Ted Cruz Shuts Down Federal Voting Bill – New Pro-Life Bills Signed And More – Tune in to hear some amazing stories today! Senator Ted Cruz shuts down federal voting bill, new pro-life legislation is passed and much more!

Air Date: 09/24/2021

On-air Personalities: David Barton, Rick Green, and Tim Barton

Listen:

Download: Click Here

Transcription note:  As a courtesy for our listeners’ enjoyment, we are providing a transcription of this podcast. Transcription will be released shortly. However, as this is transcribed from a live talk show, words and sentence structure were not altered to fit grammatical, written norms in order to preserve the integrity of the actual dialogue between the speakers. Additionally, names may be misspelled or we might use an asterisk to indicate a missing word because of the difficulty in understanding the speaker at times. We apologize in advance.

 

Rick:

Welcome to the intersection of faith and the culture. It’s WallBuilders Live. And of course, we’re talking about the hot topics of the day, but we’re looking at those topics from a biblical, historical, and constitutional perspective. And you can be a part of that. You can send in questions to [email protected] We cover those on Thursdays, that’s Foundations of Freedom Thursdays. Today, of course, it’s Friday, so it’s Good News Friday. We’re going to be getting some of that good news in just a few minutes.

But we’re so thankful for you being a part of this and listening. Be sure to visit that website wallbuilderslive.com, and consider making a one-time or monthly donation. This is a listener-supported program. So all this good news that we bring, the interviews throughout the week, the constitutional training, all of those things, it happens because of you and your donation. So thank you, thank you to all of you across the country. There’s so many of you, they give on a monthly basis. Sometimes it’s one-time, but all of you that give, thank you very much for investing in freedom. When you do that, you’re investing in freedom, you’re investing in having pastors go through our pastors briefing and training, you’re investing in young leaders that go through Patriot Academy and the leadership training program, you’re investing in all of these different, folks, legislators, we do a legislator training. So every time you donate, you’re helping to get a good result out there in the culture.

And that’s part of why our Good News Fridays are always packed with good news. It’s because of people that have made it possible for us to help restore the biblical foundations in communities across the country. So thank you to every one of you out there that have donated so far. And God bless you for considering going to wallbuilderslive.com today and donating if it’s your first time or if you’ve donated in the past.

Alright, David and Tim, let’s dive into that. Good news. David, what’s our first piece of good news today?

David:

I want to go back to something that happened a few weeks ago, we didn’t talk about it at the time, it’s worth talking about. And I want to give a shout out for what happened here. So go back to the beginning of August. August is the time that the US Congress takes a recess. Basically, they take August off, and they take December off. So when it comes to the end of July, they try to get all the work done and then they go home for what they call a district period, they go home to their home districts for a month.

And so usually, what happens in that last bit, you just cram in everything that needs to be done, you name all the post office as you want to name, you get all the resolutions passed. And a lot of times you go through what’s called unanimous consent. And Rick, you remember this, you can explain it better than I can. But essentially, that’s when you just start running through a whole bunch of stuff that says, look, let’s just cut to the chase, we all agree that it’s okay. Call the post office, whatever you want to call it. So you got a resolution that says, hey, we agree that the sun comes up in the east and goes down in the west, and I move that this resolution be passed by unanimous consent. And so you don’t go through the committees, you avoid all the process. And it just cuts to the chase.

Well, because of the way things are in DC, you now want to make sure you always get someone sitting in the chamber at all times, no matter how perfunctory this stuff may seem because Democrats are trying to slip and stuff on unanimous consent that are huge, huge measures and things that if you’re not paying attention, nobody objected and so they can… Is there a unanimous consent, hearing no objection, unanimous consent, it can be done that fast, just gavel in. And if somebody doesn’t stand and shout really quick that they object, then you’re going to have a problem.

And so what happened is they were going through all this last round of stuff in the Senate back in late July. It was a really super late session. It’s gone into the morning, and it’s just dragging on and on. And as you recall, last week in Good News Friday, we talked about how the Democrats fled Texas, went to DC, they fled Texas, because they said hey, we don’t like the voting legislation that’s being done in Texas, we’ll go to DC.

