Well, welcome, ladies and gentlemen

to this edition of The 700 Club.

My my, is the EU going to break apart?

Is France the linchpin of that fated organization?

We're going to find out.

After years of a weak economy under a socialist president,

the people in France say, "We're fed up."

And so none of the mainstream candidates

made it to the final cut.

They voted for two candidates who

have very different visions for the future of their country.

Those two are headed for a runoff election,

and the French will choose the winner on May 7th.

Dale Hurd brings us the story.

Viva la France!

DALE HURD (VOICEOVER): 39-Year-old centrist Emmanuel

Macron and right-wing populist Marine Le

Pen will face off in the second round

of France's presidential election in two weeks.

Both are political outsiders, but Le Pen

is the candidate who really scares the establishment,

because she wants a revolution in French government policy.

A first round victory doesn't necessarily

mean final victory for Le Pen.

But final victory would send shockwaves across Europe,

and around the world.

DALE HURD (VOICEOVER): Because Le Pen

wants France to leave the European Union,

dump the Euro currency, quit NATO, and close the borders.

She's also an economic protectionist.

Macron, a former investment banker,

styles himself as pro-business and pro-European Union.

In his victory speech, he told supporters,

"I will be the president of the patriots

against the nationalist threat."

Le Pen and her supporters talk as if this is the last chance

to save France.

She said, "What is at stake in this election

is savage globalization, which jeopardizes our civilization."

The French political establishment immediately

urged voters to block Le Pen in the runoff, saying her policies

would spell disaster for France.

Like last month's Dutch election,

the French runoff will be a referendum on membership

in the European Union--

one the polls see the pro-EU Macron will win easily.

Dale Hurd, CBN news.

Well, it looks like Macron is way ahead of Le Pen.

But we'll just see.

I mean, the revolution could still take place.

It took place here in America.

Is France going to be a mirror image?

Well, here at home, the White House and Congress

are trying to avoid a government shutdown this weekend.

But they're facing a roadblock, which

I think is totally unnecessary.

John Jessup has that.

Pat, that roadblock involves whether or not

Congress will include funding for President Trump's

request for a border wall.

That request could throw a monkey wrench

into this week's talks to meet the Friday budget deadline.

Caitlin Burke has this look at where things stand.

CAITLIN BURKE (VOICEOVER): It's shaping up

to be a tough week on Capitol Hill.

The deadline to avoid government shutdown is Friday night.

President Trump wants funding for the border

wall between the US and Mexico to be

included in a spending measure that

would keep the government open.

That's prompted a possible standoff

between the Trump administration and lawmakers

from both parties--

particularly Democrats who oppose the wall.

I don't think he said he was going

to pass billions of dollars of cost of the wall

onto the taxpayer.

To think that he would consider shutting down

the government of the United States of America

over this outlandish proposal of a border wall--

I think that's a fight worth having,

and a conversation and a debate worth having for 2018.

But we cannot shut down the government right now.

We want our priorities funded.

And one of the biggest priorities during the campaign

was border security-- keeping Americans safe.

And part of that was a border wall.

CAITLIN BURKE (VOICEOVER): And there's

more coming from the president this week,

as the White House is also planning

to release the outlines of his tax cut plan

to boost the economy.

The moves come as a new ABC-Washington Post

poll shows that President Trump has a 42% approval rating.

That's the lowest of the last 13 presidents

at this point in their administrations.

But the poll wasn't all bad news for the president.

It also showed that if the election were held today,

Trump would still beat Hillary Clinton 43 to 40%

in the popular vote among people who voted last year.

Trump responded to the poll on Twitter,

posting, "New polls out today are very good

considering the media is fake."

Polls aside, the president and congressional Republicans

are going to be working hard this week

to make sure they avoid a shutdown of the government.

Caitlin Burke, CBN News.

Thanks, Caitlin.

Pat, there's some talk of a stopgap measure

to give Washington more time to reach a deal.

Of course, they're going to have to do that.

They'll probably put a stopgap budget in.

But listen, ladies and gentlemen,

you know, this border wall--

I mean, hey, it's kind of nice.

But it's impractical.

You know, you can't build a wall.

I mean, the whole southern part of the United States--

you've got to go across rivers and canyons and all

the rest of it.

And those people that are trying to get in,

they'll figure out ways.

Electronic would probably do it, or surveillance with drones.

There's a number of ways to shut off the flow of migrants.

As a matter of fact, they've already

shut it off considerably.

But please, Mr. President, don't make this the prevailing issue.

Let's get tax cuts.

Let's get a reform of Obamacare quickly.

These are the two signature issues

that will make a difference in the election.

And then later on down the wall--

I mean, down the way-- if you've got enough votes, well,

by all means, put something through for a few billion bucks

on this wall.

But the big place to put there is an infrastructure

bill, where you're going to redo the bridges

and highways and overpasses and all that, and just kind of slip

in a few billion dollars for border m and you've got it

made.

You don't have to do it.

