Posted on 12/24/2006 8:36:19 AM PST by SmithL
When nature calls during a debate or vote in the House of Representatives, what's a member of Congress to do? The answer, even as the first female speaker of the House prepares to be sworn in next month, depends on gender.
The members-only House men's room, with its shoeshine stand, fireplace and television tuned to floor proceedings, is nestled a few paces from the House chamber, beside the speaker's lounge, flanked by Capitol police. How convenient.
Reaching the women's equivalent is more challenging. It entails traversing a hall where tourists gather, or entering the minority leader's office, navigating a corridor that winds past secretarial desks and punching in a keypad code to ensure restricted access. Not so convenient.
So when Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, takes the gavel, she may revisit, along with the Iraq war and raising the minimum wage, the question of potty parity.
Starting in January, the 435-member House will have a record 71 women. (The 100-member Senate will have 16 women, also a record.) Asked whether female House members should also get a loo off the chamber, Pelosi said, "I'm all for it -- let's find a spot."
Mischievously, she said she's eyeing the men's room just steps from the chamber, "but the gentlemen, they just won't get out of there."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
grandeur.
this is not a shopping mall.
by your recomendation we should bulldoze the entire capitol and build a nice squre generic office space.
Who cares about history?
Perhaps they should just paint over the Brumidi Frescos, after all they are old. Statues? get rid of them, they only take space.
The dome is made of metal, perhaps we should recycle it so we could be eco friendly...
They could always take TURNS! They have enough union based employees just hanging around.
The House Chamber was obviously fitted with bathrooms at a time when only men were representatives. I am actually shocked to find that while the men's restroom is very close to the chamber, a restroom for women is a long walk away. I don't think we have to gut the building to fix this.
From what I saw there, it is very difficult to move anything without major historic significance. I understand they redid the senate bathrooms recently.
Even if they trade bathroom space for hallway space, they impact upon the tile and the frescos in the ceiling. or even the view of a long hallway.
http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Virtual_Tours/index.html
Since the new Speaker is from San Francisco, she will probably make the bathroom unisex.
Actually, there HAVE been urnials for women patented...just none mass-produced...yet.
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