Well, in DC, you have the federal voting legislation that federalizes all elections. It would stop what was going on in Texas. And that’s one of the reasons that the Texas Democrats went to DC was they want the federal government to stop all the election laws that Texas was trying to pass and the Georgia passed and that Pennsylvania passed. We want all this stuff stopped. So there they are in DC.

And what happened was in that last overnight session, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat from New York, he requested unanimous consent from the Senate to immediately consider the For the People Act. Now the For the People Act is the name of that legislation they have that federalizes all elections. And so this is just supposed to slip through, nobody’s even paying attention. I’m so bored with what’s gone for the last five hours.

But Ted Cruz happened to be sitting there on the floor, and he sat there for things just like this. And when he heard that, he stood up and objected, which meant they could not just shove it through. They’ve got to go back to committed. They got to do the regular process. They got to have all the normal votes. They got to do everything. And he literally kept that bill from passing in the Senate, and the House has already passed it, Biden would have signed it.

So you’re looking at what could have become a law that would have concluded federal takeover of state elections. And Ted Cruz said no, wouldn’t do it. And then Schumer then proposed unanimous consent for two more proposals on redistricting and campaign financing, and Ted Cruz also said absolutely not. He objected to those. So those things got stopped at the last minute because Ted was paying attention.

And it’s interesting that so many Democrats across the nation and states where Republicans have won elections are looking to the Democrats in DC to bail out the consequences of the voters of those states, like Texas, or Oklahoma or wherever else it is. And as we pointed out last week, it’s interesting that Republicans are in the minority in a number of states, and they don’t use the same kind of really screwed up thinking to say, hey, we want the feds to take it over; so the Republicans win every election every state regardless how the people voted.

And the good news is that even though it was a very boring time in the Senate, a lot of perfunctory stuff being done so that we can all go home to the district, Ted Cruz was still there, and he was paying attention and he got those three measures shut down so they did not become federal law.

Rick:

Yeah, and I got to tell you, David, I mean, if you appreciate rules and protocol and procedure, and all of those things, this story really does irk you, because it was definitely, you know, there was a time when you respected your colleagues enough that you wouldn’t try to sneak something like this through and it’s really considered dirty pool what they did. So I’m with you all the way on this. Thank the good Lord for Ted Cruz and for him understanding the rules and also being so vigilant and steadfast that he was there. What time was it, like four in the morning, would you say?

David:

Oh, it was some early single digit hour of the morning. I don’t even remember what it was. But thank you, Ted, for defending all Americans to have the right to choose who they want in their states without the feds telling us how to do that.

Rick:

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Alright, Tim, what’s our next piece of good news?

Tim:

Well, this one is coming from Oklahoma, and it deals with the prolife issue, something that we have seen some positive movement on even in the midst of the challenging times we’re in. In Oklahoma, the Republican Governor Kevin Stitt has vowed that any piece of prolife legislation that reached his desk he would sign. And in September, he was joined by Susan B. Anthony, President, Marjorie Dannenfelser, and he signed nine of these pieces of legislation into law and it dealt with things.

Just looking at the list of nine to protect babies from abortion, once the unborn child’s heartbeat is detected, safeguard women and girls from dangerous chemical, abortion, drugs, require regulations on chemical abortion drugs to be processed through the State Board of Pharmacy, which seems to make sense, require abortions to be board certified and obstetrics and gynecology label abortion under state statute as a procedure of unprofessional conduct. That’s interesting. So abortion is now listed under unprofessional conduct in Oklahoma, which it is, that’s great. Restore Oklahoma’s prohibition on abortion if Roe vs. Wade is overturned, which is great to see those trigger bills coming out.

