Praying for Our Leaders in Government
Executive Branch: Pray for the President and his Administration
Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the prospect of additional diplomatic contact with the Taliban in a speech marking the end of the U.S. evacuation effort and the withdrawal of the remaining U.S. forces from Afghanistan. He said that moving forward any engagement with the Taliban government in Kabul will be driven by one thing: “our vital national interest.” He said, “If we can work with the new Afghan government in a way that helps secure those interests… and in a way that brings greater stability to the country and the region, and that protects the gains of the last two decades, we will do it.”
The Department of Health and Human Services announced the establishment of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity. Their action was mandated by President Biden’s January 27 executive order on tackling the climate crisis.
Pray for the president and his administration in their post-Afghanistan decision-making regarding relationships with that nation and its Taliban leaders.
Legislative Branch: Pray for Senators and Representatives in Congress
The House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot is planning to seek the phone records of minority party legislators, including those who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally before the attack on the Capitol. Committee Chairman Bernie Thompson of Mississippi said the panel would seek records of members of Congress, refusing to name names, but saying, “We have quite an exhaustive list of people.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said there will be a “day of reckoning” for President Biden after 13 U.S. troops died and 15 were wounded as a result of terrorist bombings in Afghanistan. He said Congress has a constitutional responsibility to hold the president and his officials accountable for the crisis there. He was particularly concerned over “abandoning American civilians still stranded there,” saying, “The Commander-in-Chief should not take orders from terrorists,” regarding the August 31 deadline.
Pray for members of Congress and their roles as overseers of the Executive Branch.
Judicial Branch: Pray for Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges
The Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a Colorado Springs police officer acted within the constitution by turning a traffic stop of a driver into a firearm arrest for the passenger. The officer’s actions were not a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures, but he acted reasonably within the case’s particular situation, the court said.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said he’s struggling to decide when to retire from the high court, saying he doesn’t want his replacement to reverse everything he’s done for the last 25 years. “That will inevitably be in the psychology [of my decision], he said. “I don’t think I’m going to stay there until I die—I hope not.”
Pray for justices and judges to make decisions apart from political bias.
