounding Afghanistan. When I see, as Laurie brought up, the issue of the Chinese plan and their social credit system, the truth is that as bad as that plan is and what the Chinese do when they're committing genocide against their own people, that plan is localized. It's actually not run by the central government in China. This IRS plan, and every time we give the IRS more resources and more staff, that is run by our central government. It is run by the federal government. It federalizes the program.

It's not a localized system. So I think it's actually worse than what the Chinese are trying to get to in their country. I agree with you, Jordan.

I mean, this is not hyperbole from Lisa. We know from very recent history what the IRS does when they get this kind of data from the American people. They let politics creep in and they discriminate based on viewpoint. Jordan, this would give the IRS not only a vast additional data in addition to the tax exempt status, in addition to the tax reporting forms that you already file. It would really give them a green light to go into the financial transactions of virtually every American's details. And once they're in there, Jordan, once they're conducting an audit, they get everything. So look, is Lisa correct to be concerned that eventually they would use it for some of the same purposes that the Chinese are doing?

I think absolutely right to be concerned about it because, look, they've already done it with the information they've already had. And Jordan, just to underscore something that Harry said too, look, they've now said that they've cut this $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill in half and that it's only $1.75 trillion. But Jordan, the original bill that was reported out of the Budget Committee was 2,500 pages long. This, we right now, we have two pages, so we really have to pay attention at when they do get into legislative text, what is in there. I mean, Harry mentioned the $2.6 billion for vaccine enforcement.

Jordan, later in the bill, they say at border security, you can't check the infection status or the vaccination status of people coming through. So the duplicity in that larger bill was rampant. Can you imagine if they put something together on 24 hours notice and then put it on the floor of the chamber? How many provisions like that would be in a bill like that? I guess they would be writing this right now, or they would have been writing it last night. I mean, I know that they put that together, or they could use a piece that's already been passed, the legislative text? Well, so they would have to do two things. The only bill that would be ready for a final vote on the floor of the House today, Jordan, would be that bipartisan bill that passed the Senate in August. They could theoretically bring that bill up and pass it across the floor today. I don't know how they would begin moving this larger $1.75 trillion bill. I think what they would do, Jordan, is take that larger framework that passed out of the Budget Committee and maybe just literally strike through the provisions that they're removing and begin the procedural process.

Maybe they'd put it in front of the Rules Committee and report a rule out for it and then try to vote on it over the weekend. But Jordan, that bill is not going to be able to be finished and across the floor in the House of Representatives today. Speaker Pelosi is going to try to cut a deal and convince liberals that whatever process she started is going to finish.

But Jordan, I haven't seen them trust her yet, so color me skeptical that she can accomplish that. Andy, to me, this is, again, President Biden, he's putting his presidency on the line about this. I don't think that's, it's not where the American people are. He thinks that they can keep the House in sit if they pass something like this. But on the flip side, what we do know, and I think the Democrats do know as well, too, if you start handing out money to American people, you can ever, in those programs. No, I think Senator Rubio was correct when he said in the clip that we played that if you get a socialized program out there and you start giving and handing money away for senior services, child tax credits, electrical plugging stations, et cetera, and I listened to the litany of things that he said. Once you start handing government money away, it's very hard to repeal it and to take it back or to stop it, because once that train has left the station, it's almost impossible to stop it.

You can look at Social Security, and more recently, you can look at the Affordable Care Act. I mean, we said the Republican majority is still trying to undo that. Once you start giving these out, programs out to the American people, even if it starts out not exactly how you want, if you give anything away, people are very tough. On both sides of the aisle, I will tell you, very tough to get them to give that up.

So that's why, again, when these bastards' spinning goes through, it can change culture and change society. So we have to be on top of it. We are the ACLJ, and we will talk to you tomorrow. For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights, in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at ACLJ.org, where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today. ACLJ.org.