(soft tense music)

- [John] Tonight, delay for a deal.

The president pushingback his overseas trip

for a trip to Capitol Hill.

- [Reporter] Mr. President,

are you gonna have a bill in hand?

- [John] In order to headto Rome and then to Glasgow

with a multi-trilliondollar framework in hand.

- Pay your fair share.

- [John] Plus, the economygrows, but not by enough,

as the latest jobless numbers come in.

- [John] And.

- I'm an intersex person, you know,

and I had rights as such.

- The first person to receivean X on their US passport,

bypassing the checkbox for male or female.

All this and more tonighton "Faith Nation."

(rhythmic music)

- Let's get this done.

President Biden's parting wordsbefore traveling overseas.

Good evening and welcometo "Faith Nation."

I'm John Jessup.

The president delaying his departure

to a pair of global summit

so he could first visit the US Capitol

to tout the framework of a deal

on his Build Back Better agenda.

After months of intense negotiations,

Mr. Biden plainly telling fellow Democrats

he needs their votes.

The nearly $2 trillion planwould invest in families

and clean energy.

The big question, how to pay for it.

CBN's Brody Carter isfollowing the developments

on Capitol Hill.

Brody, we're already seeingsome support splintering.

- Well, John, it's not a done deal.

This framework could push that plan

closer to the finish line.

Still, it's clear, ittook wheeling and dealing

behind closed doors with keyDemocrats to get to this point.

- No one got everythingthey wanted, including me,

but that's what compromise is.

- [Brody] President Bidenput his travel plans on hold

to plead with Democrats tofinalize this compromise

of the bill, which hasbasically been cut in half

from $3 1/2 trillion dollars over 10 years

to an estimated 1.75 trillion.

- The agenda that's in these bills

is what 81 million Americans voted for.

- [Brody] Holdouts likeSenators Joe Manchin

and Kyrsten Sinema agreed on key points,

which include more thanhalf a trillion dollars

to fight climate change,and on the social side,

providing universal pre-K,

extending the child tax credit for a year,

and measures Democrats saywill reduce healthcare premiums

and in-home care waiting lists.

- These are not about left versus right

or moderate versus progressive

or anything else that pitsAmericans against one other.

This is about competitivenessversus complacency.

It's about leading the world.

We're letting the world pass us by.

- Democrats are still working out

how to pay for the new spending.

The highlights include proposed new taxes

that would hit businesses,including a 15% minimum

for many large corporations,and 15% profits

from other countries.

Wealthy individuals

making more than 10 millionannually will be hit,

and IRS enforcement will be increased.

Mr. Biden acknowledged thatsome parts of his agenda

will not get done in thecurrent round of legislation,

including free community college

and federal paid family leave,

along with loweringprescription drug prices.

John, back to you.

- All right, thank you,CBN's Brody Carter.

For more now, we turn to CBN News

Chief Political Analyst David Brody.

David, with the framework announced,

more legislative text being dished out

even right now into the evening hours,

no Republican buy-in, and dubious support

from progressive Democrats who complained

a lot of their priorities are missing

in the $1.7 trillion plan,

David, how far is this from a done deal?

- Oh, it's very far from a done deal

for all those reasons you mentioned, John.

Look, we're getting word

that there's about 2,400 pagesor so, a little bit more,

that of course is in the committee stage,

and then eventually will go to the floor.

The sense here is that Nancy Pelosi

will hold some sort ofvote later this evening.

And there's also a sense thatshe will hold the vote open.

In other words, let it rip.

She's on the House floor.

The bill's on the House floor

and it just stays openuntil they can actually get

the amount of congressmen,Democrats specifically,

to pass this bill.

That's kind of where we'reat and it's interesting.

But I gotta tell you, ultimately,

they've got a lot of work to do.

Those progressives just are not happy,

and they've got to havethat infrastructure bill,

the hard infrastructure bill

along with thereconciliation bill together.

They need two votes back to back.

That's what they want.

- Well David, as youwere just talking about,

the framework is attachedto the long-stalled

bipartisan infrastructure deal.

Do the Democrats

even have enough votesto pass infrastructure

by the time President Biden lands in Italy

to meet with the Pope?

