--:-- [Theme music fades out]
--:-- John Bickley: A bipartisan group of senators has agreed to move forward on what is being billed as the most sweeping set of gun restrictions in decades. We break down what's in the bill and hear from senators on both sides of the debate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Second Amendment is not negotiable. It is not a suggestion. It is a right. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, June 23rd, and this is Morning Wire. We've all heard about record inflation, but what does it mean to people in the market for a new car, a place to live, or even a pound of bacon? Don't you take my bacon from me.
--:-- John Bickley: And did the Supreme Court blur the line between church and state or protect freedom of religion? We break down a recent decision and what it means for religious freedom and school choice. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Georgia Howe: You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app. Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be the first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news, and you'll get content from all of your favorite Daily Wire shows. Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- John Bickley: On Tuesday, the Senate voted to bring the Safer Communities Act, a bipartisan gun control bill, to the floor for debate. Georgia, you've been following this and it's a rather significant development. Tell us about this bill.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, so this bill passed an initial vote in the Senate, 64 to 34, which basically means that this bill will be allowed to be debated on the Senate floor. And all Senate Democrats supported it, along with 14 Senate Republicans. Those Republicans included the usual moderates like Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins, Mitch McConnell as well.
--:-- [Sound effects: A clip of Senator John Cornyn speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Republican Senator John Cornyn on why he voted to move the bill forward.
--:-- John Cornyn: I want to make sure we actually do something useful, something that is capable of becoming a law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As for the contents of the bill, the text was released just an hour before the vote. So it was a bit of a scramble to digest it. But first thing we know is that it would expand background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and it would give law enforcement up to 10 days to conduct those background checks. So that could mean that this bill effectively institutes a 10-day waiting period for buyers under the age of 21.
--:-- [Sound effects: A clip of Senator Marsha Blackburn speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: And it also includes funding to states who implement red flag laws. Specifically, it provides $750 million over the next five years for crisis intervention services, which may or may not include red flag laws. So the bill itself does not establish a red flag law, but it does incentivize states to do so.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, red flag laws have been controversial. Why is that? Right. So there's a reason why they didn't explicitly include a red flag law in this bill. It would have just been a lot harder to pass. Essentially, red flag laws give law enforcement the power to decide whether a person should be allowed to possess a gun.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The classic use case for this is when a family member petitions a court to have a gun taken from another family member, say if they have threatened to shoot themselves. Proponents will also argue that school shooters are another use case because they will typically talk about their plans prior to carrying out an attack. However, critics of red flag laws argue that there's no way to ensure due process and that it could open the door to even more restrictions.
--:-- [Sound effects: A clip of Senator Marsha Blackburn speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Ultimately they say it would be a violation of Second Amendment rights. Now veterans in particular have expressed concern about these laws because it could have the effect of disincentivizing veterans from seeking mental health care.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so some potential funding for red flag laws. What else is in this bill? There is also a provision that would increase restrictions on people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. Currently, there are laws in the books preventing individuals from possessing guns if they've been convicted of abusing a spouse, but this bill would expand that out to cover convictions for abusing a current or former dating partner as well.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There are also provisions to establish a federal law against straw purchasing. Straw purchasing, by the way, is when a person pretends to be buying a gun for themselves when, in fact, they're buying for another person who's been barred from purchasing firearms for themselves. There's also $250 million in funding that's dedicated to community-based violence intervention programs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There's funds for school-based mental health services as well as community crisis intervention programs. And then finally, there is some funding for school safety measures, including trainings. But that section is pretty vague. For example, it says there's going to be an advisory board to establish best practices, but it doesn't delineate any specific ways school security will be amped up.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, school safety has been a major focus in the national debate, so that provision is of particular interest. Now, this bill moved very fast. Did it go through the usual process? Right, it did move fast. And Senator Blackburn did mention that senators were only given about an hour to review this before being asked to vote.
--:-- [Sound effects: A clip of Senator Marsha Blackburn speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Although, to be clear, this wasn't a vote on whether or not they supported the bill. This was a vote on whether or not the bill should be debated on the floor.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, Georgia, well, thank you so much for breaking that down for us. Coming up, consumers continue to pay more and more for cars, housing, and food.
--:-- [Sound effects: A clip of Liz Collin speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Don't you take my bacon from me. And did the Supreme Court blur the line between church and state or protect freedom of religion? We break down a recent decision and what it means for religious freedom and school choice. Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
--:-- Liz Collin: Thank you, Georgia. Yeah, people in the market for an automobile are really feeling the pain. New car payments are at a record high. The average new car will now cost you $712 a month, and that is up $76 from just the start of the year.
--:-- Liz Collin: Another way of looking at it, it now takes the equivalent of 41 weeks of the average earner's wages to buy the average new car, and that is eight weeks more than it would have cost just a year ago.
--:-- Liz Collin: A new study from Cox Automotive blames the sticker shock on a number of things here the ongoing COVID shutdowns in China rising interest rates and the ongoing chip supply crisis.
--:-- Liz Collin: The average new vehicle needs nearly 300 of those tiny microchips to run everything from emergency brakes to backup cameras. All told, the average new car is now more than $44,000, according to J.D. Power, up more than 12 percent from a year ago.
--:-- Liz Collin: Used car prices are up an average of 30.4%. Right. I'm clinging to my Corolla right now. I have one more year.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, what about housing? The rental market is also at an incredible peak right now. Is this nationwide or are we seeing spikes in certain locations?
