The chairman of the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday attributed the confusion over a possible change to the chamber rules governing media access to a discrepancy between staff on the panel and the Senate sergeant-at-arms staff.

“I think they had a discussion, I wasn’t there, of existing rules because a lot of people have complained, not to me, [that] the press gets in their way,” Sen. Richard C. Shelby told reporters. “I told them to stand down.”

The Alabama Republican, who took over as Rules chairman at the beginning of this Congress, said it was understandable that wires might get crossed.

“Are you all aggressive? Heck yeah, everybody is. But so are we,” he said.

Uncertainty took over the Capitol on Tuesday as rumors swirled that the Senate sergeant-at-arms and Rules Committee were restricting media access to members of Congress and staff around the Capitol complex.