Praying for Our Leaders in Government
Executive Branch: Pray for the President and his Administration
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is ready to strengthen diplomacy and increase communication with China “across a full range of issues” in a speech on the administration’s China policy. “Diplomacy is vital,” he said, but he also warned, “We can’t rely on Beijing to change its trajectory. So we will shape the strategic environment around Beijing to advance our vision for an open and inclusive international system.”
The Department of Health and Human Services announced the establishment of the Office of Environmental Justice within the department to address climate-related health issues that particularly affect poor and marginalized Americans.
Pray for members of the president’s Cabinet as they make policy on both foreign and domestic matters.
Legislative Branch: Pray for Senators and Representatives in Congress
Debates are beginning in both houses of Congress over “doing something about gun violence,” putting even the Second Amendment in question. Legislators from both sides of the aisle are seeking ways to make sure another mass shooting like the one in Uvalde, Texas, does not happen again.
Eighty-nine members of Congress from both the House and Senate signed a letter calling on the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate a fetal tissue bank at the University of Pittsburgh. They want the department’s inspector general to determine whether the university violated federal law while conducting fetal tissue research subsidized by the National Institutes of Health after allegations arose of illicit baby organ harvesting.
Pray for members of both the House and Senate as they are on their Memorial Day recess.
PRAY FOR CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee reports that the government lacks a complete picture of ransomware attacks that routinely cripple government and private sector operations… lacking information on how much ransom was paid, typically in the form of cryptocurrencies, by victims of the ransomware attacks.
Members of the Senate Commerce Committee deadlocked on advancing legislation to address gas price gouging, with members voting 14-14 on the Transportation Fuel Market Transparency Act, which is similar to the anti-price gouging bill that cleared the House a week ago.
Pray for members of the committees as they negotiate legislation that builds policy and write the bills.
Judicial Branch: Pray for Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges
The Supreme Court limited the power of federal courts to review claims by convicted defendants who say they received inadequate legal counsel in state court proceedings, in a ruling with profound implications for some inmates seeking exoneration.
The Supreme Court said it will allow President Biden’s administration to use a higher estimate when calculating damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions. This counters attempts by states that had sought to dismiss the approach as “speculative.”
Pray for the Supreme Court justices as they continue to release opinions on the many cases they heard during the session that just ended.
