"I'm all for home rule," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as he gripped a well-chewed cigar. "But I think inside the Capitol it is reasonable to have rules that are ... set by the Congress."
Read Newest Articles: Halls of Congress Page 2House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Antismoking Extremist Update
Congress could become rolled into smoking banSome want to extend new law to its halls By Mary M. Shaffrey, JOURNAL WASHINGTON BUREAU
December 16, 2006 Next month, the nation's capital will join several other states and metropolitan areas - including New York -in barring smoking in restaurants, bars and lounges. And if a powerful California Democrat has his way, the ban will extend to one of the most exclusive hallways in Congress. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is the incoming chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, and for years, he has been on an anti-smoking crusade. Now, with Democrats in charge, Waxman might get his wish. His primary target is the Speaker's Lobby right off of the House floor, an area that has been filled with smoke for as long as anyone can remember. "There is no reason in the world that congressional staffers, pages and members should be exposed to this smoke-filled room," he said last week as he stood in the lobby. "They shouldn't force that on the rest of us." The decision to ban smoking in the lobby ultimately rests with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the incoming speaker of the House. Pelosi has not publicly decided whether to ban smoking, but earlier this month, she told The Washington Post, "I am not an advocate of smoking." Smoking is currently allowed in member's offices and designated cafeterias on both the House and Senate side. The Speaker's Lobby, an ornate hallway behind the House floor, is a room where members meet during votes, to talk with each other and to the press or staff members. Recording devices are forbidden, but Salems and stogies are OK. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Democrat who represents North Carolina's 2nd District, is a former tobacco farmer. He said that the ban is a sign of the times. "If majority rules, and that's what the majority wants, then it's fine by me," Etheridge said. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-7th, fought hard for the tobacco-quota buyout bill, passed in 2004, because there are a large number of tobacco farmers in his southeastern district. But he said he supports Waxman's idea. "When it comes to public-health issues, that idea makes sense," said McIntyre, a non-smoker. Erika Schlachter, the director of national advocacy for the American Lung Association, has been working with Waxman and others over the last year to push for a 100 percent smoking ban on Capitol Hill. She said that they are "hopeful" about possible changes. "The surgeon general in his report last year made it clear that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke," she said. Wendy Selig, a former Republican congressional aide who spent 12 years going in and out of the Speaker's Lobby, is now the vice president of legislative affairs for the American Cancer Society. She said she welcomes the possible changes. "To bring the Capitol into the 21st century will be a good thing," she said. Smokers are not pleased about the prospect. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said that the issue goes beyond smoking. McCotter said he thinks that the government condones tobacco products by taxing them. "We need to address that hypocrisy before we ban it here," he said. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-10th, a nonsmoker, said he doesn't have a problem with his colleagues' habits. He said he hopes that the rules don't change. "People have the right to smoke,"he said. "It's ironic to me that the people who advocate the choice agenda argue against the choice to smoke." Read
Pelosi Mulls Smoking Ban Dec 8, 2006 D.C. may be smoke-free, but Congress gets to set its own rules. Unfortunately for nicotine-craving lawmakers (25% of Congress), the Democrats’ victory may lead to change for more than Iraq and the minimum wage—Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi is considering a ban on smoking in the U.S. Capitol. Washington Post: When the District goes smoke-free Jan. 2, at least one nicotine haven will remain: the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers, several of whom enjoy a good cigar, have exempted themselves from the city’s smoking ban, not to mention rules that forbid lighting up in federal buildings across the country. But winds of change may be blowing on the Hill. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat from smoke-free California and the next speaker of the House, is thinking of banishing tobacco from the most popular smoking spot in the building: the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber. “I’m not an advocate of smoking,” Pelosi said [Thursday], adding that she hadn’t yet decided on a ban. “I think it’s dangerous to your health.” Smoking is permitted in lawmakers’ offices, in two cafeterias in the House and Senate buildings and in an unmarked, cramped room in the basement of the U.S. Capitol. But the Speaker’s Lobby, the ornate space dotted with fireplaces and chandeliers, is the real smoke-filled room, the biggest and most visible space where smokers gather. The lobby, where lawmakers relax between votes and debates, is blue with smoke most days. You can smell it from the approaching hallways. Cigarette smokers claim the leather wing chairs during the day, filling the ashtrays with butts. At night, the cigar smokers take over. A smoky film clings to an oversize mirror. Read
