[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 334 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 334

Recognizing May 2, 2019, as the 31st anniversary of the National Day of 
   Prayer established under the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for 
   setting aside the first Thursday in May as the date on which the 
National Day of Prayer is celebrated'', approved May 5, 1988, which was 
           signed by President Ronald Reagan on May 5, 1988.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 30, 2019

  Mr. Loudermilk (for himself, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Aderholt, Mr. 
Mooney of West Virginia, Mr. Cole, Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, 
      Mr. Carter of Georgia, Mr. Walker, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Kelly of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Abraham, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Meadows, Mr. Marshall, 
Mr. Wright, Mr. Johnson of Louisiana, Mr. Estes, Mr. Woodall, Mr. Hice 
of Georgia, Mr. Babin, Mr. Norman, Mr. Emmer, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. Hunter, 
Mr. Timmons, and Mr. Wittman) submitted the following resolution; which 
         was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing May 2, 2019, as the 31st anniversary of the National Day of 
   Prayer established under the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for 
   setting aside the first Thursday in May as the date on which the 
National Day of Prayer is celebrated'', approved May 5, 1988, which was 
           signed by President Ronald Reagan on May 5, 1988.

Whereas section 119 of title 36, United States Code, states that ``The President 
        shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in 
        May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States 
        may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as 
        individuals.'';
Whereas, May 2, 2019, marks the 31st anniversary of the National Day of Prayer 
        established under the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for setting aside 
        the first Thursday in May as the date on which the National Day of 
        Prayer is celebrated'', approved May 5, 1988 (Public Law 100-307; 102 
        Stat. 456) (referred to in this preamble as ``Public Law 100-307''), 
        which was signed by President Ronald Reagan on May 5, 1988, and later 
        codified as section 119 of title 36, United States Code;
Whereas, as Senator Jesse Helms stated on the day the vehicle that would become 
        Public Law 100-307 passed the Senate--

    (1) ``Designating the first Thursday in May as the National Day of 
Prayer allows the people of the United States to plan and prepare to 
intercede as a corporate body on behalf of the Nation and its leaders from 
year to year with certainty.''; and

    (2) ``[T]he magnitude of America's problems, within and without the 
country, evidence a need for divine healing and guidance.'';

Whereas, as Representative Tony Hall stated on the day the vehicle that would 
        become Public Law 100-307 passed the House of Representatives, ``This 
        will help to bring more certainty to the scheduling of events related to 
        the National Day of Prayer, and permit more effective long-range 
        planning. For the past 7 years, the day has been observed in May, but 
        before this period it was observed at different times of the year. 
        Clarifying legislation is needed to ensure consistent and dependable 
        observance of the National Day of Prayer.'';
Whereas both the Senate and House of Representatives have a long tradition of 
        opening their daily legislative sessions with prayer, which was most 
        recently upheld once again in Barker v. Conroy when Judge David S. Tatel 
        wrote for the Court, ``[A]lthough the Court has warned against 
        discriminating among religions or tolerating a pattern of prayers that 
        proselytize or disparage certain faiths or beliefs, it has never 
        suggested that legislatures must allow secular as well as religious 
        prayer. In the sui generis context of legislative prayer, then, the 
        House does not violate the Establishment Clause by limiting its opening 
        prayer to religious prayer.'';
Whereas the United States has a long history of turning to prayer both in times 
        of crisis and in times of thanksgiving, as demonstrated on the following 
        occasions:

    (1) President Barack Obama stated in Presidential Proclamation No. 9441 
of May 4, 2016 (81 Fed. Reg. 27983), ``In times of steady calm and 
extraordinary change alike, Americans of all walks of life have long turned 
to prayer to seek refuge, demonstrate gratitude, and discover peace. 
Sustaining us through great uncertainty and moments of sorrow, prayer 
allows us an outlet for introspection, and for expressing our hopes, 
desires, and fears. It offers strength in the face of hardship, and 
redemption when we falter. Our country was founded on the idea of religious 
freedom, and we have long upheld the belief that how we pray and whether we 
pray are matters reserved for an individual's own conscience. On National 
Day of Prayer, we rededicate ourselves to extending this freedom to all 
people.''.

    (2) President Donald Trump stated in Presidential Proclamation No. 9741 
of May 3, 2018 (83 Fed. Reg. 20713), ``As a Nation, we have continued to 
seek God in prayer, including in times of conflict and darkness. At the 
height of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for prayer 
`for the vision to see our way clearly to see the way that leads to a 
better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men and to the achievement 
of His will to peace on earth.' Decades later, following one of the darkest 
days in our Nation's history, President George W. Bush offered this prayer 
for our heartbroken country, mourning the precious souls who perished in 
the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001: `We ask Almighty God to watch 
over our Nation, and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. 
We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We 
thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to 
come. America has known peace, prosperity, war, and depression and prayer 
has sustained us through it all. May our Nation and our people never forget 
the love, grace, and goodness of our Maker, and may our praise and 
gratitude never cease. On this National Day of Prayer, let us come 
together, all according to their faiths, to thank God for His many 
blessings and ask for His continued guidance and strength.'.''.

