This update will be a bit different from most. While I typically focus on my day-to-day experiences on Capitol Hill, this time I want to share a broader perspective on what I have been seeing and sensing—both on the Hill and across the nation.

On Monday, the day before I left for Washington, D.C., a friend of more than 40 years called. We stay in touch every couple of weeks. He is a committed follower of Jesus and strong in his faith. And yet he called because he was discouraged. After years of being a trendsetter in his career and widely respected, things have not panned out as he had hoped. He knew I would be a safe place to share his feelings.

If you have followed Jesus for any length of time, there will inevitably be seasons when questions arise. Years ago, during a time of deep discouragement, I said to a friend, “If there is a God, I think He’s forgotten my name.”

My friend heard me out and helped guide me through those rough days. His immediate response was, “Sometimes we go through things so that we might know the Father’s heart.” While those were not the most comforting words at the time, they were true.

Discouragement is part of life—and part of our Christian faith.

As I turn now to Washington, DC, and my experience on Capitol Hill this week, I do want to emphasize that there are many positive things happening on the Hill. At the same time, I sensed a spirit of discouragement during several of my encounters there this week. I’ll describe some of those moments below.

This was the House’s first week back after the August recess. It gave me a welcome opportunity to greet members and staffers and catch up on their activities during the break. Many members had traveled overseas to meet with foreign leaders.

Within the first few minutes of entering the Cannon House Office Building, a member invited me into his office. He was speaking with a young staffer and immediately asked me to pray for the young man. It was a wonderful way to begin my time on the Hill.

After finishing office visits in Cannon, I headed to the Capitol, where the House was taking its final votes of the day. Only the House was in session this week; the Senate remained on break.

That morning the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government through December 11 and avoid an end-of-the-month shutdown. Of course, we could face another potential shutdown before Christmas. The measure passed by a strong bipartisan majority (370–48), though members on both sides still had concerns with the legislation. Republicans voted 193–19 in favor; Democrats voted 176–29 in favor. The vote reflected a shared determination by both parties to avoid a politically risky shutdown in the run-up to the November midterm elections.

While the House is currently scheduled to be in session September 14–17 and September 28–October 1, there had been rumors that those weeks might be canceled so members could return to their districts to campaign.

I have since learned that the House is expected to return on the 14th, though it remains uncertain how many days they will stay in session. Votes for the last week of September have been canceled, but members have been told they may be called back if the Senate passes legislation that requires House action.

There is real uneasiness among Republicans about retaining the House majority. Senate Majority Leader Thune recently expressed concern about Republicans holding the Senate as well. Several Republican House members told me they believe certain comments by President Trump are hurting their chances of keeping the majority. They described his words and actions as an unnecessary distraction from the serious issues facing the country. The suggestion of renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” as something they viewed as unhelpful given the pressing challenges at hand. Whether discouraged or simply apprehensive, many members on both sides of the aisle are anxious about the upcoming elections.

More and more I am sensing a growing disconnect between the generations in our nation. As we approach the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, younger Americans—and those not yet born on that day—cannot fully grasp the impact those events had on the country, just as I can never fully understand the impact of World War II and Pearl Harbor.

Those 30 and under have grown up amid cultural ambiguity on issues of life, gender, and other matters that previous generations regarded as common sense and settled truth. The inability of some—including a Supreme Court justice—to define what a woman is is a clear illustration of the confusion and chaos of our time.

Most of the reporters I encounter on the Hill are 30 or younger. The culture in which they were raised inevitably shapes their understanding and coverage of the issues. My concern is for the voices that have spoken into their lives to this point. I wonder if their life experience allows them to have full perspective of what is happening in one of the most important institutions in the world.

Tolerance has, in many places, morphed into a permissiveness that obscures right and wrong, truth and fact, and has contributed to significant cultural chaos. It should not surprise us that Capitol Hill simply reflects this broader decline. This cultural decline cannot be cured by legislation passed in Washington or by executive action alone. A spiritual revival is our only hope.

Gallup’s August 2025 survey found that only 43% of Americans ages 18–34 held a positive view of capitalism, compared with 54% of Americans overall. A Cato/YouGov survey from March 2025 found that 62% of 18–29-year-olds held a favorable view of socialism. This week the House took a vote on a resolution to condemn socialism; it passed but 192 members of Congress voted against the resolution. While it was more of a messaging vote ahead of the midterms, it shows the state of many on Capitol Hill.

I am constantly learning new things about the Capitol building—its artwork, architecture, and statues. Each state may include two statues to the National Statuary Hall Collection that are displayed around the Capitol. Several years ago, North Carolina replaced the statue of a former governor with one of Billy Graham.

On this trip I learned that Washington State’s statue of Marcus Whitman—a 19th-century missionary, physician, and pioneer associated with the Oregon Trail and the early settlement of the Pacific Northwest has been removed from Statuary Hall. The Whitman statue depicts him as a frontiersman in buckskin, striding forward, holding a Bible in one hand and saddlebags or a scroll in the other.

In 2021 the Washington Legislature voted to replace it with a statue of Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal leader and fishing-rights and salmon-conservation activist. The new statue is expected to be unveiled soon. I will miss the quiet witness of Marcus Whitman in Statuary Hall.

On Wednesday I began my day in the Rayburn Building. As I entered one office, a young staffer held up her left hand to show me her engagement ring. It was a joy to celebrate with her. A little later I stood in a hallway as a longtime government employee shared how much he hates his job. After more than 20 years in government service, he feels unappreciated and stuck, and is seriously considering quitting. Discouragement again. I tried to be a listening ear and encourage him to trust God.

A member had emailed me two weeks earlier asking for prayer the day before back surgery. When I saw him this week, I asked how he was doing. He admitted he had returned to the Hill too soon but felt he needed to be present given the narrow margins in the House.

As I entered another office, a retiring member had pulled his desk drawer out onto a table. Members are permitted to purchase their desks when they leave Congress. As he prepares to wrap up his time in the House, he was inviting staff and others to sign the inside of the drawer and asked if I would do the same. It was an honor.

Wednesday evening, I finished the day back in the Capitol as the final votes were being cast. I connected with a fellow believer who also spends significant time on the Hill. We sat together just outside the Rotunda near the Members’ Chapel, shared Scripture, and talked about what we were seeing and sensing.

He too felt a spirit of discouragement. Together we prayed that God would move on the Hill—that Jesus would bind darkness, deception, and discouragement both on Capitol Hill and across the nation—and that a spirit of joy would be released in the halls of Congress to bring strength and encouragement.

I’ll be heading back to D.C. in two weeks. Please pray that I can be a bright light shining in a dark place.

Pray for the nation and against spirits of darkness, deception, evil, despair, and discouragement.

Steve