WASHINGTON — Americans got a rare close-up view of democracy in action last month when the House of Representatives struggled for days to select a new speaker. During that voting period, the public-affairs channel C-SPAN pointed its cameras anywhere it wanted to.
What You Need To Know
- Typically, the cameras monitoring the House floor are limited in what they can show, but the rules aren’t set until a Speaker of the House is named
- This year the Speaker of the House vote dragged on for days, giving the cameras more time to operate freely
- C-SPAN, the public access channel funded by the cable industry that aired coverage of the votes, is asking for continued access
- Many lawmakers are also calling for increased camera access in the chamber
“Really, this was a historic occasion,” said Republican Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky. “We had never had C-SPAN cameras on the floor of the House during all of that time.”
Rogers, who started representing eastern Kentucky in 1981, is the longest serving-serving current member of the House of Representatives, giving him the title of Dean of the House.
The cameras allowed Americans to see “the real world as it is, not as you wish it might be,” Rogers said.
Typically, the cameras monitoring the House floor are limited in what they can show.
“The cameras that are showing what happens on the floor of the House of Representatives are tightly controlled by the leadership of the House,” explained Matthew Green with the Department of Politics at Catholic University. “They usually just show either the person who is speaking at the time, or the chair, or whoever’s presiding over the House.”
In those brief periods every few years when there is no speaker, there is no one to make those decisions. This year’s vote dragged on for days and was packed with suspense, giving the cameras more time to operate freely with arguably more drama to convey.
“Usually that vote for speaker happens in one day and once it’s chosen, those cameras are going to stick to the script,” Green said.
Freshman Congressman Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat from Louisville, said he thinks this type of camera access should be the standard.
“I’m 150% in favor of loosening the rules for cameras on the floor,” McGarvey told Spectrum News. “I come from the Kentucky general assembly, where we had no control over the cameras or the camera operators in that chamber. I think it gives people a much better view into their government.”
Many new members, McGarvey included, had family in town as they waited to be sworn in. McGarvey’s kids even created some of the fun on-camera moments.
To be fair it was the witching hour 🤷🏻♂️ https://t.co/EhdLM7r1jO
— Rep. Morgan McGarvey (@RepMcGarvey) January 7, 2023
C-SPAN, the public access channel funded by the cable industry that aired the coverage of the votes in full, has asked Congress for more access throughout their years of coverage. After Kevin McCarthy was named Speaker of the House, they sent another request.
