How does the news of stem-cell fraud in South Korea affect anti-cloning legislation in Congress?
I don’t know if it has a huge impact. You have to play these things out in the court of public opinion, and that opinion is still forming.
Why does the pro-life movement not have a great deal to show for the 2004 election?
I think they have achieved a lot since the 2000 elections. Consider the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 and the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004—the first two pieces of federal pro-life legislation to pass in years. And you have the possibility that the Supreme Court may move with these latest justices.
What more can the U.S. do to help stop ongoing genocide in Sudan?
We can get adequate funding to the African Union. We need to advocate more nato engagement for transportation and logistics. We need to be more condemning of governments’ actions toward what’s happening to the people of Sudan.
Late last year many Christian leaders protested government cuts to programs like Medicare and food stamps. What was your position?
I voted in favor of the budget resolution [that included the cuts]. I think we have to control our spending, and we have a moral obligation to balance our budget and not overly burden future generations. On the other hand, I’m actually encouraged that a lot of Christian groups are getting involved in issues relative to those less fortunate and the poor. I hope we can pursue solutions that help people and not just keep them in dependency.
But if you look at the past 30 or 40 years, we’ve spent $3 trillion to $5 trillion dollars on poverty reduction. We have the same percentage of people in poverty. The policies have failed. We need to pursue policies that encourage people to get married, to get a job, to not have children out of wedlock. If people do those three things, very few end up in poverty.
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Related Elsewhere:
Sam Brownback’s Senate site has more on issues he is concerned with, including pro-life and budget issues.
More Christianity Today coverage of government issues is available on our Politics & Law page.
