Senate (U.S.)

Last modified: 2003-06-21 by rick wyatt
Keywords: senate | departmental | united states |
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(seal should be in color)

• Description
• Two Flags?
• Senate Seal

See also:

• Departmental Flags
• United States of America
  
  
• www.senate.gov

The official U.S. Senate website states:

The Senate created its official flag in March 1988, four years after it was proposed by Senator Daniel Inouye. In April 1985, the Committee on Rules and Administration invited eight flag manufacturers to submit designs and cost estimates for a flag. A year and a half later, the committee chose the design proposed by the Army's Institute of Heraldry, a navy blue banner emblazoned with the Senate seal. Use and sale of the flag is restricted to Senate offices only.

by Andy Weir, 31 January 2001 Eagle Seal - eagle by Joe McMillan

by Sean McKinniss, 15 November 2002 Liberty Cap Seal

I asked a Senate historian about the flag to see which seal appeared on the Senate flag: the one with an eagle or the one with the liberty cap? He responded:

You may see Senate flags with either seal -- the eagle seal or the liberty cap seal -- both have been used on the flag at different times. Many offices have chosen the eagle shield flag.

That is just a generic U.S. eagle with COA used as an unofficial device by Senators and members of the Senate staff. The same device with "United States Congress" is frequently used by members and staffers from the House of Representatives. It appears, e.g., on car window decals, engraved on ashtrays and glasses and other mementos, etc.

I was up at the Senate Armed Services Committee today and can confirm that the actual flag in use is blue with yellow fringe, with the "liberty cap" seal in color. I didn't have a measuring tape, but (consistent with the fact that the flag was designed by the Army Institute of Heraldry), I'm pretty sure it is the standard 52 by 66 inches as for other U.S. ceremonial flags.
Joe McMillan, 22 February 2001

I can't say for sure that the "eagle seal" flag doesn't exist somewhere, but it is not the official flag of the U.S. Senate, and in more than two decades of fairly frequent interaction on Capitol Hill, I've never seen it at all.
Joe McMillan, 15 February 2002