Ben Carson leads prayer for tax cuts at Trump Cabinet meeting

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

President Donald Trump excuses reporters after his remarks to them at the start of a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2017.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson led President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet in a prayer Wednesday, thanking God for “unity in Congress,” and for providing an “opportunity for our economy to expand so that we can fight the corrosive debt that has been destroying our future.”

Carson also thanked God for a “courageous” president and a Cabinet “who are willing to face the winds of controversy in order to provide a better future.”

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon and Seventh Day Adventist, has said he prayed before every surgery he performed.

His prayer on Wednesday was overtly political, however, as he thanked God for the “unity” between House Republicans and Senate Republicans that facilitated the passage of a massive tax cut this week. He also prayed that this unity would, “spread even beyond party lines, so that people recognize we have a nation that is worth saving.”

Earlier in the meeting, Trump had accused Democrats of wanting only tax increases and “complaining.”

Carson also used spiritual terms to reinforce the Trump administration’s claim that the tax cuts will pay for themselves, thanking God for economic expansion “so we can fight the corrosive debt that has been destroying our future.”