For more than 160 years, the Senate has occupied its current Chamber in the United States Capitol. Measuring 114 feet long by 80 feet wide, and 36 feet from its floor to the highest point of its ceiling, the Senate Chamber retains an intimacy characteristic of a 19th-century legislative hall, while simultaneously meeting the needs of modern legislators. Mahogany desks and spittoons from that earlier era coexist with microphones, computers, and television cameras, linking today's senators to their historical predecessors.
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