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FAQs > What's the Deal With...?
Questions commonly asked by visitors to Washington, DC.
What's the deal with
A Member of Congress is a person
serving in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. A Member of the
House of Representatives is referred to as Representative or
Congressman or Congresswoman, and a Member of the Senate is referred
to as Senator. There are 435 Representatives and 100 Senators.
Each Representative represents his or
her congressional district. Each state has at least one
Representative; the total is based on a state's population. For
information about how the number of Representatives is determined, see
the
information
on Congressional Apportionment on the U.S. Census Bureau's web site
at
http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/apportionment.html
Each state has two Senators, both
of whom represent their entire state.
If you don't know who your
Representative is, go to www.house.gov/writerep
and type in your zip code. If you know who your Representative
is, you can visit their web page, links to which can be found at
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
If you don't know who your Senators
are, go to
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm
and scroll to your state.
Also see our How
to Contact Congress page.
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Certain federal buildings and sites
offer an extremely limited number of Congressional tours at set times
in addition to their regular public tours. Tour reservations/tickets
for these Congressional tours are only available through your
Congressman or Senators' office.
In most cases, there is very little
difference between what you see or hear on the public tour and what
you see or hear on the Congressional tour. The real benefit is that
you have a specific time appointed for your tour, thus saving you some
time waiting in line-be forewarned, however, that even with a
Congressional tour, you may still spend some time waiting in line,
especially in the busy summer months (after all, there are 535 Members
of Congress, each of whom is reserving tours for his/her
constituents).
Here is a list of the sites that offer
Congressional tours and the times that they are offered:
- Bureau of Printing &
Engraving Mon-Fri 9:45 or 11:45 am
- US Capitol Mon-Sat 8-9:30 am
- FBI Mon-Sat 8-9:30 am
- Kennedy Center Mon-Sat 9:30
am or 4:45 pm
- Library of Congress Mon-Fri
8:30 am
- National Archives Mon-Fri
10:15 am or 1:15 pm
- National Cathedral Mon & Wed
9:15 am
- State Department Mon-Fri
various times
("This is a fine arts tour. We do not recommend the tour for
children under the age of twelve.")
- US Supreme Court Mon-Fri 1:45
pm
(when court not in session)
- White House Tues-Sat
8:15-8:45 am
(children under 7 do not need a ticket)
White House tickets are extremely
limited; each Congressional office gets only a few for each week.
In addition, they must be picked up from your Congressman or
Senator's Washington office-they cannot be sent through the mail
for security reasons, so be sure you factor in an extra day to go
by and pick them up.
If you are interested in obtaining
these tickets for a visit during the summer months, it is
advisable to request them as far in advance as possible-meaning 6
months to a year before your trip-and even then you may not get
them. Congressional offices make their requests for the tickets on
a first-come, first-served basis, but the White House fills those
requests with a sort of lottery-like method.
Tip: Many Congressional offices
also offer tours of the US Capitol conducted by their own staff
members (depending on staff availability). If you cannot get tickets
for the Congressional tour, be sure to ask about a staff tour. This
can be a real godsend in the summer, because the line for the public
tour forms outside in the humid summer heat.
Also see our Museums,
Memorials and Monuments page.
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Passes to sit in the House and Senate
galleries are also available from your Congressman and Senators. These
passes allow you to observe the debates in Congress. You will need
separate passes for the House and Senate, but usually your Congressman
and Senators will have both available. Children must be six years of
age or older to be admitted to the Senate gallery, but in the House
children under 10 are allowed when accompanied by an adult. Hours are
usually 9 am to 4:30 pm for both galleries, although they may open
earlier depending on when the House and Senate are in session. Check
the front section of The Washington Post for times when the House and
Senate are in session and the topics of debate for the day. No
photography is allowed in the House and Senate chambers, and a secure
place to check your camera and other items is offered at the
galleries.
Tip: In the busy summer months, or during an especially exciting
or contentious debate, lines to get into the galleries can be long-ask
your Congressman or Senators' offices to have a staff member walk you
over to the gallery. He or she can bypass the line, seat you in the
reserved staff area, and can often give some insight on what is going
on in the chamber.
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Nylon and cotton American flags in a variety
of sizes are available from your Representative's and Senators' offices.
Please check with their offices for the latest flag prices; there is
also a charge for postage. If you want the flag flown over the
Capitol, there is an additional, mandatory $4.05 fee to recover the
costs of flying the flag over the Capitol and providing the
certificate that comes with it (a result of cuts in the 1996
Legislative Branch Appropriations Act). You can have the flag flown
"in honor of" or "in memory of," and you can
request a specific date. If the flag is to be flown over the Capitol,
place your request no less than two weeks or more than two months in
advance of the date you wish to have the flag flown. Payment must be
made by check or money order; cash and credit cards are not accepted.
Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.
For more information and links about
the American Flag, see our expanded "How do I get an American flag that has flown over the U.S. Capitol?"
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Your Congressman or Senator can also
request a greeting from the President on your behalf. There are
certain rules, however. Presidential Greetings can be requested for:
- Birthday - 80 years or more
- Wedding anniversary - 50 years or
more
- Birth of baby - addressed to the
parents
- Condolence - addressed to immediate
family member
- Eagle Scout/Girl Scout Gold award
- Graduation - high school or college;
individual or class
Requests should be made to your
Congressman or Senator at least four weeks before the date the
greeting is needed.
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House: Contact your
Representative.
"Pages are young people who are hired to serve as helpers for the
U.S. House of Representatives. They are students in their junior year
of high school who come to Washington D.C. to live, work, and study as
Pages. This Program, which includes the House Page Residence Hall, the
House Page School, and the work responsibilities, is administered by
the Office of the Clerk, pursuant to direction from the Majority and
Minority leadership and the U.S. House of Representatives Page Board.
The practice of having Pages dates back over 200 years.
"While there are over 400 Members of Congress wishing to
recommend a young person for a Page position, there are only about 66
Page positions available. This narrows opportunity considerably. All
students must be sponsored by a Member of Congress to become a Page.
Thus, the first step is to ask a Member of Congress for sponsorship.
That Member will then have to contact the proper hiring authority to
start the application process. Not every Member can sponsor a Page
every time.
Eligibility
"Page eligibility is limited to juniors in high school only. All
applicants must be at least sixteen years old on the date they begin
their Page term. No exceptions."
This information is from
former Rep.
Bernie Sanders web site.
Senate: Contact your
Senators.
Also see the
Senate's Pages page.
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For a list of the memorials
in DC including the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington
National Cemetery, and the FDR Memorial, see our museums, memorial and
monuments page.
Also see
our
Visiting Washington, DC page
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Quick
DC Links - Washington Essentials
URLs: www.TheCapitol.Net/VisitingDC/whatsthedeal.htm
WhatsTheDealWith.com
Last updated:
March 07, 2008
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