House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries organized a prayer vigil for the federal government amid the government shutdown, and yet skipped a vigil held for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated last month.
The prayer event, hosted at a Washington D.C. church on Thursday, was called the "Interfaith Rally and Faith Vigil for Health Justice," and brought together Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders along with several Democratic lawmakers.
Interfaith Rally & Prayer Vigil for Health Justice
— UUSJ (@UUSJ) October 9, 2025
Today, October 9th at 9:30 AM @UUSJ will join interfaith leaders for this urgent event, urging Congress to support a bipartisan Continuing Resolution that protects healthcare, renewing Affordable Care Act tax premiums for… pic.twitter.com/BWRW9maHBZ
During the event, they called on Republicans to concede to Democratic demands and end the government shutdown, even though the shutdown is being led by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, a high-ranking Democrat.
"I grew up in church learning, of course, that what the Bible teaches us is to stand up for the least amongst us — the lost, the left behind, those whose stations in life may not have always dealt them the best of hands," Jeffries told attendees. "And unfortunately, what we're dealing with right now in the United States Congress is a group of people who we sometimes say they go to church, and they pray on Sunday. But then they come to Washington, D.C., and they prey — p-r-e-y — on the American people for the rest of the week, prey on the poor, prey on the sick, prey on the afflicted."
"I think it's fair to say that we've got trouble all around us. A hater in the White House, haters in the Congress, haters throughout the Cabinet, trouble all around us. But we're not distressed because we believe in the resilience and the goodness of the American people," Jeffries continued.
Yet for someone who speaks so highly of the American people and their goodness, the House Minority Leader didn’t care to share it when he skipped a September vigil for Charlie Kirk. When reporters asked why he wouldn’t be attending, Jeffries simply replied, “I had a meeting.”
His comments, like his actions, ring hollow.