Number seven to protect relinquished children by extending the timeframe: they can be relinquished to rescuers and direct OSDH to award grants for newborns to be placed in a baby box. Number eight, require birthing centers and other medical facilities to keep written policy to better honor the remains of a child who was stillborn or miscarried. And number nine, prohibit fetal trafficking.

These are all things and actually looking at this list, a lot of these things would seem very common sense and not even really controversial, even though I’m sure there was a lot of fighting in the legislative body between the two parties as it’s being passed. But here’s what Governor Stitt said, he said “I promised Oklahomans I would sign every piece of prolife legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise. As a father of six, it’s an honor to be the most prolife governor in the country. And I will always step up to protect the lives of unborn children.”

And guys, we’ve talked about it even joked about how it would be great to come to a time in America, where even between the Republican and Democrat party you were having parties vying for who was going to be the most constitutional, who’s going to be the most godly, who’s going to be the most biblical. Why even like this notion from Governor Stitt that he says he is going to be the most prolife governor in all of America. That’s a really great title to have. And I hope there’s other governors who want to take him on in that competition and challenge him for that because that just means more prolife laws are being passed around the nation. Among prolife laws being passed, but this one is a little different.

This is something that came from a county. And we’ve seen a lot of counties throughout the nation, actually a lot of Texas counties who have come out as being sanctuaries for the unborn. This is in Polk County, Arkansas, which is the Northwest area of Arkansas, and they came out and voted unanimously to declare their county is prolife. And so again, you’re seeing a lot of positive movement attraction in the prolife area or in the protection and preservation of the unborn or yet to be born lives. And again, in the midst of a lot of challenges in our nation, there is still a lot of really good things happening.

Rick:

Alright, guys, time for one more good news story before we hit the break. David, you got that story.

David:

Yeah, we’ve talked in previous years, even how that it was such a thing that we were pleased with President Trump on how many constitutional people he put into judicial offices. And they weren’t political people. They were constitutional and close friends like Kelly Shackelford and others were able to advise president on which of these guys really do understand the Constitution, etc. And so we’re seeing the results of that.

So I’m going to run through just a quick handful of cases here. But what happens is the US Supreme Court ended the federal eviction moratorium. The Biden administration said, hey, you cannot kick people out of homes because they can’t pay rent; because of COVID, people haven’t been able to go back to work. Now, wait a minute, let’s stop for a minute. You’ve been giving people free money so they wouldn’t have to go back to work, and now you’re telling private owners of homes that you cannot evict people who don’t pay? That’s not the federal government’s decision to say that I own your home, and I’m going to say who can and can’t be evicted. It’s just crazy.

But the federal overreach of the federal government doing that, Biden administration said you cannot evict people from their homes because they can’t pay and they’re blaming it on COVID, and you know, employment is still way back up high, and so that’s not a good reason. But the US Supreme Court said, no, you can’t do that. That’s overreach. The federal government does not have the authority to control what happens with private housing. And then the US Supreme Court turned around and did the same thing in New York.

Now, New York has been really hard hit with COVID. And so New York City, I mean, they’re having tough economic times. It’s still a super expensive place to live. But there are now so many people who have left the city, they moved out. Businesses are gone. Real estate is hard, being able to rent all the stuff that’s there. And so because of the bad economics that’s happened in New York, and so many people live in the state, the state of New York issued the same kind of banned that if you’re a property owner, you cannot kick someone out and so there has to be a moratorium on evictions. You can’t kick people out if they’re not paying rent.

The US Supreme Court did the same thing there, said no, you can’t do that. Government cannot take over private housing, private property. Then the US Supreme Court also rejected Biden’s bid to delay the remain-in Mexico border policy. That’s what Trump had done on immigration. And so a lower court judge had struck that down and said Biden cannot do that.

And by the way, when that came out, it was reported at the time that this is striking down the Biden policy, and it’s showing the Trump is right. And that was not what happened. The federal judge says, look, you can’t just issue an executive order to change something that was put in a legal manner, you have to follow federal law. If you don’t like what’s happening with remain-in Mexico policy, follow the law to change it. But you can just unilaterally say, well, we’re not going to enforce the law.

