A question time in a
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances. Question time originated in the
Westminster system of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, and occurs in other countries, mostly
Commonwealth countries, who use the system.
In practice, the questions asked in question time are usually pre-arranged by the organisers of each party; although the questions are usually without notice. Questions from government backbenchers are either intended to allow the Minister to discuss the virtues of government policy, or to attack the opposition. A typical format of such a government backbencher's question might be "Could the Minister discuss the benefits of the government's initiative on
, and is the Minister aware of any alternative policies in this area?"
Australia
Question time is an institution in the Commonwealth Parliament
The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-g ...
and in all state parliaments. Questions to government ministers normally alternate between government members and the opposition, with the opposition going first. Questions of ministers are generally asked by their counterpart shadow ministers (or in the case of a minister and corresponding shadow minister are each members of a different House of Parliament, then the shadow minister's representative in the other House asked questions to the relevant minister) in the opposition, and are always asked by backbencher
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
s on the government side. In the House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, the first question is usually asked of the prime minister by the Leader of the Opposition. Similar arrangements apply in the Senate. To accommodate the distribution of ministers between both chambers, ministers also take on representative roles, answering questions relating to portfolios that are not their own because the responsible minister sits in the other chamber. This allows questioners to ask questions about any government portfolio in either chamber. This normally includes the Leader of the Government in the Senate representing the prime minister in response to questions asked by senators about general government policy. Sometimes a government Minister will arrange for a government backbencher
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
to "ask" a question, commonly called a Dorothy Dixer
In Australian politics, a Dorothy Dixer is a rehearsed or planted question asked of a government Minister by a backbencher of their own political party during Parliamentary Question Time.
The term can be used in a mildly derogatory sense, but in ...
, to enable the Minister to make a political speech or otherwise score political points.
Convention allows the prime minister in the House, and the Leader of the Government in the Senate, to terminate question time by asking that "further questions be placed on the Notice Paper
The Order Paper is a daily publication in the Westminster system of government which lists the business of parliament for that day's sitting. A separate paper is issued daily for each house of the legislature.
The Order Paper provides Member of ...
". This is not a formal motion but an indication that, even if further questions were asked, ministers would not answer them since they are not compelled to do so. It is possible in this way to prematurely terminate question time, although this is rare in the House and essentially unheard of in the Senate. During the Keating Government, the prime minister attempted to limit the number of questions asked in a way the Liberal Opposition disapproved of. To protest the change, the Opposition made random quorum
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...
calls through the afternoon for every question they felt they had been denied that day. In the House, question time is generally scheduled from 2pm to 3:15 pm on every sitting day; in the Senate, it generally occurs from 2pm to 3pm. Apart from divisions, it is the only time the chamber is likely to be filled.
Tactically, it is considered an important defining characteristic for an Opposition Leader to be able ask a pertinent question of the prime minister or premier, or to single out perceived weak performers in the Ministry.
Interjections from both government and opposition members in the House of Representatives and the Senate are common, and broadly speaking are an accepted practice, although the speaker of the House or the president of the Senate will intervene if interjections become too frequent, if they contain inappropriate content, or if the member interjecting is disrupting debate. Given that question time is the only time of day when all members of Parliament are in their respective chambers, the appearance of question time can be rowdy and boisterous compared to the normally sedate activity during the rest of the day.
There is a 30-second time limit for questions by the Opposition and a four-minute time limit for answers in the House of Representatives. Crossbench
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
MPs get a time limit of 30 seconds, the same as Government and Opposition members. This was reduced from 45 seconds when the standing orders were amended on the 2nd of August, 2022. In the Senate, a questioner may ask an initial question and two supplementary questions related to their initial question. Each question has a one-minute time limit. Answers to initial questions are limited to three minutes, and answers to supplementary questions are limited to one minute. A senator may also move to 'take note' of a minister's answer after question time, allowing questioners (generally Opposition senators) to respond to the answers provided by ministers.
It is very common for points of order to be raised during question time on the issue of relevance, as a Minister answering questions will normally attempt to redirect the answer to an attack on their opponents. However, as long as the Minister is talking on the general subject of the matter raised in the question, it is usually considered relevant to the question, even if it does not address the specific issue raised in the question at all.
State Parliaments adopt similar practices to the federal Parliament.
Question time has been broadcast on ABC Radio since 1946 and televised since 1991 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
.
There is a common misperception that question time is about asking questions to ministers as there are uncommon occurrences of questions being asked to members of Parliament who are not ministers.
Canada
Question time in the House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The House of Common ...
, colloquially referred to as ''Question Period'', and formally known as ''Oral Questions'', occurs during each sitting day in the House of Commons. The questions may be posed to either the prime minister of Canada
The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority the elected Hou ...
, or any minister of the Cabinet of Canada
The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of Minister of the Crown, ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the ...
.
In addition to the House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The House of Common ...
, question period is also a convention that is practiced in the various legislative bodies of the provinces and territories of Canada
Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...