--:-- Liz Collin: Yeah, it is happening nationwide, but some areas are certainly seeing really shocking spikes. There are some eye-popping increases in the rental market here.
--:-- Liz Collin: Bloomberg is reporting a 14% increase for a single-family rental from April of last year to this year. Now, the numbers do get more interesting when you start looking at location, especially in the Sunshine State.
--:-- Liz Collin: The median rent in South Florida is just under $3,000 a month, up a whopping 57% in just a year, according to Rental.com. That site shows Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach areas leading the way with the largest percentage increases in the country.
--:-- Liz Collin: We know that 330,000 people moved to Florida between April of 2020 to April of 2021. So it's population increase, supply shortages, and a strong job market that experts say is behind the rise in rent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: However, there is definitely some regional variability. Some East Coast cities like New York and D.C. recorded some of the smallest rental increases.
--:-- Liz Collin: Now, what about the grocery store? At this point, we've all noticed our grocery bill going up. What are the numbers there?
--:-- Liz Collin: When it comes to the food we eat, the largest annual increase in 41 years was recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food prices are 9.4% higher year over year, and grocery prices climbed almost 11% in that same time.
--:-- Liz Collin: Is it across the board, or are certain items spiking more than others? Well, summer baking is sure going to cost you more. Margarine and eggs cost about 23% more than this time last year.
--:-- Liz Collin: Milk is up 15%. Citrus fruits cost 19% more. And sadly, bacon lovers will pay almost 18% more for that Sunday morning goodness.
--:-- Liz Collin: I spoke to shoppers inside the Festival Foods here in Minnesota who told me they are sticking to their lists. I just noticed that recently, I do most of the shopping, grocery shopping in the family, and I'm familiar with what things used to cost, and now everything's more.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, why is inflation affecting food more than other items? Again, it seems there's plenty of blame to go around. Bad weather in certain parts of the country, labor shortages, supply chain snarls, and the war in Ukraine with Russia's invasion playing a role in wheat prices.
--:-- Liz Collin: All right. Well, Liz, thanks so much for reporting. Thanks, Georgia. That was Daily Wire contributor Liz Collins.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of parents seeking to use a government voucher program to send their kids to religious schools instead of only secular schools. The ruling could have major implications for religion and education going forward.
--:-- [Sound effects: A clip of Charlotte Pence-Bahn speaking]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here to discuss is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bahn. Hey Charlotte, so tell us about this case.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Sure, so the case in question here is Carson versus Macon, but first for some background, Maine has a tuition assistance program where school districts give money to schools for parents to send their kids to when there isn a secondary school available to them in their region
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: But this money from the program couldn be used for certain religious schools Parents could use the funds for private schools but only schools that were non So a Catholic Christian or Jewish school wouldn qualify
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Two sets of parents wanted to send their kids to two schools that didn't meet the non-sectarian requirement, and they felt that not allowing them to use the state funding to send their kids to those schools violated the free exercise clause, the establishment clause of the First Amendment, and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Lower courts previously ruled against the parents, but on Tuesday, the high court sided with the parents, ruling that, quote, Maine's non-sectarian requirement for otherwise generally available tuition assistance payments violates the free exercise clause.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: The decision points out that the free exercise clause protects against indirect coercion or penalties on the free exercise of religion, not just outright prohibitions.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: In the opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts made the decision clear, writing, regardless of how the benefit and restriction are described, the program operates to identify and exclude otherwise eligible schools on the basis of their religious exercise.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, so Roberts argues that this is a clear case for protecting religious rights. What were the arguments against this ruling?
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Well, Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett joined Roberts in the opinion, but the three liberal justices, Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor, dissented.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: The liberal wing of the court made the argument that the state shouldn't have to include religious schools as part of the program, and that taxpayer money should not go toward the teaching of religious doctrine, which may be part of the curriculum at the religious schools.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Sotomayor also wrote a dissent saying, This court continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the framers fought to build.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So drastically different views of this case expressed there. What's the significance of this ruling? What could this impact going forward?
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: Well, conservatives are praising this as a win for school choice, and obviously this is a win for parents who want more educational options for their kids. And this can also be seen as a win for religious freedom, since the justices point specifically to the free exercise clause in their ruling.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: But it could have even broader implications. With this decision, some might start to ask whether charter schools will be able to include religious teaching when they're funded by the government.
--:-- Charlotte Pence-Bahn: And some are saying that this ruling essentially means a government program like this one has to provide tuition aid for people to attend religious schools if it gives funding for other private schools.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, a significant ruling here for school choice and religious freedom. Charlotte, thanks for reporting. Thanks for having me.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence-Bahn. Other stories we're tracking this week. President Biden asked Congress to suspend federal taxes on gas and diesel for three months.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Controversial LADA Georgia Gascon held a press conference Tuesday to defend his decision not to imprison a criminal who then killed two police officers while out on parole.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Senator Tom Cotton and Congressman Jim Banks are proposing a bill allowing adults to sue doctors who performed gender transition surgery on them while they were minors.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Canada took action to ban plastic bags and straws this week. Making and importing the items will be prohibited by the end of 2022.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And an earthquake in Afghanistan killed at least 1,000 individuals on Wednesday.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation. If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know. Thank you.
