Tomorrow, we celebrate our nation’s 249th birthday! This is the day that our nation declared its independence from England, stating that our rights don’t come from a king but from God. This idea of self-governance under our Creator is a revolutionary idea. It is why it is so uniquely crucial that American citizens be guided by morality and truth.
The words of House Speaker Mike Johnson from this afternoon ring true:
“The reason that we are the greatest nation is because we are built on the ultimate foundation. We unite under that bold declaration that ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident.’ It doesn’t say born equal, but ‘created equal.’ Yes, it is our Creator that gives us our rights. You see, the powerful thing about that is we’re the first nation in the history of the world that acknowledges that our rights do not derive from the government. They come from God Himself.”
This is the foundation of our nation and the worldview that centers our view of our government and our nation. This animates how we work on policy and why it is vital that believers and the church as a whole engage the government. We cannot retreat from this sphere, but we are called to run into it and speak truth.
Big Beautiful Bill Updates:
The House passed the Senate changes to the One Big Beautiful Bill this afternoon after a marathon speech from Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. President Trump is poised to sign the bill at 5 PM on July 4th.
While we are disappointed about some of the things left out of the bill, we are excited that the child tax credit was increased and that a first-of-its-kind national school choice program was established. This school choice provision creates a tax credit scholarship program similar to the one Kansas already has for low-income families. Unfortunately, the provision in the bill passed today requires the governor of each state to opt into the program. It will be important for Kansans to let Gov. Kelly know they want to be a part of this program.
We are grateful that abortion providers were defunded from Medicaid, though we had hoped it would last longer, as the original House bill had outlined. We are very saddened that defunding gender transition procedures through Medicaid was excluded. We are hopeful that another bill in the coming months can address these issues.
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Women’s Sports Case:
This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases dealing with women’s sports: Hecox v. Little and West Virginia v. B.P.J. These cases center around two state Fairness in Women’s Sports laws. In 2020, Idaho was the first state in the nation to protect women’s sports. Alongside our friends at Truth North Legal, we filed an amicus brief asking the Court to hear the Hecox case. This brief was led by Idaho Rep. Barb Ehardt and was joined by thirty-four state policy councils and fifty-five female legislators, including many from Kansas. We look forward to filing another brief in this case and to the Court decisively settling years of turmoil and lost opportunities for female athletes across the country!
Praying that you have a blessed Independence Day with your loved ones. As you celebrate, remember the foundation of our freedoms, and may we be inspired to continue to stand strong in defending them!
Let freedom ring,
Brittany
