Shutdown seen from the pulpit: Inching along on a wing and a prayer

Every time there’s a government shutdown, I turn to an unconventional barometer to understand the depth of the impasse.

I always observe the first few moments of the Senate session.

Logical, right?

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Any congressional reporter worth their salt would surely want to hear the musings of the Senate majority and minority leaders on the floor to digest where things stand with the shutdown.

But I tune in to hear someone who has their palm on the pulse of the Senate. They might not rank as high as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., or Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. But they have a direct line to someone who outranks everyone.

I listen to the Senate’s opening prayer from Senate Chaplain Barry Black.

“On this third day of the government shutdown, inspire them to work for your glory in all they think, say and do,” Black prayed as he opened the Senate Oct. 3. “Equip our senators for their task.”

Black is a parliamentary pastor offering ecumenical intercessions in search of a shutdown solution.

The shutdown impasse deepened since Black’s initial invocation more than three weeks ago. But after days of political posturing and inaction by the Congressional laity, Black unloaded on his Senate flock Monday.

“When our children and grandchildren want to know what we were doing in the 119th Congress during the famous shutdown, may we not have to give these answers: ‘I helped set a new record for keeping the government closed. I failed to appeal to the better angels of my nature. I forgot Matthew 7:12, which states, do to others whatever you would like them to do to you,’” Black prayed.

“Lord, remind our lawmakers that no gold medals are given for breaking shutdown records. But a crown of righteousness is given to those who take care of the lost, last and least.”

Black’s sizzling sermons from the Senate pulpit are canon during times of crisis. He delivered similar prayers during the lengthy government shutdowns of 2013 and 2018-19.

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“Enough is enough,” Black prayed during the 2013 shutdown after death payments to the families of deceased U.S. soldiers ceased. “Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness.”

After U.S. Capitol Police officers were injured following a high-speed chase and shooting at the Capitol — all while not being paid in the middle of that shutdown — Black chastised lawmakers in his prayer.

“Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable,” prayed Black.

Black says his prayers are to God. But his position in the Senate grants him special status. Not every pastor enjoys the benefit (or pressure) of a 100-senator audience. That’s to say nothing of those watching across the country on C-Span.

Black was direct in his oration Tuesday.

“Lord, use our legislators to help end this government shutdown, increase their faith, hope, and love, enabling them to transform cacophony into concord,” he prayed.

By day 29 of the government shutdown, it was unclear if Black’s petitions were getting through to lawmakers. Tensions rose in the Capitol as members lashed out at one another in fits of anger.

“Self-serving, nasty, vicious bull!” yelled Schumer, casting aspersions at the president, calling him “a cold, heartless individual.”

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Lawmakers sprinkled salty language into their rhetoric.

“We need five Democrat senators to pull their heads out of their asses,” implored House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla.

“I’ve got the damn statute,” bellowed Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. She demanded the Trump Administration release a contingency fund to pay for SNAP benefits.

“The money is there. Go get it, godd—it,” DeLauro fumed.

The usually genial Thune excoriated Democrats during a heated floor exchange on SNAP.

“This isn’t a political game! These are real people’s lives that we’re talking about!” thundered Thune. “And you all have just figured out that 29 days in there might be some consequences? That there’s people running out of money?”

That said — or yelled — Thune has long told Democrats he’s willing to engage them on their healthcare demands.

But with a caveat.

“You want to have discussion about healthcare? Open the government. Let’s do it,” said Thune.

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At least one Democrat is willing to take that offer.

“I think what’s a very fair deal is open the government and let’s just vote on extending these premiums for a year or more,” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., said on Fox.

But Democrats insist they’re not caving.

“There are zero cracks on the Democratic side,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.

Jeffries blasted President Trump for refusing to negotiate to end the shutdown — while the president was in Asia.

“Donald Trump has spent more time talking to Hamas and the Chinese Communist Party than he has in talking to Democrats on Capitol Hill to end the Trump shutdown,” the New York Democrat said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is exasperated with the Democratic brass.

“I’ve given up on the leadership,” said Johnson. “So, we’re trying to appeal to a handful of moderates or centrists who care more about the American people.”

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Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., is one of three senators associated with the Democrats who voted repeatedly to fund the government. There is chatter about what it will take to halt the shutdown. But the talks are informal.

“I think that there’s an opportunity for us to come together, to open up the government, to address the looming health care crisis,” Cortez Masto told Chase Williams of Fox Business. 

“There is the will among senators on both sides of the aisle to do something. But the leadership’s getting in the way. And the one person that needs to be at the table is not. That’s Donald Trump. Because Speaker Johnson and Leader Thune will not do one thing unless he says and tells them what to do.”

Multiple lawmakers are forecasting what will compel lawmakers to reopen the government.

“I think Veterans Day is probably D-Day,” said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. “And that’s when you’re going to break the system.”

“I think it’s going to happen next week,” predicted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

“Why?” yours truly asked.

“Just because the carnage is piling up, and Democrats are getting hurt more than they’re being helped,” replied Graham.

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It’s unclear if that compels lawmakers to reopen the government. There’s now pressure in the air — and on the ground — to reopen the government. Multiple airlines and the Teamsters demanded that Congress pass the GOP’s bill to fund the government.

To Graham’s point, next week represents the shutdown’s most significant inflection point yet, which could potentially force lawmakers to come around. SNAP benefits running out. A second missed paycheck. Worry about the airlines. It’s an “opportunity.” But only that. Those “opportunities” will soon multiply.

Barry Black will likely continue his daily invocations to end the shutdown. And only the Almighty knows when the shutdown will end.

But, until then, operations of the federal government are limping along.

On a wing. And a prayer.