Pelosi may snuff out Capitol smoking spot
Lawmakers have exempted themselves from a tough new city law, as well as federal rules December 8, 2006
Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post When Washington goes smoke-free Jan. 2, at least one nicotine haven will remain: the U.S. Capitol. Lawmakers, several of whom enjoy a good cigar, have exempted themselves from the city's smoking ban, not to mention rules that forbid lighting up in federal buildings across the country. But winds of change may be blowing on the Hill. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from smoke-free California and the next speaker of the House, is thinking of banishing tobacco from the most popular smoking spot in the building: the Speaker's Lobby outside the House chamber. "I'm not an advocate of smoking," Pelosi, of San Francisco, said Thursday, adding that she hadn't yet decided on a ban. "I think it's dangerous to your health." Smoking is permitted in lawmakers' offices, in two cafeterias in the House and Senate buildings, and in an unmarked, cramped room in the basement of the U.S. Capitol. But the Speaker's Lobby, the ornate space dotted with fireplaces and chandeliers, is the real smoke-filled room, the biggest and most visible space where smokers gather. The lobby, where members relax between votes and debates, is blue with smoke most days. You can smell it from the approaching hallways. Cigarette smokers claim the leather wing chairs during the day, filling the ashtrays with butts. At night, the cigar smokers take over. A smoky film clings to an oversize mirror. "I can't breathe when I step in there," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles, who has been a lonely scold against smoking for years, trying to get the Republican leaders to stamp out tobacco. But his efforts went up in smoke. As many as 25 percent of House members smoke, and one of the heaviest smokers is outgoing Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, who frequently emerges from the House floor and heads straight to the Speaker's Lobby to consume his favorite brand, Barclay. On Thursday, when he stepped out of the chamber, he gestured to an approaching reporter that he needed a moment before talking. He made a beeline for the southwest corner of the room, pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket, lit it and inhaled deeply. "When Boehner ascended, we figured it was hopeless," said Angela Bradbery, co-founder of Smokefree DC, which successfully lobbied for the city's smoking ban and had considered trying to direct the same effort toward Congress. "It just seemed like too big a hill to climb. "It's always amazing to me that Congress makes up the laws and rules for itself. It kind of smacks of arrogance that they don't have to abide by laws in the city in which they're working." Waxman says Pelosi's rise to power means the match has been lit. "When the Democrats take over, I expect this to change," he said. "She understands the consequences of secondhand smoke, and she's coming from California." Still, the situation is hazy. Aides say Pelosi detests smoking but doesn't want to burn the Blue Dog Democrats, conservative members of her party -- several of whom are cigar smokers but none of whom wanted to publicly stand up for smoking. "I don't really smoke," said Rep. Ben Chandler, a Democrat from the tobacco state of Kentucky, as he blew smoke rings from a cigar in the Speaker's Lobby earlier this week. Some Republicans are privately fuming, although none wanted to admit so publicly and most said they can live with the change. "Most people are resigned to the reality that there are fewer and fewer places to do this," said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., who smokes one to two packs of cigarettes a day. "Behind every smoker is one who wishes they never started. The problem in this town is if you drop one vice, you'll get a worse one." Read
Political winds may clear the air
Democrats seek smoking ban at Capitol Hill lounge 11/26/06
By Lisa Friedman Washington Bureau Just as California has taken the lead in enacting some of the nation's most stringent bans on public smoking, Capitol Hill has remained a sanctuary for politicians who want to light up. But California sensitivities now appear poised to strike there, as well. Los Angeles Democrat Henry Waxman, a former smoker, has long sought to end smoking in an ornate lounge just off the U.S. House chambers known as the Speaker's Lobby. And that's bad news for outgoing Majority Leader John Boehner, a chain smoker who even has his own smoking perch, known as the "Boehner Bench," in the Speaker's Lobby. "To me, it has been a ridiculous anomaly that smoking is permitted there," Waxman said. "It means that people who are working there have to breathe smoke in." Luckily for Boehner, however, he still sits on the three-member commission that must agree to the change. His staff did not return a request for comment this week. Others, in the meantime, say they smell the whiff of change in the Capitol, which has exempted itself from the District of Columbia's anti-smoking regulations set to take effect in January. "I think the march is on," said Bruce Cain, president of the University of California Washington Center. "I think Waxman will prevail."
