Imagine being an A/V professional at the U.S. Capitol, working for the House. House rules say you have two fixed cameras. You set them up, monitor them all day, every day. The Chamber is mostly empty, save for unknown members speechifying in front of empty seats to show their constituents how much they (don’t) matter inside the Beltway. Yawnfest.
All of a sudden there is no Speaker of the House, hence no rules. What did we get last week? Never-before seen conversations between AOC and Paul Gosar, of all the strange bedfellows to watch. Shortly before the 15th vote to elect a Speaker, two majority members nearly came to fisticuffs on the floor of the House!
All of a sudden, C-SPAN is must-watch TV! Hallelujah! Of course, these professionals will be put back into their cages as soon as a rules package is adopted.
I remember there being some opposition to having cameras in Congress back in the day. Then members got used to it, and used it to communicate with their constituents. Now I think having an open forum would be good for the American people, if only to show how our hired representatives are spending OUR money.
If this were to happen, all the “action” would move to the back rooms and we’d go back to the smoke-filled rooms of yore before FOIA and Open Meetings laws and letting the sun shine in.
I won’t go into this new House and its priorities, only to say that many of the rules that are proposed to be passed today will have an extremely deleterious effect on our country and national security. Until the rules change, I hope that C-SPAN will bring it all to us in living color. Cheers! Dee
Cooking with Dee 