Yesterday I went to the Senate-side of the Capitol building, and I was stopped by a security guard who asked me where I was going, who I was going to see, and who invited me.  He didn't answer my questions about the Capitol until I had satisfactorily allayed his suspicions.  I adopted a disarming tone, and he let me through with a grudging wave to the metal detectors.  And then when I went inside I had the same experience with someone at a desk who looked at me with deep suspicion before looking up my name and letting me through.  This isn't to say that we live in an authoritarian state or anything, only that this is supposed to be the people's legislature, and surrounding it are huge blocks of concrete, armed guards, and an attitude of castle-like fortitude.

This isn't going to go away anytime soon, but it is meant to be unfriendly to citizens.  That should stop.  Rob Bluey at the Heritage Foundation has a good Op-Ed on citizens' access to Congress in the context of bloggers doing journalism on the web that are unattached to an official media organ.  This Op-Ed is part of the Sunlight's Open House Project, which is a series of reports on how Congress can open itself up to the public via a systematic embrace of the internet.

Journalists from media companies make up the committee that governs the Periodical Press Gallery. They oversee admission to the gallery and administer its strict rules.

Many of those rules would automatically disqualify bloggers, such as the requirement that applicants must provide daily coverage of Congress -- a prerequisite that would be burdensome for any one-person operation. Another rule prohibits gallery members who work for nonprofits, severely limiting the number of bloggers who could apply.

A much-overdue solution would be to create an Online Media Gallery to oversee the credentialing process. This gallery would serve as a sister organization to existing congressional press galleries, adapting the rules of those galleries for individuals who operate exclusively on the Internet. The formation of the gallery would allow a committee of peers to establish new rules applicable for websites.

This doesn't mean Congress should throw open its doors to just anyone, which would undoubtedly draw security concerns and create space issues. However, with its own rules for membership, the Online Media Gallery would allow citizen journalists who cover Congress to at least have a fair shot at securing credentials.

In addition, the new Online Media Gallery would alleviate the problem that exists with access to lawmakers. Currently, bloggers seeking to gain access to events in the U.S. Capitol must secure approval from a congressional office, letting staffers control the credentialing process and creating the potential to discriminate against certain bloggers whom members would like to exclude.

Our legislative chambers should be friendly places for citizens to go to retrieve information.  Many members of Congress get this, on both sides of the aisle, and it's kind of a downhill battle to move us to a fully open Congress.  We'll get there eventually, since the political case is too compelling.

In the meantime, I want to be able to get the same access the press gets to cover Congress and its various hearings, and I don't think the AP should get to say whether I qualify or not.