About.com: House of Representatives Allows Use of iPads, BlackBerrys on Floor

House of Representatives Allows Use of iPads, BlackBerrys on Floor

By Tom Murse, About.com Contributing Writer 

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/iPads-Allowed-On-House-Floor.htm?nl=1

Jan 6 2011

Tweet, tweet.

That's not just the sound of robins in the springtime anymore.

It's the sound coming from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, which began allowing its members to use wireless devices such as iPads, iPhones and BlackBerrys inside the chambers for the first time during the 112th Congress, which was seated in 2011.

That's right: House members can use Twitter andFacebook all they want.

Read more: Yeah, Obama Does the Facebook Thing

The House Republican Conference, which took over the majority in the House of Representatives in January of 2011, approved groundbreaking parliamentary rules at the beginning of the two-year legislative session in January.

Among the changes was to the section of rules dealing with the use of electronic devices on the floor of the House of Representatives.

In the previous session of Congress, the rules stated: "A person may not smoke or use a wireless telephone or personal computer on the floor of the House."

In 2011, the House Republican Conferenceamended that section of the rules to read: "A person on the floor of the House may not smoke or use a mobile electronic device that impairs decorum.''

Read more: 10 Wealthiest Members of Congress

Spokesmen for the Republican Conference told reporters that the rule was softened so as to allow members of the House of Representatives to use their mobile phones and other electronic devices such as iPads and iPhones on the floor.

Of course, the key question was how "impairing" the "decorum" of the House of Representatives would be defined.

"The definition of what is 'disruptive of decorum' will likely evolve over time," one spokesman told the website techPresident.com, "but of course devices are not to make sound and members are not to be speaking on their phones while on the floor."

On Congress:

• Salaries and Benefits of U.S. Congress Members
• The Powers of Congress
• Quick Study Guide to the Legislative Branch

More on Congress:

• Why We Have a House and Senate
• The Great Compromise: Congress Created
• Requirements to be a U.S. Representative

Also See:

• 10 Wealthiest Members of Congress
• Yeah, Obama Does the Facebook Thing

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