U.S. House stenographer 'couldn't be better' after late-night rant

(Reuters) - A House of Representatives stenographer who was pulled from the chamber ranting about Freemasons during this week's vote on raising the U.S. debt ceiling said on Friday she "couldn't be better" when asked how she was feeling after the outburst. In a brief phone interview, the stenographer, 48-year-old Dianne Reidy, declined to comment on what motivated her to stand up on the House floor on Wednesday night and make comments including: "The greatest deception here is this is not one nation under God. It never was." Reached at her Maryland home on Friday, Reidy declined to elaborate on her comments, saying: "It's not where I'm going, it's where God's going." Reidy was hauled off the House floor during Wednesday night's vote to end the federal government shutdown and increase the U.S. borrowing authority. She was interviewed by Capitol Police officers and taken to a hospital for a brief evaluation. Her husband, Dan Reidy, told the New York Post that his wife had been working extremely long hours and having a hard time sleeping during the 16-day shutdown. "Two weeks, waking up in the middle of the night," Reidy told the Post. "She's like, 'I can't sleep, God's got me in the work.'" Freemasons are a centuries-old fraternal organization. Several of the country's founders, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere, were Freemasons. Officials with the House Office of the Clerk did not immediately respond to questions regarding Reidy's employment status. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Eric Beech)