Sens. Coburn, Schumer to be seat buddies at State of the Union address

A Democratic senator and Republican senator are heeding the suggestion of one of their colleagues, Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), to sit together durign President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address.

The address traditionally has a chamber audience divided by party on either side of the aisle.

But in the wake of the political discourse debate spurred by the Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), Udall called for lawmakers to symbolically soften the partisan divide.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that after Udall’s call, he called Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and asked if he wanted to sit together during the speech.

Coburn said yes.

“Tom and I have real differences but we do it civilly,” Schumer said.

Coburn cautioned, though, against linking the calls for polite political discourse to the motive of the likely mentally ill shooter in Arizona.

“What we can’t question is our president’s love for our country, Chuck Schumer’s love for our country,” Coburn said.

“Chuck and I have been able to work on multiple bills because we sit down and work it out,” he added.