Family Research Council helping feds take on Southern Poverty Law Center

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said his organization is assisting the FBI’s investigation of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has been indicted for funding hate groups it claimed to fight.

SPLC has long branded the Family Research Council a “hate group” for its Christian conservative views on LGBTQ issues.

“What we’re seeing here … is just the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Perkins said recently on Newsmax. “We were interviewed by the FBI early on in this investigation, because of our knowledge of the Southern Poverty Law Center. I think there’s going to be more charges that come throughout this process. I don’t think this is the last of it.”

Since 2014, the SPLC has delivered $3 million to eight individuals associated with notorious hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist Movement and the Nazi party. The group considered the money payments to informants, but used sham bank accounts to shield the source, according to the federal indictment.

“We’ve been working to expose [SPLC] for over a decade, and now … what America sees is this is like a fire department hiring an arsonist, paying the arsonist to go out and set fires so that the fire department could raise more money,” Mr. Perkins said. “It wasn’t informants, it was the leadership of these organizations.”

One of the paid informants allegedly helped organize the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. The informant allegedly helped plan, promote and coordinate transportation for the event in Charlottesville, Virginia, that evolved into a violent clash between protesters and counter-protesters, with one person killed.

Donations to SPLC nearly tripled in the year after the Unite the Right rally, from $50 million in 2016 to $132 million in the fiscal year ending in October 2017, according to the nonprofit organization’s tax filings.

Mr. Perkins’ organization is particularly sensitive to the SPLC’s hate mongering.

In 2012, the Family Research Council’s Washington office was attacked by gunman Floyd Lee Corkins II, who shot a security guard. Corkins later told the FBI that he did it because the Family Research Council was listed on the SPLC’s hate map.

Corkins was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Correspondents’ Dinner attack ups pressure on Congress to fund DHS

Independent Women is citing Saturday’s attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in pressing congressional Democrats to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has been in a partial shutdown for more than two months.

Meaghan Mobbs, director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women, said the attack on the event “underscores the need for fully resourced, mission-focused protective agencies.”

“The Department of Homeland Security must be fully funded to carry out its mission. Congress must act. The political games that delay critical security funding are irresponsible and dangerous,” she said.

Independent Women, a conservative-leaning group, also backed President Trump’s argument that the shooting at the dinner at the Washington Hilton also demonstrates the need for a White House ballroom to address security concerns at large events involving the president.

“The President of the United States requires a secure, purpose-built venue to fulfill the duties of his office and engage with the American public. The proposed White House ballroom is a security necessity,” Ms. Mobbs said.

Small business lobby for more tax relief

The National Federation of Independent Business is pressing Congress to pass the Small Business Tax Cut Act, which would expand tax relief to tens of millions of small businesses.

The bill would increase the small business tax deduction from 20% to 23% and expand eligibility to claim the deduction.

“In 2025, Congress took the landmark step of making the 20% Small Business Deduction permanent, earning strong recognition and thanks from America’s small businesses,” said Dylan Rosnick, Principal of Federal Government Relations at NFIB.

The group said the expansion of the deduction will accelerate ongoing and planned investments in small businesses by using this tax certainty to grow, hire, invest in their employees, and give back to their communities.

“NFIB strongly supports the Small Business Tax Cut Act and urges Congress to promptly enact this legislation.”

Push is on for federal standard for data privacy

The National Association of Manufacturers is rallying support for legislation to create a federal standard for data privacy that preempts state laws.

The SECURE Data Act was recently introduced by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, Kentucky Republican, and Vice Chair John Joyce, Pennsylvania Republican.

The association said that creating a federal standard would grant consumers much-needed privacy protections and create clear guidelines to keep the industry innovating and competing in the age of AI.

“Processing personal data has become integral to modern manufacturing operations and modern manufactured products,” said NAM Executive Vice President Erin Streeter.

“Manufacturers are encouraged that this first-of-its-kind federal law would establish a uniform national framework that is both forward-looking and adaptable to new technology, while avoiding the regulatory morass of a 50-state patchwork.”