Praying for Our Leaders in Government
Executive Branch: Pray for the President and his Administration
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deployed thousands of agents to Minneapolis, Minnesota, this week. The operation is expected to last 30 days in the Twin Cities area as federal officials visit sites suspected of fraudulently receiving taxpayer funding. The magnitude of the fraud scandal has resulted in the Small Business Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services freezing all federal funds to that state. The Department of Labor is reviewing the state’s unemployment insurance program as well.
Pray for the safety of the DHS, HSI, and ICE agents as they seek to determine and detain those who have engaged in federal crimes and illegally received the funding.
Legislative Branch: Pray for Senators and Representatives in Congress
Representative Carlos Gimenez of Florida, originally a native of Cuba, spoke on how Cuba is now in a weakened position after the removal of Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. “Venezuela has been supporting the Cuban regime for a long, long time,” Congressman Gimenez said. “The Cuban regime is really on its last legs as far as I see. It’s the weakest position it’s had in decades. And so now, if you lose that support from Venezuela, it makes them even weaker. And then it makes it ripe for the people of Cuba to stand up and say ‘we want change; we don’t want to continue down this path.'”
Pray for U.S. representatives and senators as they provide input and perspective on foreign nations and their relationship with one another.
PRAY FOR CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES
The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Representative James Comer of Kentucky, held a hearing on Wednesday on the Minnesota fraud scandal. The panel interviewed three state representatives who had raised concerns regarding the fraud. “In addition to conducting transcribed interviews with Minnesota state officials, the House Oversight Committee will hold hearings on fraud in Minnesota’s social services programs to expose failures, identify solutions, and deliver accountability,” Chairman Comer stated. “This misconduct cannot be swept aside, and Congress will not stop until taxpayers get the answers and accountability they deserve.” The committee has invited Governor Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison to testify in February.
Pray for the chairs and members of congressional committees as they seek to ensure federal program appropriations are properly applied by the states.
Judicial Branch: Pray for Supreme Court Justices and Federal Judges
U.S. Magistrate Judge Cyrus Chung has blocked a request from the Department of Justice for information from Children’s Hospital Colorado. He determined that the government’s claims of violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act does not apply to sex-rejecting treatments for minors. The judge stated, “Congress has made no law authorizing an investigation of gender-affirming care, let alone one aimed at ending such care. Such an investigation, then, is no faithful execution of any law.”
Pray for wisdom for federal judges at every level of the courts as they interpret laws Congress has enacted.
