The True House Speaker Prayer Before Congress Older than Bill of Rights June 5, 2021 – As C-SPAN spokesman Howard Mortman watched a lot of congressional footage before one daily tradition caught his eye: the prayer before each session. Mortman has written the definitive history of congressional prayers with his book When Rabbis Bless Congress. “The very first thing that Congress does, both chambers, is open with a prayer,” Mortman tells the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields. “It’s like nothing else that happens during the day. There’s no acrimony; there’s no hatred, there’s no debate, there are no votes.” Mortman describes how prayer even preceded the formation of the Republic and the Bill of Rights. Listen and learn.