I generally enjoy the down-to-earth wisdom of Ruth Marcus at the Washington Post, but strongly disagree with her latest article bemoaning new rules proposed by the incoming House Republican Majority to allow iPads and other devices on the House Floor.
If Ms. Marcus had been on the House Floor recently she would know that, except for key votes and when they are scheduled to speak, Members don’t spend much time there. She would also know that Blackberries are already in heavy use (and yes, in Congress, it is still primarily the Blackberry that reigns supreme). It is a frequent site to see a Member speaking with a staff emailing furiously in the background (and if within CSPAN view, receiving messages from mom to sit up straight.) On June 30, 2010, the newly sworn-in Republican Rep. Charles Djou (HI-1) ” made history ” by becoming the first Member of Congress to use an iPad during a Floor speech (which, of course, he promptly tweeted.) Here is Rep. Henry Cueller (TX-28), debuting the iPad on the Speaker’s podium. And it’s not just the Legislative branch … 
Ms. Marcus objects to giving Members of Congress ample tools to do their job because most other areas of our lives do not afford us “a few minutes of living the unplugged life.” I think that a much more soothing thought is the idea of their legislators having access to real-time information and the ability to fact-check each other — whether that be legislative text, a relevant news article, policy papers from experts in relevant fields, or messages from their constituents. (I left my job as a Congressional staffer last year to work with my co-founders to build POPVOX , precisely because I recognized its great importance in the decisions of lawmakers.)
Allowing Members of Congress better tools and hence greater independence in their research will actually increase the quality of information available to us all. Did you ever consider that the reason legislative information is so hard to find — from the day’s schedule to amendment text — is because the people in charge never have to look for it themselves?
Members of Congress have the best search engine in the country: Congressional staff. They just have to ask, and these masters-degreed human Googles go to work finding the answer as quickly as possible. Many an academic, agency, or organization contact has been on the other end of a frantic staff call that begins with, “My boss is on the Floor and he needs this information NOW.”
I believe that a Member of Congress with an iPad who searches in vain on THOMAS for information they feel should be readily available, will soon demand a better THOMAS. The same goes for any government website. As they say in Silicon Valley, let’s let them “ eat their own dog food .”
