I want to know why there is a child in the house chamber???

[a kennedy]

anyone else see him??? C-SPAN coverage.

[blondeatlast]

1. I wiondered the same thing. All by himself, no group or parents. nt

[Lautremont]

2. Like him or not, Bart Stupak is allowed in the chamber.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

3. Hahaha!

:rofl:

[Lost-in-FL]

5. ...

:thumbsup:

[blondeatlast]

6. LOL! nt

[Bobbie Jo]

7. *snort*

:rofl:

[babylonsister]

4. Pelosi's grandbaby...

I kid! :P

I heard one last night, too. I don't think it's disallowed, this is historic, and I imagine some adult accompanied the child; he/she'd be on the playground otherwise. :D

[jwirr]

9. There was a picture yesterday of her and some little boy in the chambers.

I would assume that some have brought their children to see the historic vote today.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Hmm, just to spice things up - how would you feel about breastfeeding in the chamber?

It's a semi-serious question - the British House of Commons did rule against it, and in committees, because some MPs did want to do it:

Commons breastfeeding ban widened

Female MPs are to be banned from breastfeeding babies at committee meetings in Westminster despite a continuing campaign to make Parliament more family friendly.

The ruling follows a request from Labour MP Julia Drown who asked if she could feed her baby during a committee meeting.

But the Speaker Betty Boothroyd ruled that because MPs are not allowed to breastfeed in the chamber, the same rules should apply to the committee rooms around the Palace of Westminster where legislation is scrutinised.
...
The letter said that the speaker also felt that breastfeeding was not appropriate in the public gallery.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/705046.stm

[Hippo_Tron]

10. The House has pretty loose rules about who is allowed in the chamber

Pretty much anybody escorted by a member can get in during a session and anybody escorted by a staffer with floor privileges can get in when they're not in session. The Senate, on the other hand, has extremely strict rules that severely restricts floor access. Most Senate staffers aren't allowed on the floor and those that are are only allowed when the Senator they work for is speaking.

[ThomWV]

11. I saw that too. I figured it was the person speaking's grandchild

And I thought, well, that's nice that the kid gets to be there on the floor on this historic day, but then I asked myself 'what the hell is he doing there', how did he get floor privileges?

[zbdent]

12. jeez, you'd think with their six figure salary and Cadillac health plans

(along with the free haircuts and ice delivered every morning),

somebody could have afforded a baby-sitter for the day ...