No, image doesn't show sleeping US senators; it's UK's House of Lords | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Image shows senators asleep in the US Senate chamber

A June 15 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows multiple people slumped over on red-cushioned benches.

"Senators say $15 minimum wage is too much," reads text above the image. "They make $85 an hour."

The post was liked more than 1,000 times in five weeks.

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Our rating: False

The image shows the United Kingdom's House of Lords, not the U.S. Senate.

Image shows the United Kingdom's House of Lords

The image does not show the U.S. Senate chamber, as the post claims. Instead, it shows the U.K.'s House of Lords, one of the two chambers that make up that country's parliament.

A version of the image without text or white circles appears in several places online alongside references to the House of Lords – not the Senate. The red-cushioned benches and intricate woodwork on the walls in the image match other images that show the House of Lords' chamber.

While it's not clear when the image in the post was taken, there have been reported instances of politicians in the U.K. falling asleep in their parliamentary chambers. For example, in 2022 a House of Lords member was barred from a debate after falling asleep, and in 2018 a House of Commons member said he was "annoyed" with himself after nodding off during a colleague's speech, the BBC reported.

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Not that U.S. lawmakers are immune to this situation.

According to a collection of sketches published by The New York Times, some members of the Senate found time to "rest their eyes out of view" of cameras during former President Donald Trump's first impeachment trial in January 2020. And, in April 2021 as President Joe Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican, "appeared to be fighting sleep" when cameras cut to him more than an hour into Biden's speech, as USA TODAY previously reported.

The post's mention of a $15 minimum wage is a reference to past efforts by Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage to that level. Each member of the Senate is paid an annual salary of $174,000, according to the Senate website. That equates to about $84 per hour for a 40-hour work week.

The social media user who shared the post could not be reached for comment.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Image shows UK House of Lords, not sleeping US senators | Fact check