Overview
- Senate Chaplain Barry Black opened Monday’s session with a pointed prayer urging lawmakers to end the government closure and care for the vulnerable.
- He quoted Matthew 7:12 and warned that lawmakers earn no “gold medals” for prolonging the standoff, invoking a “crown of righteousness” for aiding the “lost, last, and least.”
- The federal government has been shut since Oct. 1, marking the second-longest shutdown in U.S. history.
- Video of the floor prayer, delivered after an introduction by Senate President Pro Tempore Chuck Grassley, is available via C-SPAN.
- Republicans and Democrats continue to fault each other for the impasse, and no agreement to reopen the government was reported Monday.