Senate Prayer "Crossed the Line"

Oklahom Senator Tom Coburn proposed a prayer on the Senate floor yesterday regarding the health care bill. Coburn said, "What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight. That's what they ought to pray." Many assumed he was referring to 92-year-old Robert Byrd. The West Virginia senator has often been in the hospital or too ill to join other Senators. Byrd would have a difficult time getting out in the heavy snow to vote which would leave Democrats short of the 60 they need to pass the meaures. Senator Dick Durbin, the number-two Democratic leader, went to the floor to complain about about the prayer, saying, "When it reaches a point where we're praying, asking people to pray, that senators wouldn't be able to answer the roll call, I think it has crossed the line."