But goodness gracious, do not shut down the government.

It will not play well in the election.

John.

Pat, one issue that isn't getting much attention right

now--

interest payments on the government's

enormous national debt.

Rates have been incredibly low in recent years.

But they'll inevitably start rising again.

And when that happens it will mean the cost of those interest

payments will be much, much higher.

And that could be an expensive proposition for Washington,

and as Jenna Browder reports, for you, the taxpayer.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): It's a grim picture.

$20 trillion in national debt, with interest payments

about to go up, making that debt even more expensive.

Right now, we're, you know, just a couple

of percent of the budget.

By the end of 10 years, it's going to be over 6% or 7%

of the budget--

almost $770 billion a year for the national defense.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): Justin Bogie

with the Heritage Foundation says

government estimates show the national debt could nearly

double by 2046.

There's plenty of blame to go around, unfortunately.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): He says the finger-pointing starts

with lawmakers who have promised to scale back spending,

but failed to make it happen.

Some financial experts also blame former President Obama.

During his administration the national debt roughly doubled.

And with the Federal Reserve's record low interest rates,

it was easy to keep kicking the can down the road.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): The buck's

now been passed to President Trump.

If we don't do anything, it's just

going to keep getting worse.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): Bogie says

the time to cut spending and start

dealing with this exploding debt is now.

You know, at some point, something's got to give.

And the options are really to either cut programs

in a big way, or to increase taxes in a big way.

So the longer that we put off changes,

the longer that we delay entitlement reform

and spending reforms and all these things,

then the higher the likelihood that there

will be a tax increase.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): He doesn't think

raising taxes is the answer.

But if Washington fails to change the way it spends,

it could happen.

And given the turmoil around the world--

So when you have issues surfacing in Syria,

North Korea, other parts of the world,

then that's a major problem and a big concern for-- it should

be for all Americans.

JENNA BROWDER (VOICEOVER): There are too many

other big fish to fry for the United States

to be swimming in its own debt.

In Washington, Jenna Browder, CBN News.

Pat, as Jenna just said, we have a lot of other big fish

to fry.

You know, the last president said

deficits really don't matter.

Do you think they don't?

You know, debt doesn't matter?

Well, we kind of owe it to ourselves-- yeah, sure--

$20 trillion.

And people have been warning about this.

You know, there was a very excellent proposal.

A group was put together by Obama

that featured two brilliant lawmakers-- one,

actually, a senator, the other an economist

and former educator.

And they gave a proposal that would have brought

this whole thing down and had a soft landing over a few years

that would have been brilliant.

They just ignored it.

And Congress has spent as if there's no tomorrow.

It doesn't matter.

And this group needs money, and that group needs money.

And we need to fund this, and we need to fund the other.

And there's so much waste and obscene cut-outs

in the federal budget, it makes you sick at your stomach.

And nobody has called a halt. Well,

the time is going to come that the world markets are going

to call a halt. The American currency

is going to lose its status as the reserve

currency of the world.

And all of a sudden, we are going

to be treated like third world country.

And the pain is going to be extraordinary.

What we just showed you--

the interest on that monstrous $20 trillion dollars

will be in excess of the total spending

on defense in the United States.

And it means discretionary programs will be thrown

out the window automatically.

And you just wonder--

all these people that make these speeches about, "Well, we

can't do this on the backs of the poor," and all that stuff.

We've got to get our house in order.

If we love the poor, we don't go bankrupt.

You don't help the poor people if you bankrupt your country.

But so far, there's not been any voice of reason.

But as I say, that Simpson-Bowles proposal

was so excellent-- totally ignored.

Well, maybe our grandchildren will live to see it.

I've got 10 great grandchildren--

10.

They will have to pay the pay the price of what

the profligacy of this particular generation--

we're not loading it on the backs of the poor.

We're loading it on the backs of our grandchildren

and great grandchildren.

John?

Pat, Chinese president Xi Jinping called for restraint

in dealing with North Korea during a phone

call with President Trump this morning,

according to Chinese state media.

Xi told Trump that China strongly opposed North Korea's

nuclear weapons program.

And he said he hoped that, quote,

"all parties will exercise restraint and avoid aggravating

the situation on the Korean peninsula."

His phone call came after rumors that Pyongyang

could hold a sixth nuclear test this week,

and after North Korea detained another American--

58-year-old professor Tony Kim taught at--

taught accounting, rather-- at Pyongyang University

of Science and Technology for about a month.

Officials detained him Saturday as he and his wife

were trying to leave on a flight to China.

The regime is already holding at least two other Americans.

North Korea also announced this week

that they are, quote, "ready to sink the USS Vinson aircraft

carrier," which, Pat, will arrive

in the region within the next few days.

You know, you ask yourself--

all parties must exercise restraint?

Don't aggravate the situation any further?

The United States isn't aggravating anything.

All we're trying to do is to keep that madman

from blowing us up.

And then, you know-- so we must exercise restraint?

Please.