    (3) On June 14, 2017, after the shooting in Alexandria, Virginia--

    G    (A) Senator James Lankford said in a prayer on the floor of the 
Senate, ``[A]s I have walked through the hallways heading back and forth to 
different meetings, I have been interested to see many doors that I have 
walked by, and when those doors were open, I could hear people inside 
praying. There have been at least three organized prayer meetings on the 
Hill today, specifically related just to that, and others spontaneously 
occurring. Just for a moment we have the opportunity to be able to reflect 
and say to God: Thank You so much for protecting the people on that field. 
Thank you again to the Capitol Police, who literally put their lives on the 
line to protect the guests and the Members and staff here every single day 
. . . I would like to be able to join what is happening all over this Hill 
for just a moment in this room--for us to be able to pray for a moment . . 
. .'';

    G    (B) Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi 
said on the floor of the House of Representatives, ``You may not know this, 
my colleagues, but every time I pray, which is very frequently, and 
certainly every Sunday, I pray for all of you, all of you together. In the 
earlier years, I used to pray for your happiness, for the fact that we 
would, working together, heed the words of President Kennedy in the closing 
of his inaugural address when he said: `. . . God's work must truly be our 
own.' How do we view what God's will is for us? How do we come together to 
give confidence to the American people? As our Founders intended, we would 
have our disagreements and we would debate them, and we would have 
confidence in our beliefs and humility to listen to others. But in more 
recent years, I have been praying not only for that, but for our safety . . 
. My prayer is that we can resolve our differences in a way that furthers 
the preamble to the Constitution, takes us closer to `e pluribus unum.' And 
today, again, it is in the family. It is an injury in the family for the 
staff and for our colleague and for his leadership.''; and

    G    (C) Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan said on the 
floor of the House of Representatives, ``My colleagues, there are so many 
memories from this day that we will want to forget, and there are so many 
images that we will not want to see again. But there is one image in 
particular that this House should keep, and that is a photo I saw this 
morning of our Democratic colleagues gathered in prayer this morning after 
hearing the news . . . So before this House returns to its business, let's 
just slow down and reflect to think about how we are all being tested right 
now, because we are being tested right now. I ask each of you to join me to 
resolve to come together, to lift each other up, and to show the country, 
to show the world, that we are one House, the people's House, united in our 
humanity. It is that humanity which will win the day, and it always will. 
God bless.''.

    (4) On September 28, 2017, Representative Steve Scalise, marking his 
return to the House of Representatives after being shot on a baseball field 
in Alexandria, Virginia, said on the floor of the House of Representatives, 
``[W]hen I was laying out on that ball field, the first thing I did once I 
was down and couldn't move anymore is I just started to pray. And I'll tell 
you it gave me an unbelievable sense of calm knowing that at that point it 
was in God's hands. But I prayed for very specific things, and I will tell 
you pretty much every one of those prayers was answered, and they were some 
pretty challenging prayers I was putting in God's hands. He really did 
deliver for me and my family. And it just gives you that renewed faith and 
understanding that the power of prayer is something that you just cannot 
underestimate.''.

    (5) On June 18, 2015, after the shooting at Emanuel African Methodist 
Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, Senate Minority Leader 
Harry Reid said on the floor of the Senate, ``The thought of people who 
were in a house of worship being gunned down as they gathered to pray is 
heart wrenching, devastating and is an ultimate act of cowardice and 
hatred. As our good chaplain said, our hearts go out to the families and 
friends, the people who are gunned down in that church. It's hard for me to 
comprehend anything so awful. So on the behalf of the Senate family, we 
send our support, our sympathy . . .'';

Whereas Congress joined the people of the United States to pray for the victims 
        and families of the following tragedies at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High 
        School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018; Santa Fe High School 
        in Santa Fe, Texas, on May 18, 2018; Borderline Bar and Grill in 
        Thousand Oaks, California, on November 7, 2018; and Pulse nightclub in 
        Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016;
Whereas the people of the United States condemned the horrific, anti-Semitic 
        attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 
        October 27, 2018, and express support and prayers for all those affected 
        by this tragedy;
Whereas the act of prayer is both an expression of religious belief and an act 
        of speech that is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution 
        of the United States;
Whereas the National Day of Prayer--

    (1) is consistent with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment 
to the Constitution of the United States;

    (2) belongs to all people in the United States; and

    (3) ``is very much in keeping with the pluralistic spirit of the 
Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. No single religious group can 
claim ownership or control of the National Day of Prayer; rather, it truly 
belongs to all Americans who seek divine guidance for themselves and for 
the country'', as Representative Mervyn Dymally noted on the day the 
vehicle that would become Public Law 100-307 passed the House of 
Representatives;

Whereas calling for prayer in times of crisis and thanksgiving creates a sense 
        of unity in the United States, and, as President Ronald Reagan noted in 
        a radio address in 1982, ``[P]rayer is one of the few things in this 
        world that hurts no one and sustains the spirit of millions.''; and
Whereas declaring a National Day of Prayer sets the United States apart as a 
        country, and, as Representative William Dannemeyer noted on the day the 
        vehicle that would become Public Law 100-307 passed the House of 
        Representatives, ``A Nation in prayer has traditionally given this great 
        Republic of ours the efficacy required to sustain it. A National Day of 
        Prayer should be more than a mere commemorative occasion, it should be 
        the spiritual sustenance that sets America apart from the rest of the 
        world, the difference between freedom under God or slavery under the 
        rule of men.'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes May 2, 2019, as the National Day of Prayer 
        established under the Act entitled ``An Act to provide for 
        setting aside the first Thursday in May as the date on which 
        the National Day of Prayer is celebrated'', approved May 5, 
        1988 (Public Law 100-307; 102 Stat. 456), which was signed by 
        President Ronald Reagan on May 5, 1988, and later codified as 
        section 119 of title 36, United States Code;
            (2) encourages all people in the United States to reaffirm 
        the importance prayer has played in the heritage of the United 
        States; and
            (3) expresses support for the continued recognition each 
        year of--
                    (A) the National Day of Prayer; and
                    (B) the importance that prayer and faith have 
                played in the history of the United States.
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