Floor Charts for the Floor Show
Our favorite garish visual aids from a month of congressional floor-watching
Tributes to the late Billy Graham, talking points about the Russia investigation, touts for the Republican’s tax bill — watching the House and Senate floors can be a thankless task. But the floor charts make it all worthwhile.
Lawmakers like these oversized and sometimes garish visual aids because they help get the point across. The Twitter handle @FloorCharts posts some of the daily highlights, and Roll Call now provides a monthly roundup of the best of the best.
On March 13, Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York brought photographs of the women he deems to be the top female hip-hop artists of all time.
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The congressman honored Women’s History Month by showcasing one artist each day for the first ten days of March. Last year, Jeffries made headlines when he brought a photograph of The Notorious B.I.G. to the House floor on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Rep. Mike Quigley walked the line between prop and floor chart on Feb. 27. The Illinois Democrat brought an Eddie Olczyk Blackhawks jersey to the House floor. A former NFL player turned Blackhawks announcer, Olczyk is fighting colon cancer.
Rep. Matt Gaetz took a jab at House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff with a floor chart on March 5.
The Florida Republican gestured at a photograph of Schiff covered by a Russia Today lower third and a red callout reading “RT: KREMLIN-OWNED PROPAGANDA NETWORK.”
On Feb. 27, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick brought a familiar image to the House floor: a high school.
The Pennsylvania Republican’s speech came amid the public conversation about school safety after the shooting in Parkland, Florida.
Sen. Jeff Merkley kept it simple on March 7. The Oregon Democrat spoke about housing foreclosures and brandished an image leaving nothing to the imagination: a house with a foreclosure label over it.
Bonus: An aide to Rep. John Shimkus tweeted a behind-the-scenes look at the congressman reviewing floor charts in his office on March 5.