So that’s what the lower court judge had said, is you have to follow the process. And a lot of reporters picked up on that and said, hey, the judges ruled against Biden and for Trump, and that’s not what happened. He said, follow the law. And that’s what we want from a good constitutional judge is follow the law; doesn’t matter who the President is, follow the law. And so the US Supreme Court upheld that judge and said, yeah, follow the law. That’s what you’re supposed to do is follow the law.

So the Biden administration had said, well, you know, we don’t want to have to do that. We want to be able, [inaudible 13:26] that policy in the Supreme Court said, no, you can. And then you also have a federal judge that said, look, you cannot put a limit on the number of law breakers you arrest. You got all these people breaking the law coming across the border, and you’re saying, well, maybe there’s 100,000 a month coming across and we’re only going to risk 5,000, or some artificial arbitrary number. And the judge says you have to uphold the law. You don’t get to pick and choose winners and losers. And you don’t get to say we’re only going to arrest certain amount of law breakers a month. So the federal judge has ruled against the Biden administration and that as well.

And again, this is not just showing the Biden administration is doing silly stuff. This is showing that judges are actually upholding the law and that we want you to follow the law. That’s what the courts are supposed to do.

And the final one is that Texas had passed this heartbeat law that said, seven weeks there abouts, we’re not going to have abortions after seven weeks, and that was appealed to US Supreme Court. And the US Supreme Court did not put a stay against that law. They let it go into effect. So they’re not blocking that law, which has been the thing they’ve done for the last 20 years essentially. Any attempt by state to go beyond Roe v. Wade, they’ve stopped. This time the Supreme Court did not, which is probably really good signal that they’re about to loosen the restrictions that are there through Roe v. Wade. So there’s, I don’t know, 6, 7, 8 cases real quick on federal courts doing some really good stuff on following the law, following the Constitution.

Rick:

Man we could go the rest of the program with no more good news and already have overload, that’s really good stuff. Guys, let’s take a quick break, we’ll be right back. We do it I have more good news for you. Thanks for staying with us. We’ll be right back on WallBuilders Live.

AMERICAN HISTORY

Hi, friends, this is Tim Barton of WallBuilders. This is a time when most Americans don’t know much about American history or even heroes of the faith. And I know oftentimes we, parents, we’re trying to find good content for our kids to read.

And if you remember back to the Bible, to the book of Hebrews, it has the faith Hall of Fame where they outline the leaders of faith that had gone before them. Well, this is something that as Americans, we really want to go back and outline some of these heroes, not just of American history, but heroes of Christianity in our faith as well.

I want to let you know about some biographical sketches we have available on our website. One is called The Courageous Leaders collection. And this collection includes people like Abigail Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Francis Scott Key, George Washington Carver, Susanna Wesley, even the Wright brothers. And there’s a second collection called Heroes of History. In this collection, you’ll read about people like Benjamin Franklin or Christopher Columbus, Daniel Boone, George Washington, Harriet Tubman; friends, the list goes on and on. This is a great collection for your young person to have and read and it’s a providential view of American and Christian history. This is available at www.wallbuilders.com. That’s www.wallbuilders.com.

Rick:

We’re back here on WallBuilders Live. Thanks for staying with us on this Good News Friday. Next piece of good news coming from Tim Barton.

Tim:

Alright guys, this is what it looks like it’s coming out of Florida. It’s from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. And we’ve talked many times on Good News Friday about how so often there are officers doing really good things to serve and help people. And unfortunately, the culture we’ve lived in for the last several years has highlighted moments where they’ve tried to identify police officers doing something bad. And we’ve actually seen an uptick of individuals trying to ambush and murder police officers really bad things.

And so we’ve talked about, there are so many good stories of police officers or Sheriffs, Sheriff’s deputies doing really positive things. And this is one of those stories. So Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office actually released part of the story. And again, it looks like this is down in Florida. But there was a woman who was working at Carrabba’s Italian Grill. And the Sheriff’s department periodically would host events and apparently they catered. And that’s where they initially met this woman.