- No. I don't think so.

That's not gonna happen.

I think it's going tobe very, very difficult.

'Cause remember, evenif the House passes it,

then it's gotta go into a reconciliation,

or I say reconciliation,gotta go into a committee

with the Senate to work outdifferences in both bills.

There're gonna be a few differences

and so it'll be very hard.

And even if there weren't any differences,

let's say they, the House,passed the Senate bill,

it's still gonna be very, very tight

for Biden to actually have anactual victory to proclaim.

I don't see it happening, John, at all.

- So David, as far asWashington's composition,

Democrats control the House,they control the Senate,

and the White House.

What does the outcomeof these spending bills

say about their ability to govern?

- (chuckles) Well, youknow, this is the problem

when you have all threebranches of government,

or excuse me, all three, theSenate, House, and White House,

and you're not able to get much done.

As a matter of fact, it was Joe Biden

who's told Democrats today on the Hill,

"Look, we're gonna be out ofthe majority in the Senate

if we don't get thisdone and my presidency,"

those were the wordshe used, "my presidency

will be over after one termif we don't get this done."

And Nancy Pelosi actually sayingtoday to Democrats as well,

to say, "Look, do notembarrass the president

when I put this on the House floor

to not vote for it."

Basically, "It's gotta pass.

We don't want to embarrass the president

when he's overseas."

That's kind of what it's come down to.

It's a clown car, kind ofall over the place right now.

- That context about the foreign diplomacy

and how that weighs intothe domestic agenda,

- Yeah.- very, very astute there.

Thank you, CBN's ChiefPolitical Analyst David Brody.

Thanks, David.

- You bet.

- Well slow going tonighton the economic front.

The US economy on pace forthe worst quarter so far

in the COVID recovery.

The nation's gross domesticproduct, or total output,

declining sharply from the 6% growth rate

of the previous twoquarters in the recovery.

The 2% growth this quarterwell below the 2.8% annual rate

economists were expectingbetween July and September.

The good news, jobless claimshit a new pandemic era low

at just 281,000 claims.

Economists blame the Delta variant

and supply chain shortagesfor taking a major bite

out of economic growth.

And with confirmed cases declining

and more Americans venturing out to spend

as we approach the holidays,there is hope though

for GDP bounceback in thefinal quarter of the year.

Well joining me now, MarkHamrick, Washington bureau chief

and senior economic analyst at Bankrate.

Mark, nice to see you again tonight.

Democrats, as we just mentioned,announced that framework

for President Biden's spending plan.

Does it look like they'regoing to raise enough money

to pay for this?

And secondly, what effectwill the trillions in spending

have on the economy?

- Well, first of all,John, good to be with you.

That's what the supportersof the bill are saying.

And until the text of the legislation

is seeing the full light of day,

that's all we have togo by for the moment.

But that's a step in a direction

that Washington hasn'ttended to lean toward

in recent years, so Iwould say we'll take that

as at least a victory in thedirection of fiscal prudence.

So that could be scored as a win

just for those who are concerned

about burgeoning debt and deficits.

I think the more important question, John,

in terms of the directionof the economy really is,

does the infrastructure bill get passed?

Because we know we dohave continuing challenges

with the crumbling roads,bridges, highways, et cetera

in this country.

But in terms of addressing the climate,

that is a key issue in the legislation

that you're referencing at the top,

and really. we've seen precious little

coming out of Washington to address

this increasingly criticalissue for the planet,

and so I think that that is an issue

which most Americans, by the way,

a majority of Americansare concerned about,

and therefore, whether it's politically

or perhaps siding some aspect of science,

that does affect the economy,

and so that is something to watch as well.

- Mark, today's less thanstellar economic report

attributed to the Deltavariant, as we mentioned,

supply chain issues, among other things.

Mark, some argued failing to extend

those unemployment benefits would lead

to stalling out the economy.

Do those arguments, in youropinion, have any merit?

- No, that's totally unrelated, John.

The supply chaindisruptions are omnipresent.

And really, what we havein the economy right now

is a supply issue with respect to workers

as well as, essentially, goods.

You know, we had four straightquarters of 4% or better GDP.

