Republicans leaders finally took the advice of pro-life lawmakers and advocates Thursday, agreeing not to cut the adoption tax credit.

GOP leaders unveiled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act a week ago, and to the surprise of many, the 429-page document included language ending the credit that helps families cover the cost of adoptions.

No one but a handful of top-level Republican lawmakers and staffers knew about the exclusion before the release of the landmark bill. Now, blindsided pro-life groups and lawmakers are scrambling to make sure President Donald Trump doesn’t sign off on a tax-code rewrite that discourages adoption.

After vocal pushback from pro-life groups and a collection of pro-life lawmakers, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, decided to offer an amendment Thursday retaining the adoption credit.

Lawmakers originally defended the move by saying few families use the credit and pro-lifer advocatess hadn’t mentioned it in years, March for Life Action president Tom McClusky told me. “It’s because we never thought somebody would be so stupid to remove it,” he added.

The adoption tax credit provides families up to $13,570 to help offset adoption fees. In 2015, 64,000 families used the credit at a cost to the government of $251 million. Keeping the adoption tax credit would cost the United States $3.8 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee…

Christian country singer Carrie Underwood performed a moving rendition of a Christian hymn at this year’s Country Music Awards.

Underwood, who has been a well-known figure in country music since she won American Idol in 2005, has also been vocal about her Christian faith. She co-hosted this year’s CMAs with fellow country music artist Brad Paisley.

On Wednesday evening at the CMAs, Underwood performed the beloved Christian hymn “Softly and Tenderly.”

“Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling for you and for me.

See, on the portals, He’s waiting and watching;

Watching for you and for me,” says the song’s first verse.

“Come home, come home,

Ye who are weary come home;

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling;

Calling, “O sinner, come home!” continues the chorus.

According to The Christian Post, as Underwood sang the moving song, a video montage of all the country singers who passed away over the past year played on the screen. The video also honored the victims of the Las Vegas shooting which occurred at the Route 91 Harvest Festival–a country music event.

Underwood also led the crowd in a time of prayer for “Las Vegas, Charlottesville, New York, Sutherland Springs, historic storms in Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida and the list goes on and on.”

“This has been a year marked by tragedy impacting countless lives including so many in…

A California city is facing criticism after the town reportedly decided to stop a church from feeding the homeless.

City officials reportedly contacted the Malibu United Methodist Church via email and asked the church to cease its food service ministry after Thanksgiving. The ministry feeds 60 to 100 homeless individuals once a week in the Southern California city.

The church also hosts an annual Thanksgiving dinner in partnership with the Malibu Labor Exchange.

But the city of Malibu has denied that it told the church to stop the meal service and agreed to meet with the church after Thanksgiving.

“All parties agreed to gather more information and come back to continue the constructive dialogue after the Thanksgiving holiday,” the city said in a press release.

Dawn Randall, who works with Malibu UMC, told a local news station that the city said the reason for the change was that the ministry was actually “increasing homelessness.”

The ministry launched in 2014, and from 2013 to 2015, the homeless population jumped from 8,371 to 8,688, according to The Malibu Times.

The Malibu City Council is expected to discuss the meal program at its next meeting.

“I think many of them eat out of dumpsters and trash cans when they aren’t eating with us,” said Kay Gabbard, who also works with the church. “We can’t pretend like (homelessness) doesn’t exist in our backyard. We can’t…