And this lady had gone through a hard time where her vehicle, the rear axle had broken and so she had it towed back to her apartment. And she didn’t have the money to get it fixed right away, so she was trying to save up money. But the owner of the apartment complex said, hey, you can’t leave that broken vehicle down there, you need to get rid of it. And so she didn’t have the money to fix it. So she just essentially sold it for parts. And then she was having to Uber every morning to work. She would work all day and then she would walk home at night, so as to save money.

And in the midst of this, the officers found out what she was doing. And one of the things the sheriffs said was that they often are identified as having to come in and help solve crimes or stop people from doing bad things. He said, but really, we want to serve the community. And so when we find out there’s a need, if we can help, we want to help. And so the Sheriff’s office began making phone calls, trying to find if there was a way they get a vehicle for this young woman.

And they called actually a towing service, a towing company was one of the organizations or one of the businesses that reached out to. The towing company said absolutely, we can help. And so they got her a SUV. They were able to make a gift of it to her, she was emotional, so excited. Now they posted a picture and told part of the story on their Facebook page, which of course then went viral. And that’s part of where this article came from.

But one of the things that again, we’ve talked about so often are so many of the men and women that are first responders, that serve as law enforcement officials, that serve as sheriffs, they are people who are wanting to help make the community or serving better. They’re trying to help make the world they live in a better place. They’re willing to lay their life down to serve other people. And there are so many examples of this.

And this just one really funny example from Hillsborough County where the sheriff’s office saw a woman in need and said we want to help do what we can. And they actually help find this woman a car so she didn’t have to Uber and then walk home from work each day. So this is a good piece of news coming out of Hillsborough County.

Rick:

Alright, next piece of good news. David, we still got time for more. Go for it.

David:

This is coming out of Texas. And it relates to kind of what I talked about in the last segment is that the federal courts are saying hey, uphold the laws, follow the federal laws, follow the constitution. Well, one of the things where that has not been happening is with immigration issues.

The Biden administration has just put their foot down and said we’re not going to do that. And while we are going to require vaccinations for all Americans, we’re not going to require that for illegal aliens crossing the border. And by the way, we’re not requiring them for congressman or for those in the federal government. It’s crazy ridiculous.

So nonetheless, you look at the border and what’s happening, they’re letting people come across just like an open sieve. And there are so many crimes being committed as a result. Just looking at Texas, Governor Abbott did a report and then I’ve got an article here that is looking at the various crimes that are committed by the tens of thousands here in Texas, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, illegal trafficking, illegal crossings, human smuggling, vehicle theft, property damage, fence cutting, hauling dope and small kids, destroying fences and water pipes, leaving water faucets on, breaking into homes and vehicles, and etc. And you know, it’s just tough for a lot of people.

And by the way, how big is Texas? Texas is so big that one of the ranches on the border where these illegals are coming through, that one ranch has 16 miles of international border on its ranch. That’s a big ranch, I mean, 16 miles. But nonetheless, as these guys are coming across into private property, they’re just destroying stuff everywhere they go and the federal government is not stopping that and they’re not reimbursing the property owners for the damage.

So what’s happened is, Governor Abbott said, look, we’re going to make it where that people do not want to illegally cross into Texas. We’re going to start enforcing these laws that the feds won’t. Now, we can’t keep you from coming in necessarily. But once you get here, we can arrest you for trespassing on private property and for criminal mischief, and for what you’re doing and breaking into vehicles or breaking into homes or whatever.

And so they’ve started that, and they’ve actually had to come up with several new jails or new prisons here in Texas to handle all these that they’re arresting. And they want to send the signal that we’re going to enforce the law and you really don’t want to cross the border coming into Texas. Because if you do, although the federal government may let you come in, we’re going to arrest you for breaking state laws. And so this is a really good effort to uphold laws that should be upheld. The feds should uphold federal laws, but the feds are not doing that. So the state is saying well, we’ll uphold the state laws that should be supporting the federal laws and we’ll get kind of the same result out of this thing. He can’t hold the sentences long, and there’s just a lot of things that are not the same, but it is still a deterrent.