. Like the federal House of Commons, Question Period in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba (french: Assemblée législative du Manitoba) is the deliberative assembly of the Manitoba Legislature in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Fifty-seven members are elected to this assembly at provincial gener ...
, and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario is formally known as Oral Questions. In the Quebec National Assembly
The National Assembly of Quebec (officially in french: link=no, Assemblée nationale du Québec) is the Legislature, legislative body of the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec in Canada. Legislators are called MNAs (Members ...
, the practice is called ''Oral Questions and Answers''.
European Parliament
Finland
In Finland's parliament Question hour (''kyselytunti'') is held every Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. It consists of the Speaker of Parliament
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
to giving all parliamentary groups the opportunity to put at least one question to the prime minister of Finland
The prime minister of Finland ( fi, Suomen pääministeri; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and their cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally Finnish order of precedence, r ...
and his/her ministers. It is broadcast live on public television, particularly on Yle TV1.
Germany
Government ministers are made available to the Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
for 35 minutes each Wednesday after the weekly cabinet meeting, during which time they take questions on current matters before the government. This is followed by a further two-hour question-and-answer session consisting of questions that were submitted in advance in writing.
Hong Kong
The questions in the Legislative Council are aimed at seeking information on government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
actions on specific problems or incidents and on government policies, for the purpose of monitoring the effectiveness of the government.
Questions may be asked at any council meeting except the first meeting of a session, a meeting at which the president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
(the speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
) of the council is elected, or the Chief Executive
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
delivers the annual policy address to the Council.
No more than 22 questions, excluding urgent questions that may be permitted by the president, may be asked at any one meeting. Replies to questions may be given by designated public officers, usually secretaries
A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a wh ...
, orally or in written form. For questions seeking oral replies, supplementary questions may be put by any member when called upon by the president of the council for the purpose of elucidating that answer. Where there is no debate on a motion with no legislative effect at a meeting, no more than ten questions requiring oral replies may be asked; otherwise, no more than six questions may require an oral reply.
The Chief Executive, who is the head of the region and head of government, attends Question and Answer Session of the council which are held several times in a legislative year.
India
Ireland
In the Oireachtas
The Oireachtas (, ), sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:
*The President of Ireland
*The bicameralism, two houses of the Oireachtas ...
, Ireland's parliament, questions are asked in Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...
, the lower house, to which the government of Ireland
The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland.
The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...
is responsible. The Ceann Comhairle (speaker) has wide discretion on allowing questions, which are directed to the minister in charge of the relevant Department of State. A question may be answered by any cabinet minister due to cabinet collective responsibility
Cabinet collective responsibility, also known as collective ministerial responsibility, is a constitutional convention in parliamentary systems that members of the cabinet must publicly support all governmental decisions made in Cabinet, even if ...
, or by a (non-cabinet) Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
at the relevant Department of State. Questions requiring departmental research may not have an answer available within the three-day notice period; these tend to be submitted for written rather than oral response. The Ceann Comhairle may permit a supplementary question to an oral response. Reforms in 2016 at the start of the 32nd Dáil created separate time slots for different types of question, and empower the Ceann Comhairle to demand a further response if the initial one is deemed inadequate.
Japan
The Diet of Japan
The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...
held its first on 10 November 1999; the first question asked to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi was "Prime Minister, what did you have for breakfast this morning?". Japan's question time was closely modeled after that of the UK, and many Diet members travelled to the House of Commons to study the British application of the concept.
Question time is 45 minutes long and questions are limited to the leaders of parliamentary caucuses (which must consist of at least ten members of either house). Although it is generally held every week while the Diet is in session, it may be cancelled with the agreement of the opposition: this often happens during the budgeting period and at other times when the prime minister must sit in the Diet.
New Zealand
Oral questions
Questions asked to ministers
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...
must be concise and related to the area of the minister's responsibility. Questions require that all facts be authenticated. Before a question is asked it is checked that it meets the requirements of the House's standing orders, before being transmitted to the relevant ministers.
In New Zealand oral questions are asked at 2pm on each sitting day. Twelve principal oral questions are asked, with supplementary questions also given that must relate to the initial subject matter. The opportunity to ask questions is equally shared amongst the members of the house, excluding ministers. Urgent questions, while possible, are uncommon.
The question is addressed to the portfolio of the minister receiving the question, and the questioner must ask the question as written. Once a question is asked, supplementary questions can be asked.
SKY News New Zealand broadcasts this session from 2pm to the conclusion of questioning. Also, New Zealand's free-to-air digital television network, Freeview Freeview may refer to:
* Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
* Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), ...
, provides live coverage of the debating chamber when it is in session on Parliament TV.
Written questions
There is no limit to the written questions that any MP can ask and can be submitted each working day before 10.30am. Submission and publication of the question is an electronic process with no hard copy record. Ministers have 6 days to respond to a question.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, question time in the House of Commons lasts for an hour each day from Monday to Thursday (2:30 to 3:30pm on Mondays, 11:30am to 12:30pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 9:30 to 10:30am on Thursdays). Each Government department has its place in a rota which repeats every four to five weeks when the House is sitting. The larger Departments generally have the full hour for oral questions whereas smaller Departments will have less time allocated. In addition, Questions to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...
takes place each Wednesday from noon to 12:30pm, and questions are asked each Thursday (Questions to the Leader of House of Commons
The leader of the House of Commons is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom whose main role is organising government business in the House of Commons. The leader is generally a member or attendee of the cabinet of th ...
