What does "short positions exceed float" mean?

The short positions are the shares that someone has borrowed, and then sold, in the hope that they can buy them back for less at a later date.

The float is the number of shares in a company that are available to be bought and sold.

If the short position exceeds the float, then the short sellers are likely to have trouble buying enough shares back again.

It may be a gotcha question. 140% of GameStop float had been sold short. Rep. Barr seems to be asking if Melvin Capital by itself had shorted more than 100% of the float. That's very unlikely, but Rep. Barr is either confused or he's trying to get an admission of the illegal practice of naked short-selling.

However you ask it, Melvin Capital's answer is going to be "we don't break the law, and none of our short positions were naked."

Rehypothecation is a way that more than 100% of float can be sold short; no one is keeping track of how many times a particular share is lent out to short-sellers, sold, and then lent out and sold again.

What exactly does "Did your short positions exceed float" mean here?

The float is total amount of shares outstanding less the amount of shares held by institutions. Since some institutions lend shares, it's possible for the Short % of Float to exceed 100%.

There has also been discussion here that shares can be loaned multiple times though there has been no citation presented verifying this or refuting it. If shares can indeed be loaned out multiple times then it's theoretically possible that the Short % of Shares Outstanding could exceed 100%.

Rep. Andy Barr: ... Did your short positions exceed float?

It makes me wonder if this question was merely to determine the degree of risk that Melvin Capital took on or whether Barr does not understand the stats of shorting.

And if there is any illegal shorting, it inflates the short percentage stats.