Remember, in the secondquarter of early last year,

we had an annualizeddecline of more than 30%.

And so we're still working

to essentially repair that damage.

And the expectation, at least for now,

is that in the current fourth quarter,

we will get back abovean annualized rate of 4%.

The long-term trend for the US economy

has tended to be judged around 1.8 to 2%,

so it is disappointing.

It's below the recent trend.

And we're also really notoperating at potential

because there is sufficient demand.

There's not enough supply.

- You may have hinted at thisa little bit in your answer.

Amid today's report fromthe Commerce Department

showing that slower economic growth,

there is good news on the jobs front

and there are general expectations

that the economy will pick upagain in the fourth quarter.

What do you see? Do you agree with that?

- I do, but this supplychain issue has been one

that has essentiallycaught us by surprise.

It seems that it's actuallyeasier to close down the economy

than to open it back up.

And we still have consumers and businesses

who have been broadly focusedon goods and not services.

If we get internationaltravel jump-started,

if we can have business travel resume,

if we have people doingessentially all the things they did

before the pandemic, atleast to some degree,

that will help to get thisin a better situation.

Essentially, people wantto buy lots of things,

and all those things they want to buy,

they're not available,and if that sort of gets

into a better position here inthe final months of the year,

including as we get into theholiday season, we'll see.

But obviously, inflation,supply chain disruptions,

all that has been much worsethan anybody could see coming.

- Some things are justtoo difficult to predict.

Mark Hamrick, thank youso much for your time.

We always appreciate your insights.

- Thank you, John.

- Turning overseas,Taiwan's president says

the threat from China grows every day,

confirming for the first time

the presence of Americantroops on Taiwanese soil.

That's not the only alarming revelation.

China also recently testlaunched a hypersonic weapon

capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

America's top general, in aninterview with Bloomberg News,

compared the hypersonic weaponry,

which the US cannot now detect or defeat,

to the launch of the game-changingSoviet Sputnik satellite.

That gave the USSR an edge inthe space race back in 1957.

- That was a verysignificant event of a test

of a hypersonic weapon system.

And it is very concerning.

I don't know if it'squite a Sputnik moment,

but I think it's very close to that.

- [John] General Milley adding

that the new weapon is, quote,

"an enormous change inthe character of war."

Coming up, the US issuesa genderless passport.

The new option that allowsbypassing checkboxes

for male or female.

(uptempo music)

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credible news reporting.

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Because truth matters.

Weekdays at 5:00 on the CBN News Channel.

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- Welcome back.

"A farce that flaunts God."

That's Franklin Graham's response

to the State Department's historic move

after issuing its firstnon-binary passport.

The passholder doesn'tidentify as male or female,

instead marked X for gender.

- I'm an intersex person, you know,

and I had rights as such.

- [John] Dana Zyymm, now the first person

to receive a non-binary passport.

Zyymm, a Colorado intersex activist,

battled the State Departmentsince 2015 for the designation,

a move seen as an affront to those

with a biblical worldview on sexuality.

- They're putting thestamp of human rights

on people's thoughts on what is moral,

when this is actually immoral.

- At the same time,

Republican-led states likeTexas are pushing back.

Governor Greg Abbottthis week signed a bill

requiring public school athletes

to compete based on their biological sex.

Five other states have similar laws.

Well with me now, Tony Perkins,

president of the Family Research Council.

Tony, good to have you back tonight.

Abigrail, Abigail Shrier, there we go,

an author with whom I'msure you're familiar,

she writes about genderissues, and she described

the new State Departmentpolicy as gender ideology

infiltrating the highestlevels of government.

Tony, do you see it that way?

And with policies like this,

what might we expect next?

- There is a conflation of issues here,

which is designed to be thisway by the State Department.

There are truly, I would say, issues

of intersex individuals,but we have to realize

that that's less than a 10thof 1% of the population,

those that are bornthat way, so very small.

That's what's leading on this,

but the State Department is saying,

"Well, we're gonna openthis up to gender-fluid,

non-conforming, non-binary individuals."

So this truly is a bigger part

of their gender ideology push.

But I think the timing of this

is more of a classic wag the dog.

