Advocating for Life, Religious Liberty & Marriage and Family
On May 14-15, I had the tremendous opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., with Pastor Josh Bonner (Rapid City, SD: Calvary Baptist), by invitation from the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention. The goal of the invitation was to meet with members of Congress to advocate for life, religious liberty and the sanctity of marriage and family. Nine pastors were in attendance, representing Southern Baptists from Florida, Alabama, Texas and South Dakota.
It was a whirlwind trip with very little down time. It seems activity on Capitol Hill is teeming. My activity tracker on my watch noted that I walked over 20 miles with over 30,000 steps during our time in D.C. This did include some time exploring the National Mall on Wednesday evening.
We met with Representatives Aderholt (AL), Franklin (FL), Strong (FL), and Johnson (SD) as well as Senator Britt (AL) and Susan Occhipinti from Senator John Thune’s majority leader office. Each of these members of Congress shared our desire to see Planned Parenthood defunded through the budget reconciliation process. If this process is successful, the defunding would stand for ten years.
In our conversation with Susan Occhipinti, we learned that the Medicaid reimbursement process for the legitimate services that Planned Parenthood claims to offer also applies to other organizations which do not promote the ending of pre-born life. The defunding of Planned Parenthood, therefore, doesn’t eliminate medical services for women, it just transfers the process to other entities.
Our meeting with Representative Strong leaned into the importance of strong marriages, especially on Capitol Hill. Rep. Strong discussed with us the strain which exists for families involved in the things of government, which led to a time or prayer for relationships and marriages to be led by the Lord and not by flesh so that temptations could be opposed.
Senator Britt shared about a bill she is part of called, the “More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (MOMS) Act. This bill would provide care for women during the most challenging phases of motherhood: prenatal, postpartum and early childhood development. It would increase access to resources and assistance to help mothers and children thrive. The bill will reduce the burden of childcare if a mom chooses to return to the workforce and place a child in daycare as well as helping if a mom chooses to remain at home to raise her children. The goal of the bill is to put parents back in the driver seat of determining the best way to raise their children.
Josh and I were the only two who were able to attend a meeting with Rep. Johnson of South Dakota. Before leaving for this opportunity, I received an email from Feeding South Dakota, expressing how changes in the USDA funding through the DOGE process has led to reduced amounts of food being sent to FSD to distribute to South Dakotans in need. Rep. Johnson asked about statistics of families and individuals who were affected by this reduction of funding to help in working with USDA. I initiated contact with Feeding South Dakota to obtain this information. Susan Occhipinti in Senator Thune’s Majority Leader Office shared that the cuts through DOGE were intended to cut administrative costs of the USDA rather than cut the amounts of food being provided. She added that a major farm bill is needed as it has been far too long since this has taken place, suggesting that a new farm bill would be an avenue for helping get more food to tables.
Jacob McGee serves with the State Department. He served as a journeyman through IMB prior to his time with the State Department. His office is working diligently to advocate for freedom of conscience and the elimination of religious persecution across the globe.
If you are interested in discussing any of the topics covered through this experience, I would be happy to talk. You may reach out by emailing me at everett@dakotabaptist.com.
