Inside One of Capitol Hill’s Last Bipartisan Gatherings: The Senate Prayer Breakfast

“It’s one of my favorite things,” Sen. John Boozman told NOTUS. “Every week, I make my resolutions for the week, it’s usually at the top.”

Senate Chaplain Barry Black
Senate Chaplain Barry Black attends a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony to honor Greg LeMond, American cyclist and Tour de France winner, in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Tom Williams/AP

Even as the concept of “bipartisanship” has become as antiquated as the spittoons on the Senate floor, there’s one place on Capitol Hill where Republicans and Democrats are still getting together and getting along: the weekly prayer breakfast.

Every Wednesday when the Senate is in session, lawmakers hold a closed-door meeting on the first floor of the Capitol to eat, pray and talk. For about an hour, they discuss their families and their struggles. They pray for each other. Sometimes they even sing. Everyone is welcome — any and all denominations.

“It’s one of my favorite things,” Sen. John Boozman told NOTUS. “Every week, I make my resolutions for the week, it’s usually at the top.”