Senators Weren't Sleeping on the Job While in Session

Maxim Sorokopud

Politics

12th March 2021

Senators Weren't Sleeping on the Job While in Session

The image is not from the U.S. Senate (Getty Images).

The Claim

Multiple U.S. senators were caught sleeping during the daytime while Congress was in session.

News posted on

Emerging story

This social media meme began spreading on February 23, 2021, when the Twitter user @baddbeckie originally posted the images along with the statement about US senators. The tweet gained hundreds of thousands of likes, along with tens of thousands of retweets and thousands of quote tweets. The user then deleted the original tweet. However, screenshots of the tweets continued to spread.

A supporting image within the article body

Misbar’s Analysis

Misbar’s investigation reveals that the images do not show U.S. senators. Instead, the images come from 2018 video footage of the UK’s House of Lords.

@baddbeckie has since reposted the original tweet with similar text but without the images. Another user posted the original tweet as a screenshot and asked why the original tweet was deleted. @baddbeckie clarified that she had made a mistake in posting the photos and attributing them to the U.S. senate.

Additionally, the calculation of a U.S. senator’s hourly wage is slightly incorrect in the tweets. Since 2009, senators have earned $174,000 per year. When broken down into a 40-hour work week with 52 weeks of pay per year, then U.S. senators make $83.65 per hour.