Smart Phones, iPads Allowed on House Floor?

The new wave of personal communication gadgets is invading everywhere from schools to the workplace. So why not Congress too? The incoming House Republican leadership has proposed rules to allow smart phones and iPads on the floor, techpresident.com reports.

This Congress operated under a rule stating no one could "smoke or use a wireless telephone or personal computer on the floor of the House." But the proposed new dictum, posted on the Rules Committee website reads: "A person on the floor of the House may not smoke or use a mobile or electronic device that impairs decorum.”

That will allow congressmen and their staff to bring their iPads and BlackBerrys to the floor, as long as they use them in the House in the same way they'd use them in an Amtrak quiet car, says Brendan Buck, a spokesman for the GOP transition team.