HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
[When the Speaker is in the Chair, follow this style.]
The House met at 9:30 a.m.
The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following prayer:
Water, not only the essential planetary element, O Lord, water itself ushers in new human life. For Your people of covenant, both old and new, the symbol of water is complex, never stable, always fresh and beautiful, sometimes fearful and tragic.
As the Spring of Salvation, we call upon Your Holy Name to calm the waters of anxiety in mid-America. Enable Your people to cross these present waters of disaster and bring them to Your promised land of fruitful plenty.
In the book of Joshua, water upon the fleece is Joshua's own test of Your presence in the midst of trouble; later the way his people take water unto themselves becomes their measurement.
End this waterboarding of America's fields and rural towns even if we can no longer define torture ourselves. By the wellspring of Your Spirit, mix all our human endeavors with our natural resources in such an outstanding victory that believers and unbelievers alike will be touched again as in Joshua's day and acclaim: "Their hearts melted and became as water!"
This is our prayer now and forever. Amen.
[When the Speaker is not in the Chair, follow this style.]
The House met at 12:30 and was called to order by the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. Larsen of Washington).
DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE
The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following communication from the Speaker:
Washington, DC,
June 17, 2008.I hereby appoint the Honorable Rick Larsen to act as Speaker pro tempore on this day.
Nancy Pelosi,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
PRAYER[1]
The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following prayer:
O God, who rules all the world from everlasting to everlasting, during the time given them, help this Congress to set a great agenda for this Nation and its future. Grasping a sense of the urgent needs of Your people, may this week provide a sense of priorities. May the desires of the common good overshadow particular concerns and personal preferences.
Inspire each Member to draw upon his or her best instinct and highest ideal so true goodness overcomes every evil and determined work whittles away at every problem, until this great Nation becomes Your living glory for all the world to see.
Show us the way, fill us with life, and let truth reign, both now and forever. Amen.
THE JOURNAL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair has examined the Journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the House his approval thereof.
Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.
- ↑ Head is not used when the Speaker is in the chair. See preceding example.
