Praying for Our Leaders in Government
Executive Branch: Pray for the President and his Administration
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm supports wind and solar energy as the most economical alternative as the administration seeks to decarbonize the electric sector. She also told the House Appropriations Committee she is open to subsidizing nuclear energy plants.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said he expects all schools to be open “full time, in person for all students” by September. Students nationwide have been forced to learn remotely for over a year due to the coronavirus.
Pray for members of the president’s Cabinet as they address the many issues facing the nation.
Legislative Branch: Pray for Senators and Representatives in Congress
Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting documents to assist in a congressional investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The lawmakers are leading “comprehensive” investigations into the origins of the pandemic, including the possibility of an “accidental leak” from a Wuhan lab.
A group of legislators in the House is questioning the CDC over reports that suggest teachers’ unions are influencing school reopening guidelines, rather than a reliance on science. Their letter was sent due to the CDC making several changes to guidelines after lobbying from the teachers’ groups.
Pray for House and Senate members conducting investigations into the COVID-19 origins, and for legislators seeking to follow science for guidelines.
Judicial Branch: Pray for Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a California program that provides retirement savings accounts to workers whose employers don’t offer them. They decided unanimously that the program known as CalSavers did not interfere with federal law. The association that had sued to invalidate the program called it a “massive government boondoggle” and argued that it was superseded by a federal retirement law. The court countered that CalSavers does not interfere with the goals of the U.S. Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.
A decision reached in the Eleventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said that a juror was wrongfully dismissed from a trial for saying the Holy Spirit influenced his views in the case after deliberations began. The court ruled the juror’s removal was wrong and, in the process, vacated the guilty verdict against the defendant and called for a new trial. “Jurors may pray for and believe they have received divine guidance as they determine another person’s innocence or guilt, a profound civic duty but a daunting task to say the least,” Chief Judge William Pryor wrote in the court’s opinion.
Pray for the judges of the Appeals Courts as they hear important cases and whose decisions often remain final.
