Senate Chaplain, retired Rear Admiral Barry Black, delivered a fiery prayer on the Senate chamber floor as the government shutdown appears poised to surpass the previous ignominious record of thirty-five days. Black explicitly directed his remarks at Democrats, whom he told would not win gold medals for such an accomplishment.
For context, at the time of Black’s prayer on October 27th, the federal government had been shut down for twenty-seven days, as it began October 1st. The longest shutdown in United States history, not coincidentally, occurred during Donald Trump’s first term between 2018-19 and lasted thirty-five days. During that shutdown, Republicans also held a slim Senate majority where the bill once again stalled.
With Democrats seemingly unwilling to break from the radical left caucus within the party, which has sought hundreds of billions of dollars for illegal aliens to receive free, taxpayer-funded healthcare and over $1 trillion in additional spending for pet programs – and Speaker Mike Johnson firmly holding the line on not compromising on the clean bill passed in the House – the shutdown is all but poised to surpass the former mark.
Senate Chaplain Retired Rear Admiral Black, then, offered a prayer on the chamber floor to appease the radical leftists and Democrats responsible for not joining Republicans in an affirmative vote. After all, despite having a majority in the Senate, the GOP represents just 52 votes of the 60 needed to pass the spending bill. As Democrats play politics with the spending bill and shutdown, they’d rather stick it to Trump than legislate effectively. Eight Democrats would be needed to pass the continuing resolution.
“Let us pray Eternal God, our King. 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 said.
“This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and prophets, Lord remind our lawmakers that no gold medals are given for breaking shut down records, but a crown of righteousness is given to those who take care of the lost. Last and least, we pray in Your loving name. Amen,” he finished.
Watch the chaplain mix prayer and sardonic contempt below:
Black is the 62nd chaplain of the United States Senate, having served in the same capacity since the summer of 2003. Upon assuming the role, he became both the first black Senate chaplain as well as the first Seventh-Day Adventist to the hold the position. Prior to that, he served for nearly three decades in the United States Navy Chaplain Corps, ultimately achieving the rank of rear admiral (upper half) and retiring as the Chief of Chaplains of the United States Navy.
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video