Visiting Washington, DC
FAQs

FAQs  > What's the Deal With...?
WhatsTheDealWith.com

Questions commonly asked by visitors to Washington, DC.

What's the deal with

• Contacting my Representative or Senators?

• Congressional Tours of Various Federal Sites in DC?

• Gallery Passes?

• How to Contact Congress

• Flags Flown Over the Capitol?

• Presidential Greetings?

• Congressional Pages?

• Using the subway in DC?

A Member of Congress (MOC) 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. (See "A Note About Usage".) There are 435 Representatives and 100 Senators. (See "Congress by the Numbers".)

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/apportionment.  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.

back to top

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 
  See this list of allowed and prohibited items when visiting the Capitol.
• 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.  See this list of allowed and prohibited items when visiting the Capitol.

Also see our How to Contact Congress page.

Also see our Museums, Memorials and Monuments page.

back to top

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.

See this list of allowed and prohibited items when visiting the Capitol.

back to top

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?"  

back to top

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. 

back to top

House

The House Page Program was discontinued in August, 2011.

See The U.S. House of Representatives Page Program.

United States House of Representatives Page Program - Wikipeida

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.

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.

Source: former Rep. Bernie Sanders web site 

Senate

See the Senate's Pages page.

United States Senate Page - Wikipeida

Contact your Senators.

Also see

• "Guide for Congressional Pages," Hobnob Blog, July 7, 2008

• "T-shirt: Congressional Totem Pole (as Drawn by a Former House Page)," Hobnob Blog, July 3, 2008

• "The Children Who Ran for Congress: A History of Congressional Pages," by Darryl Gonzalez (Praeger 2010)

• "The Manolo he recommends the shoes for Congressional pages," Hobnob Blog, June 30, 2008

• § 5.113, Congressional Pages, in the Congressional Deskbook, by Michael Koempel and Judy Schneider

• Capitol Page Alumni Association

• "Adventure in Washington," starring Herbert Marshall, Virginia Bruce, and Gene Reynolds (Columbia Pictures, 1941)

The Children Who Ran for Congress: A History of Congressional Pages

back to top

Also see these

• Museums, memorial and monuments - a list of the memorials in DC including the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, and the FDR Memorial 

• Visiting Washington, DC

 

TheCapitol.Net is a non-partisan firm, and the opinions of its faculty, clients, and of the owners and operators of its vendors are their own and do not represent those of TheCapitol.Net.

Quick DC Links - Washington Essentials

URLs:   www.TheCapitol.Net/VisitingDC/whatsthedeal.htm
WhatsTheDealWith.com

Related Resources

Live Courses

Congress in a Nutshell: Understanding Congress

Capitol Hill Workshop

Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process

Audio Courses

Publications