More Ample Orotundity

Senatorial oratory will be loud and clear this winter. Each lawmaker’s desk in the Senate chamber is being equipped—at a total cost of about $125,000—with a microphone to put humble mumblers on a par with their more bombastic colleagues. However, the amplification system, the first in the Senate’s 181-year history, will not change any rules of the debating game. Every Senator will be able to talk at once. The president of the Senate will still rely on his gavel.