What is the staff with an eagle on top they keep moving around in the House? What is it used for? Hawthorne, California - 5/3/00 Answer
What is "the hopper" and where is it located? Hoffman Estates, Illinois - 5/19/00 Answer
When there is a vote in the House, the Member in the Chair takes out a colored piece of paper and writes on it. Why does he do this? La Canada, California - 6/26/00 Answer
What can the House Ethics Committee do by way of punishment now that Speaker Gingrich has admitted wrong doing? - 5/3/00 Answer
What do the House Majority and Minority Whips do exactly?
Rochester, New York - 5/3/00 Answer
Is it true that the Speaker of the House does not have to be a Member of Congress? Could a former President be chosen to fill the job? Gainesville, New York - 5/3/00 Answer
Is Rep. J.C. Watts the first Black Republican ever elected to Congress? Is he the first Black to be part of the congressional leadership? College Station, Texas - 5/3/00 Answer
The Speaker of the House rarely presides over the House. What does he do when he is not
in the Chair? Mt. Vernon, Washington - 6/22/00 Answer
Can a member of the minority party be elected Speaker of the House? The next Congress is expected to be very closely divided between the two parties. If Democrats become the majority party, but Rep. Dennis Hastert [R-IL] gets re-elected as Speaker, could he still serve? Downey, California - 8/15/00 Answer
Would you please provide basic job descriptions for the House leaders? Gary, Indiana - 7/26/01 Answer
What is a typical day like for a Member of the House of Representatives? Wheaton, Illinois - 5/3/00 Answer
Why do we have delegates in Congress from U.S. territories if they can't vote? Why is one called a resident commissioner and the rest delegates? Hampton, Virginia - 9/14/00 Answer
Which state has the most Representatives in Congress? Which has the least? York, Pennsylvania - 9/14/00 Answer
What are "Blue Dog" Democrats? Are they any relation to "Yellow Dog" Democrats? Chelmsford, Massachusetts - 11/16/00 Answer
What is meant by the "committee of the whole house" and "the committee will now rise." I hear this all the time on the House floor. Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania - 5/3/00 Answer
What does it mean when a Member of the House says "I move to strike the last word" just before speaking? What is the "last word" they are talking about? Los Angeles, California - 5/3/00 Answer
I'm interested in the mechanics of voting in the House of Representatives. The Chair announces the vote will be "by electronic device." How do Members vote electronically? Grapeview, Washington - 5/3/00 Answer
Why are Members allowed to vote even after the allotted time for a vote has expired? Why bother having a timed vote? Newark, New Jersey - 5/3/00 Answer
What is the rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits Members from referring to the Senate, except as "the other body?" How did this rule come about? Senators talk about the House. Why doesn't the Senate have a similar rule? Paso Robles, California - 5/3/00 Answer
What is the House procedure for resolving contested elections, like the one between Robert Dornan (R-CA) and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) of the 46th district of California, which just ended with Sanchez being permanently seated? Johnson City, New York - 5/3/00 Answer
Please explain "special order speeches." What is their purpose and why do Members bother giving them to an empty House? Helena, Montana - 5/10/00 Answer
Why do Members sometimes demand a vote on the Speaker's approval of the previous day's Journal? What's behind insisting on a vote? And what would happen if the Journal vote lost? Monroe, Michigan - 6/9/00 Answer
When the Chair announces the result of a vote in the House, he/she always says: "and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table." Why? This has bugged me for years! Worthington, Ohio - 6/9/00 Answer
Can you explain what "Suspension of the Rules" means and why Dick Cheney said that was the reason he voted against the Equal Rights Amendment when he was in the House? New York, New York - 9/21/00 Answer
Can you explain motions to instruct conferees? Why are so many offered if they are not binding? West Lafayette, Indiana - 10/13/00 Answer
What do the House Reading Clerks do besides read, and how are they chosen? Peters Township, Pennsylvania - 5/3/00 Answer
The controversy over the appointment of a new House Chaplain has me confused. Can you explain the process? Barefoot Bay, Florida - 5/3/00 Answer
When the House is in daily session I see numerous staffers surrounding the Speaker's chair on the dais. Who are they and what do they do? Are they career, or partisan, employees? Roseville, California - 5/3/00 Answer
I have heard of physical fights between Members of Congress on the floor. Can you verify this, give some recent examples, and speak to the consequences? Carlsbad, California - 5/3/00 Answer
Why hasn't the number of House Members ever changed from 435? I looked through
the Constitution and 435 is never mentioned. Where did it come from? San Jose,
California - 9/26/00 Answer
