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Republicans Allow SMOKING in Capitol Hill Offices: How Lawmakers Can Claim DC Meals, Rent, and Hotel Stays for Official Expenses—and Light a Cigar or Cigarette Between Votes—in the New Congress
- Thanks to a bipartisan change passed in the last Congress, House members are getting what amounts to a pay raise for the first time in a decade.
- Members are again allowed to be reimbursed for lodging (including hotels, rentals), meals, and incidentals while on official business in DC
- In other new changes, lawmakers now smoke inside and the acrid smells of tobacco waft through the hallways.
Lawmakers are introducing some comfortable new changes to the Capitol this Congress, including smoking indoors and putting room and board at the taxpayer’s expense.
Thanks to a bipartisan change passed in the last Congress, members of the House are receiving what amounts to a pay increase for the first time in a decade.
Members are now allowed to receive reimbursement for lodging (including hotel, rental or other housing costs), meals and incidentals while on official business in Washington, DC, according to an email seen by DailyMail.com updating members members about the changes.
Expenses are limited to a daily rate by the General Services Administration. The GSA Daily Accommodation per day it varies between $190 and $260 depending on the season. Per diem for food is currently $79 per day, which means that a legislator in DC on congressional business could spend up to around $340 per day.
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) smokes a cigar outside of Capitol Hill. The new rules mean that he can now smoke inside the Chamber lobby.
In other new changes, lawmakers are now smoking inside, and acrid tobacco odors have been wafting through the hallways outside the House Rules Committee, where the chairman, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., is known to have been. smoke a cigar in the middle. votes.
Washington, DC law prohibits smoking indoors, but that law does not apply to private offices of Congress. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California banned smoking in much of the Capitol complex in 2007, when Democrats were in control, though members were still allowed to smoke in their own office space.
Cigars protrude from the suit jacket pocket of Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX)
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., chair of the House Rules Committee, has been known to smoke a cigar between votes
Lawmakers are initiating some comfortable new changes on Capitol Hill this Congress, including smoking indoors and putting room and board on taxpayers’ bills.
Members of Congress earn an annual salary of $174,000, an amount set in 2009, and while elected officials are allowed a cost-of-living increase each year, Congress has voted not to accept the funds since 2010.
The House Administration Committee approved the refund on December 30, 2022, with no lawmaker on the panel opposing the change.
The idea originated in the Congressional Modernization Select Committee.
“Unlike their counterparts in the executive branch and the private sector, members do not receive per diem or reimbursement for their out-of-pocket expenses when working in Washington,” the committee noted in its final report.
Some legislators have complained that it is difficult for them to maintain two residences on a salary from Congress. Others have noted that they still earn much more than the average American.
‘Ppl trap on congressional salary’ and it’s easy to score political points on it, but many don’t know that it requires paying 2 rent, you can’t deduct labor costs, etc. The result is grand gestures to promote that they/staff aren’t getting COLA Adjustments, but then trading stock to make up for it, worse! Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York wrote on Twitter in December 2021.
The committee suggested that raising lawmakers’ salaries would lessen “polarization” because “more candidates are willing to run for office if they see public service as an economically viable career.”