And it really is nice to see people who want to uphold the laws. And by the way, if you think a law is bad, don’t just ignore it, repeal it. Go ahead and do the legislative process, say get this law off the books, this is not a good law, or let’s change it. But you don’t just go through and pick and choose what laws you want to follow. So this is really good on the part of Texas that they’re stepping up to say we’re going to enforce our state laws, and we’re not going to ignore people who break the state laws.

Rick:

Alright, Tim, we got time for one more piece of good news before we close out today.

Tim:

Alright, guys, this is just some interesting teaser, but I think really positive things along the way. Certainly, we have heard different things from President Trump, former President Trump who there’s been some talk about teasing a run for 2024. But one of the things that I think is an interesting announcement was the article says “Trump launches new National Faith Advisory Board with Paula White at helm”.

And one of the things that was big under the Trump administration was there were a lot of religious individuals, specifically pastors, but you had some Jewish leaders, some rabbis, people of different faiths, but you had individuals who were a faith based organization who did have a chance to interact with Trump. You might call them advisors, but the reality was they were able to get some face time with Trump, they were able to have conversations. And Trump has said, hey, we need to restore some of this faith position in America.

And so Paula White is now back at the helm. She was one of the leaders back under his administration. And what’s interesting is when you look at what’s been going on with the Biden administration, and really, a lot of the anti-faith agenda or maybe even anti-Christian agenda under the Biden administration. And from the White House, specifically from the disregard for a lot of faith based things, it’s interesting that there was a phone call from President Trump and a lot of these religious leaders who had been part of the former alliance.

One of the things that was pointed out was there was unprecedented victories, influence, and access to President Trump. This is what Paul White said to President Trump during his term in office. And that’s something that at this point, no religious leaders or faith leaders have that any access or given any recognition under President Biden. And President Trump ended up being on that phone call with all those leaders. And one of the things he pointed out, he said, “One of my greatest honors, was fighting for religious liberty, and for defending the Judeo-Christian values and principles of our nation’s founding.”

And I think it’s super interesting, guys, we’ve talked about it many times that we would not have picked President Trump initially to be one of the greatest defenders of religious liberty or have conservative or Judeo-Christian or biblical or constitutional principles and values. And yet, this was that guy and we’ve talked before about how maybe you know, he could be like that Samson where he’s rough on the outside, but he fought for God’s people, and God’s people were better when he was there fighting for them.

It’s just interesting to see that Trump is now advocating to get faith back in a significant position again, and this could, again, be a tease for him running for president in 2024. Nonetheless, it’s great to see that he’s encouraging a National Faith Advisory Board to go back into effect.

Rick:

Alright, folks, make sure you tune in next Friday to get more good news. We’ve got some of it on our website right now. If you want to go back into the archives and grab some of the Friday programs in previous weeks, it’s all available at wallbuilderslive.com. We appreciate you being a part of that. We want to encourage you to help create good news in your community. You can be the catalyst for a restoration of biblical values and constitutional principles. Go to Biblicalcitizens.com today, get signed up for our course. As a coach, you actually host the class in your home or your living room, or a community center, wherever you choose. You can do that today for free. Go to Biblicalcitizens.com, get signed up as a coach, you will enjoy hosting these classes.

I’m telling you every week, people get hope, they get to learn things that they’ve never known. They knew in their gut America was a good country, but all the lies over the last couple years, it really helps to get to the truth. And when you get to see David and Tim teaching on these things, Kirk Cameron, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Mat Staver, Congressman Barry Loudermilk, all of these folks teaching the true history of America and teaching a biblical perspective on how to be a good citizen, it’s a powerful, powerful time. You be the host, you’ll be the catalyst in your community, go to biblicalcitizens.com today.

Thanks so much for listening to WallBuilders Live.