I mean, look at what's happeningin our nation right now.

Rising inflation.

Some are worried about

if we could be headedtoward hyperinflation.

We just heard about,

you know, we're at oneof these Sputnik moments.

We have this historic surgeat our southern border

of illegal immigrantscoming into the country.

Rising prices.

The consumers are beinghit by all of this.

And so what do we do?

This administration wants to deflect

away from the real policiesand do stuff like this,

and of course, last week,

celebrating the first transgender admiral.

This is the kind ofstuff this administration

is committed to advancing, things that,

you know, a little bit of afavor here for their base,

but for the rest ofAmerica, it is devastating.

- Tony, I appreciate you parsing

into a little bit of the nuance there

with the intersex individualthat we were just reporting on.

I do want to ask you though,

what about security considerations?

Is it problematic that identity cards

may no longer correspond to aperson's outward appearance?

- Well, John, that's a good question.

Why do we have identity cards?

It's so we can identify people.

Why are we concerned about security?

Why do you have to present an ID

when you go into an airport?

Look, I was a police officer for years.

And you know, when wewould have a suspect,

we would say, "We have a white male."

We would have a black female.

So what do we say now?

We have a white X?

What does that mean?

This is a part of sowingconfusion in the deconstruction.

So I think we have to lookat this very objectively.

There are legitimate issues,

but they attach to alegitimate issue an agenda,

and that's what we're seeing coming forth

from this administration insowing the seeds of confusion.

And John, by the way, thisis in the State Department

with passports, but I think every American

should be even more concerned

on what they're doing inour schools in America

because that's where thebattle is really taking place.

- Tony, I wish we had more time.

I'm sure we could talk aboutthis and many other topics,

but unfortunately, our time is up.

Tony Perkins with theFamily Research Council,

thank you so much for joining us tonight.

- Thanks, John.

(air whooshes)

- [John] When we come back,

a major tool used in the fight

against internationalreligious persecution

is set to expire.

How that's bringing lawmakers

on both sides of the aisle together.

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you become a part of Regent's family.

You carry with you not justthe content and the knowledge,

but the confidence to understand

that we can be significant in the world.

- [Announcer] Regent University.

Follow your path.

- [Wendy] Nigerian Christians

are being slaughtered- Christians in Iran

- every day.- are routinely arrested

because of their faith.- Catholic Christians

continue to suffer.

- [Announcer] In timesof trial and affliction,

you need to know the truth.

- One of the fastest growingChristian populations

in the world.

- [Announcer] Join WendyGriffith and George Thomas

for "Christian World News."

- [Woman] Young people are the ones

who are open to the gospel.

- [Announcer] Powerfulstories of suffering and hope

that affect all Christians.

Saturday night at 6:00on the CBN News Channel.

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and discover how to improvethe quality of your life.

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- Well, welcome back.

Though bipartisanship today is rare,

one issue that's uniting liberal

and conservative lawmakers in Washington

is the fight for human rights.

CBN's Senior WashingtonCorrespondent Jennifer Wishon

reports on their efforts toprevent a law from expiring

that holds accountablethose who abuse people

over their faith.

- Working to stop abusesagainst Christians

and the world's other religiousminorities isn't easy.

One tool that helps isthe Global Magnitsky Act,

known as GloMag, which allowsthe US to keep bad actors

from enjoying many ofthe benefits of the West.

It's named for Sergei Magnitsky,

a Ukrainian lawyer tortured and killed

after exposing corruption at the Kremlin.

Passed in 2012, the act is routinely used

to punish these international wrongdoers,

imposing asset freezes, visa bans,

and restrictions on doingbusiness with Americans.

- Targeted sanctions cansend a strong message

of solidarity with victims andprovide some accountability

when judicial mechanisms fail.

- [Jennifer] Advocatessay the Magnitsky List

isn't one human and religiousrights abusers want to be on.

- We know it was one ofthe first issues mentioned

during the summit betweenPresident Putin and Trump.

We know that individuals donot want to get on that list.

They don't want to be named and shamed.

- [Jennifer] In 2017,

President Trump signed an executive order

that goes even further,authorizing sanctions

on any foreign personresponsible or complicit

in human rights abuses or corruption,

a move even his biggestdetractors applauded.

