Described by USA Today as "something like an employee manual," the U.S. Senate Handbook is just full of craziness.
The architect of the Capitol can provide a compact refrigerator for a senator's office and a piano for events. And "each Senator receives annual paper allowances for blank paper, letterhead paper and envelopes" based on population with a formula of "one and one-third sheets of blank paper per adult constituent." Thus the Illinois senators each receive 11,605,333 sheets of blank paper; the West Virginia senators receive only 1,874,667.
Congressional watchdogs say it's imperative that the Senate handbook be made public.
The Washington Post enumerates 20 of the nuttier rules found in the document.
5. You can borrow a piano for office functions.
6. If you want to put a U.S. flag or your state flag outside your office, the Senate Stationary Office can get those for you. But you have to bring the flags into your office every night.
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11. "Senators are allotted a total of 50 picture frames" every year. This number includes a maximum of 20 gold picture frames.