), about the business of the House the following week. The larger departments also have a Topical question period for the last 15 minutes of their hour for questions, where the Secretary of State outlines recent developments in their department and then backbench
In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
MPs can ask any question relating to their department, for which ministers are not given prior notice. Topical questions have been part of each question time in the Commons since November 2007.
In addition to government departments, there are also questions regarding the Church, House of Commons reform and Law Rulings.
Questions for oral answer are selected by ballot a few days before the question time takes place and published. Ministers therefore have advance warning of the initial questions, but after each question has been answered, the MP in whose name it appears may ask a supplementary question on the same subject area for which no notice is given (unless the MP chooses to do so privately). The Speaker will usually call other MPs to ask further supplementary questions and this will often include Opposition front bench spokespersons. A second ballot enables MPs to put forward their names to ask a topical question for which no notice is required.
Questions to the prime minister are usually tabled on a topical basis so that the name of the MP is published but not the question itself.
Additionally, each Member of Parliament is entitled to table an unlimited number of written questions. Usually a Private Member directs a question to a Secretary of State, and it is usually answered by a Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
or Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...
. Written Questions are submitted to the Clerks of the Table Office, either on paper or electronically, and are recorded in '' The Official Report (Hansard)'' so as to be widely available and accessible.
In the House of Lords, half an hour is put aside each afternoon at the start of the day's proceedings for "Lords Questions". A peer submits a query in advance, which then appears on the Order Paper for the day's proceedings. The Lord shall say: "''My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper''". The Minister responsible then answers the query. Afterwards, for around ten minutes, any Lord can ask the Minister questions on the theme of the original put down on the order paper. (For instance, if the question regards immigration, Lords can ask the Minister any question related to immigration during the allowed period). The Lords usually do not have a call list, as the Commons does, so Peers rise to ask a question themselves and they alternate between the Government, opposition and crossbench
A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...
sides of the chamber. Unlike the Commons, where only the Speaker can call a member to order, any Lord can call any other Lord to order. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, call lists had been in use in the Lords since from April 2021 to December 2021 as some Peers participated virtually. A peer may also table up to six questions for written answer on any day the House is sitting.
United States
The United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, which has a presidential system
A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separati ...
of government, does not have a question time for the president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
. However, Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution of the United States
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
states: " he presidentshall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." The exact meaning of this clause has never been worked out fully, although it is the constitutional basis for the modern State of the Union
The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...
address. There was some discussion at various times about whether this clause would allow something similar to a Westminster style question time – for instance, having Department Secretaries being questioned by the House of Representatives or the Senate – but the discussions on this issue have never gotten past an exploratory stage.
President George H. W. Bush once said of PMQs, "I count my blessings for the fact I don't have to go into that pit that John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
stands in, nose-to-nose with the opposition, all yelling at each other." In 2008, Senator John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
( Republican Party nominee for president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
in the 2008 presidential election) stated his intention, if elected, to create a presidential equivalent of the British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
conditional convention of Prime Minister's Questions
Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom, currently held as a single session every W ...
. In a policy speech on 15 May 2008, which outlined a number of ideas, McCain said, "I will ask Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain appears regularly before the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
."
George F. Will
George Frederick Will (born May 4, 1941) is an American libertarian-conservative political commentator and author. He writes regular columns for ''The Washington Post'' and provides commentary for NBC News and MSNBC. Gold, Hadas (May 8, 2017)." ...
of ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' criticized the proposal in an op-ed piece, saying that a presidential question time would endanger separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
as the president of the United States, unlike the prime minister of the United Kingdom, is not a member of the legislature. Will ended the piece by saying, "Congress should remind a President McCain that the 16 blocks separating the Capitol from the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
nicely express the nation's constitutional geography."
In February 2009, just over a month after his inauguration
In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...
, President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
invited serving members of the US Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
to a "fiscal responsibility" summit at the White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
, during which Senators asked the president about his fiscal policies in an event which was compared to Prime Minister's Question. Eleven months later, Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
House Minority Leader
Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are el ...
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American retired politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. represe ...
invited Obama to the annual House Issues Conference in Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, where the president answered questions and criticisms from Republican members of Congress. Commenting on the event, Peter Baker in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', said " heback and forth resembled the British tradition where the prime minister submits to questions on the floor of the House of Commons – something Senator John McCain had promised to do if elected president."
See also
* Interpellation (politics)
Interpellation is a formal request of a parliament to the respective government. It is distinguished from question time in that it often involves a separate procedure. In many parliaments, each individual member of parliament has the right to ...
* Parliamentary privilege
References
External links
Parliamentary business – Questions for written or oral answer, New Zealand Parliament
{{Authority control
Westminster system