Sergeant-at-Arms

The House and Senate sergeants-at-arms are the police officers of their respective chambers. They attend all sessions and are responsible for enforcing rules and maintaining decorum, ensuring the security of buildings and visitors, and supervising the Capitol police force. As of 2002, the sergeants-at-arms were paid at an annual rate of about $148,500.

[Page p414]The House sergeant-at-arms is in charge of the mace, the symbol of legislative power and authority, and carries it when enforcing order in the House chamber.

Sergeants-at-arms are also responsible for rounding up members for floor votes. This authority, unused since 1942, became an issue during a 1988 filibuster in which Republican senators boycotted votes on campaign finance legislation. Senate majority leader Robert C. Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat, directed the sergeant-at-arms to arrest absent members and bring them to the Senate floor. Carrying out this order, sergeant-at-arms Henry K. Giugni tracked down Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican, who was arrested and carried feet first into the Senate chamber. Packwood, whose broken finger was reinjured in the escapade, took his arrest in good humor, although other Republicans spoke bitterly of the incident.