We often have good reason to thank God that Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton. Imagine a Supreme Court with newly appointed justices like Lawrence Tribe or Kamala Harris.

But sometimes we have to wonder what difference it really made. That’s right, I’m saying it. On one crucial issue, the GOP is singing from the same wicked script as Clinton and Obama. Around the world, innocent children, unborn babies, and believers will pay the price. Unless some senator who relies on Christians’ votes mans up and summons the courage to act.

Spreading Abortion and Perversion Around the World, On Your Dime

I’m talking about the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It spreads money around the world to help fight poverty, in accord with American values. But the values that it fosters abroad aren’t ours, as Christians. Instead, they’re the same agenda imposed by the Obama administration. And so far Republicans have done nothing to change that. The old Obama global “reproductive health” and “LGBT” mandate still exists. That means we pour U.S. taxpayers’ money into pro-abortion, LGBT and other activist organizations. And actively discriminate against Christian and conservative groups.

Still. Today. After two years of GOP control over both chambers of Congress and the White House. Now the (still GOP-run) Congress is about to write those Obama-era policies into law. Good luck repealing it, in the next Democratic House of Representatives!

Go read for yourself. Turn to the section on “gender” of the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act, or WEEE Act. It’s currently with the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee as Senate bill No. 3247. That bill would enact into law Obama’s leftist USAID policy. It would give the federal agency’s staff the power to develop and impose all sorts of conditions on USAID programs. Most of these conditions come from the playbook of radical feminist, gay, and population control group organizations. They steer money toward groups trying to legalize abortion in dozens of countries with pro-life majorities. And undermine traditional marriage, and parental rights.

A committee mark-up of the Act has been scheduled for this Wednesday. But the White House and Senate staff don’t believe it would be possible to include any safeguards for faith-based groups and pro-life organizations in the law.

Obama’s Gender Agenda

The WEEE Act is ostensibly about expanding economic opportunities for women. How? By increasing women’s access to finance. But an entire section of the bill about streamlining “gender” policies at USAID codifies the core elements of Obama’s USAID gender policies. They virtually ensure that the pro-abortion direction USAID took under Obama cannot be changed.

Obama’s policies established an elaborate web of bureaucratic mandates. They still harm Christian aid groups. And ensure that USAID programs and grants are vetted according to feminist “gender” standards from top to bottom. They require “gender specialists” in every U.S. embassy, USAID Washington bureau, and field operating unit of USAID to conduct “gender analysis.” How do you think that usually turns out? What kind of person applies to work for the federal government as a “gender specialist,” do you think? These gender specialists become little dictators, wielding U.S. cash to pressure foreign governments and groups to march to their tune. This new act would take this Obama measure and make it law, for every USAID program in the book.

So how did such policies work out in the past? In 2011, the Obama administration turned down Catholic anti-human-trafficking groups. Even though they were the most effective, highly rated groups in that field. Why? Because they would not perform or refer for abortion and contraception. But that was just the beginning of the war the left has waged internationally and domestically against faith-based groups. None of them, to this day, can get U.S. money. Not if they oppose abortion, abortifacient drugs, artificial contraception, homosexual marriage, or homosexual adoption.

A Global Nanny State

Even if these policies weren’t promoting abortion and sex change ideology, we ought to oppose them. Why give this kind of power to an unaccountable federal agency? Did we vote for Donald Trump, just to have him impose Hillary’s plan for changing “deeply-held beliefs” of Christians around the world, in favor of legal abortion and same-sex marriage?

To be clear. The bill does not codify the Obama-era policies wholesale. This is a stealth attack. The bill rigs the game comprehensively in favor of feminist, pro-choice policies. It locks into law such toxic nonsense as “gender analysis” and “gender integration.” Those are the bureaucratic weapons that give USAID bureaucrats the power to vet all USAID policies by leftist standards. And it uses the language of the Obama-era policies verbatim. Its purpose is obviously to permanently transfer the power USAID bureaucrats accumulated under the Obama administration. It carves the Obama administration policies into stone tablets, to govern for decades.

Cleverly, the bill’s authors don’t expressly mention abortion, reproductive health, or LGBT issues. That would tip people off. Instead, the bill just hands unaccountable power to “gender specialists.” That sounds safe, now, doesn’t it?

Enacting the WEEE Act as presently drafted would make Obama’s toxic legacy permanent, and impose it around the world. Is that what you voted for?

How to Stop this Monstrosity

There is an easy way to fix the bill. Simply remove the section of the bill which enshrines Obama’s gender bureaucratic mandate. The section is entirely unnecessary to achieve the stated goal of the act. Namely expanding economic opportunities for women by increasing their access to microfinance.

But there is a better way to fix the bill. First, add a pro-life and conscience rider to prevent USAID from ever discriminating against pro-life or religious groups. And second, define gender as only referring to men and women. Leave out vague references that make room for imaginary genders.

Now, this may seem like a tall order, but it would be a winning political issue for the administration to pursue at home and abroad. And it would be consistent with Trump’s repeated promise to put America first. And abandon social engineering as a U.S. foreign policy goal. The American people don’t like forcing faith-based organizations to provide abortion and contraception. They like it even less when the federal government forces organizations to open girls’ bathrooms to men with mental illness.

We need a courageous senator to put a “hold” on this bill. Then demand it be revised, to carve out the 1,776-foot marble statue of Margaret Sanger that lies at the heart of it.