Praying for Our Leaders in Government
Executive Branch: Pray for the President and his Administration
Based on reports that the Medicare trust fund will become insolvent within the next decade, President Joe Biden has proposed increasing the tax that pays for Medicare benefits from 3.8 percent to 5.0 percent for those with an estimated annual income of more than $400,000. “Let’s ask the wealthiest to pay just a little bit more of their fair share,” he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the Norfolk Southern train operator to test for toxins in soil and water that may have resulted from pollutants released after the controlled burn of vinyl chloride from cargo on the train that derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio.
Pray for the decision-makers in the White House and all who advise President Biden.
Legislative Branch: Pray for Senators and Representatives in Congress
A bill passed in the House of Representatives would require estimates of how “major” executive orders issued by the president would impact inflation. Titled the Reduce Exacerbated Inflation Negativity Impacting the Nation (REIN IN) Act, it passed with bipartisan support and now moves to the Senate.
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has once again urged members of the Senate to take a bipartisan approach to spending cuts in the midst of the ongoing debate over whether or not to increase the debt ceiling.
Pray for members of the House and Senate as they propose legislation in a politically divided Congress and that negotiators can find bipartisan solutions to the issues that face America.
Judicial Branch: Pray for Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges
The Supreme Court has declined to take up a case that involved a group of atheists who filed a lawsuit against a city police department that held a prayer vigil with members of the community after several children were injured in a shooting. Justice Thomas suggested the atheists had not suffered an injury, writing, “Federal courts are authorized to adjudge the legal rights of litigants in actual controversies, not hurt feelings.”
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals released an opinion affirming the decision of a lower court that found the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act unconstitutional. A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had also ruled that the act was facially unconstitutional based on the delegation of giving too much power to a private corporation and too little to the Federal Trade Commission. An amendment to the act has already been introduced.
Pray for Supreme Court Justices and the caseload of their calendar of oral arguments and opinion writing.