- You know, most of the peoplewho are listening here today

probably know that I'm avery, very liberal Democrat.

There were not many things

that I agree with formerPresident Trump on.

But I did agree with his decision

to issue Executive Order 13818.

- [Jennifer] Now with GloMagset to expire next year,

lawmakers want to make theMagnitsky Act permanent,

incorporate PresidentTrump's executive order,

and expand it to other countries.

- The bottom line is no oligarch

and no cronies should beable to escape sanctions

because they're too big.

We need to be able to act with unity

in the international community

to advance the protectionsof human dignity.

- [Jennifer] Last year, eightsenior Chinese officials

were sanctioned under the act.

- For their direct participation

in surveillance, mass detention,and forced labor of Uighurs

and other Turkic Muslimsin the Uighur region.

- [Jennifer] Still, the sanctions account

for a small percentage

of religious freedomviolations occurring globally,

something officials likeTurkel want to see changed.

GloMag sanctions wereused to pressure Turkey

to release ChristianPastor Andrew Brunson,

but the move also raised questions.

- These sanctionsagainst Turkish officials

helped expedite his welcome release

from arbitrary detention,but focusing on one victim,

not including other similarly situated

Turkish or American citizens

who are also arbitrarilydetained in Turkish prisons,

raised questions about the implementation

of the sanctions program.

- [Jennifer] Working to advance

and protect religious freedom

is a priority for the USfor a very simple reason.

- Those who violate religious freedom,

it's just indicativeof so many other abuses

that occur in that country.

- Religious freedom isa foundational pillar

of any free and open society.

Religious freedom standsas a basic human right,

alongside freedom of thepress, freedom of speech,

and the right to petitionone's government.

- And as the explorationof GloMag gets closer,

this bipartisan groupof lawmakers and others

are already working tomake sure it gets expanded

and made permanent.

Jennifer Wishon, CBN News.

(air whooshes)

- [John] All right. Thank you, Jennifer.

Pastor and author Max Lucado

announcing some personal good news.

See who he's giving creditalong with giving glory to God.

(uptempo music)

- [Announcer] Christians around the world

are standing with the Israelis, but why?

In CBN's free magazine, "Friendsof Israel," you'll discover

why Christians aresupporting the Jewish state,

how Israel is fulfilling prophecyas a light to the nations,

and ways you can prayfor the people of Israel.

Israel needs the supportof friends like you.

Call now or go to CBN.com

to get your free copyof "Friends of Israel."

(rhythmic music)

- Heavenly Father, we do thank you

for the work of your Spirit, Lord God,

with this movement of getting the Bible,

- Yes.- Lord, into public schools.

- [Announcer] Watch "The Prayer Link"

Tuesday morning at 7:30on the CBN News Channel.

(upbeat music)

♪ And where there's joy, there's action ♪

♪ It's like a great attraction ♪

♪ That starts a chain reaction ♪

♪ Moving on, more satisfaction ♪

♪ I know the way is joy ♪

♪ Makes me move ♪

♪ I got the joy ♪

♪ I dance around because I know it ♪

♪ Joy ♪

♪ I move around because I got it ♪

♪ Joy ♪

♪ Joy's in the heart ♪

♪ Joy ♪

♪ I dance around because I know it ♪

♪ Joy ♪

♪ I move around because I got it ♪

♪ Joy ♪

♪ Joy's in the heart ♪

♪ Joy ♪

♪ Joy's in the heart ♪

♪ Joy ♪

- And finally tonight,good news for Bible teacher

and prolific best-sellingauthor Max Lucado.

This summer, past summer rather,

Lucado publicly revealedhe developed a large bulge

in a major blood vessel close to his heart

which likely required surgery.

Lucado announced new tests show

the aneurysm has actually shrunk,

so much so that he doesn't need to go in

for a follow-up for another year.

While doctors cite a moreprecise test for the good news,

Lucado credits God and people's prayers.

Good news for him, andjust really grateful

that it's working out that way.

Thank you so much for watching

tonight's edition of "Faith Nation."

We hope to see you rightback here tomorrow.