Jeffries holds prayer event following closure after snubbing Charlie Kirk vigil

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., held a prayer vigil for the federal government on the ninth day of the ongoing shutdown.

The Democratic leader of the House of Representatives hosted the event, called the “Interfaith Rally and Vigil for Health Justice,” on Thursday outside a Washington, D.C., church, bringing together Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders alongside other Democratic lawmakers.

They have pushed Republican congressional leaders to find a bipartisan path to funding the federal government that also includes concessions from Republicans on health policy.

The appearance by House Democratic leaders contrasts with their absence from the Capitol vigil held by Republican lawmakers last month in honor of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Several rank-and-file Democrats attended the vigil, but when reporters asked Jeffries why he wasn’t there, he simply replied, “I had a meeting.”

HAKEEM JEFFRIES’ 4-WORD ANSWER TO WHY HE JUMPED CHARLIE KIRK’S VIGIL

Hakeem Jeffries explained to reporters why he missed the Congressional vigil for Charlie Kirk on Monday, September 15, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

At his Thursday event, Jeffries said, “I grew up in the Church learning, of course, that what the Bible teaches us is to stand up for the least among us – the lost, the left behind, those whose station in life may not have always dealt them the best of hands. »

“And unfortunately, what we’re dealing with right now in the United States Congress is a group of people who we sometimes say go to church and pray on Sunday. But then they come to Washington, D.C., and they prey – prey on – the American people for the rest of the week, prey on the poor, prey on the sick, prey on the afflicted.”

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He referenced a verse from the New Testament: “We are troubled on every side, but not distressed, perplexed, but never in despair,” to further hammer home Republican resistance to Democrats’ demands.

“I think it’s fair to say we have problems all around us. Haters in the White House, haters in Congress, haters throughout the Cabinet, unrest all around us. But we are not distressed because we believe in the resilience and goodness of the American people,” Jeffries said.

Other lawmakers who spoke included House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Speaker of the House, Representative Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, speaks during a news conference Nov. 19, 2024, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

The government shut down at midnight on Oct. 1, at the start of fiscal year 2026, after Democrats and Republicans failed to agree on a spending deal.

The House passed a bill last month to keep federal government funding at fiscal 2025 levels through Nov. 21. It was largely free of policy clauses, except for an additional $88 million in security spending for lawmakers, the White House and the judiciary.

The measure, called a continuing resolution (CR), was intended to give congressional negotiators more time to reach a longer-term deal for fiscal year 2026.

But House and Senate Democrats were furious at being left out of negotiations over federal funding. They pushed for an extension of Obamacare subsidies boosted during the COVID-19 pandemic and set to expire at the end of 2025.

Democrats also introduced a counterproposal for a CR that would keep the government funded through October 31 while reversing the GOP cuts to Medicaid made in their “big, beautiful bill.”

The counterproposal also would have restored federal funding for NPR and PBS that was cut by the Trump administration earlier this year.

Republicans criticized the plan as a failure rife with partisan grievances, while pointing out that Democrats voted for a “clean” measure similar to the GOP proposal 13 times during former President Joe Biden’s term.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Republicans are willing to negotiate an extension of the expiration of Obamacare tax credits, but only after the government reopens. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

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Another speaker, Rev. Leslie Copeland-Tune of the National Council of Churches, criticized the Republicans’ bill during her speech at the rally.

“I declare to you today that not having health care for 24 million people so that the rich can be richer is a terror on Earth. I declare to you today that cutting food stamps, SNAP and other food programs is a terror on Earth,” she said.

“We pray, oh God, that You will turn hearts from stone to flesh and transform those who would do evil to do good. God, we pray that You will help us face this moment, fulfill our mission, and be courageous as we do it.”

Senate Democrats have now defeated the GOP plan in six separate votes and are set to do so again on Thursday.