Blame Ross Perot

By Melissa August

Charts, maybe even more than PAC donations, have become the weapon of choice as the health-care debate grinds on in Congress. A closer look:

-- Is health care provoking more charts than any other issue?

Yes. By one count there have been 148 health-care-related charts in the House, vs. five to 10 for the crime bill.

-- Can lawmakers go on the floor of the House or Senate and stick any damn thing they want on an easel?

No. In 1986, after television cameras were allowed on the floor, the Senate Rules Committee issued regulations regarding visual aids. Display material can consist of charts, maps or photos, but "artistic renderings" are strictly forbidden -- thus no unflattering caricatures of Phil Gramm. Originally, displays could be no larger than 24 in. by 30 in. This was changed when Senator Ted Stevens asserted that the rules did not accommodate maps of his large home state, Alaska; the current maximum is 36 in. by 48 in. There are no rules regarding size on the House side, where the Speaker has the authority to decide whether or not a chart can be displayed on the floor. The current Speaker does not generally like charts. Consequently, most House graphics have been displayed at press conferences.

-- Where do the charts come from?

Usually they are designed on aides' computers, then taken to the Senate Service Department or House Information Systems office, where they are printed out and blown up in order to be C-SPAN-ready. Costs on the House side run from $60 to $110 a chart, at taxpayer expense. For simpler enlargements, staff members or congressional offices occasionally turn to the local Kinko's, two blocks away from the Capitol and open 24 hours a day.

-- Are chart aesthetics a subject of partisan wrangling?

Of course. Senate Republican Policy Committee spokesman Eric Ueland says that "our charts are more uniform. The Democrats' are more ad hoc. They have produced some outsize charts, and we know what's going on. We keep our eyes on it."