Added American Enterprise Institute congressional scholar Norman Ornstein: "It's not going to make Henry a lot of additional friends. You've got a lot of smokers in Congress and maybe those who smoke are powerful people, and for them it's like their home." Anti-smoking groups, however, already are hailing the move. "Henry Waxman has a long history of being a champion for public health. He knows what the science is, that no exposure to secondhand smoke is safe," said Bill Corr, director of the D.C.-based Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and a former Waxman aide. Not only should lawmakers be held to the same laws as others, Corr said, "Congress' obligation is to set the standard." But smokers-rights advocates say Waxman's efforts are just one more example of the nanny state they believe America is becoming. "Representative Waxman would basically like to ban smoking from the entire world," Michael Fadden, mid-Atlantic regional director of The Smoker's Club Inc., said in an e-mailed statement. "The way he's going about it, by `dragging out the children' in claiming concern about young congressional pages who might possibly walk by someone who is smoking, is completely typical of the antismoking lobby. "Radical antismoking groups are already pushing for bans in private apartments and condos, and this action is just closing up some of the loopholes that have been left behind," he said. Bill Phelps, a spokesman for Phillip Morris, said the manufacturer of brands including Marlboro and Benson & Hedges has no problem with Waxman's goal. "We understand and agree that people should be able to avoid being around secondhand smoke, particularly in places where they must go. Public buildings would be one example of that," Phelps said, noting that includes the U.S. Capitol. It remains unclear whether any ban would also include the balcony located outside of the Speaker's Lobby. But if Waxman has his way, smoking will be off-limits there as well. Said Waxman of outdoor smokers: "They feel they have the right over everyone else to use up the air." Smokers club under Dems’ fire
June 8, 2006
By Jeffrey Young
The smoke-filled rooms where lawmakers cut deals will be history if Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) gets his way.
Noting that a smoking ban took effect in the District of Columbia in April, Waxman and 18 Democratic colleagues wrote Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) on Tuesday asking that he clear the air in the smoking havens of the House.
“Unless you act, the Capitol Complex will soon be one of the few places in the District of Columbia where the law does not protect employees and visitors for the harmful effects of secondhand smoke,” the lawmakers wrote. Congress is not subject to the D.C. law.
The Democrats single out the Speaker’s Lobby off the House floor, a favorite hangout of Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other lawmakers who take breaks from the action on the floor to puff on a cigarette or cigar.
Boehner’s office chose to stay upwind of the controversy and declined to comment. Likewise, the Speaker’s office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Employing rhetoric that has proved effective for smoking-ban advocates nationwide, Waxman warns that Hill staff and visitors are exposed to dangerous smoke in the Speaker’s Lobby, in the House cafeterias and in members’ offices.
Waxman and his concerned mates can probably cross one of those locations off their list. The spending bill for the legislative branch that the House approved yesterday includes a provision ending smoking in the Rayburn cafeteria, per an amendment offered by Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) during a committee markup last month.
The Democrats also sought a vote on an amendment written by Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) that would have prohibited funding for any smoking facilities in the House office buildings. Meehan never got the chance to raise his amendment, however, despite approval from the Rules Committee. His was one of six amendments that failed because consideration of the bill and its accompanying rule took less than 15 minutes.
Waxman’s letter is far from his first attempt to ban smoking in Congress. Before the Democrats lost their majority in 1994, a Waxman bill to ban smoking in most indoor public places was working its way through the House with backing from the Clinton administration. Waxman has kept up the drumbeat throughout his time in the minority.
Clinton and Waxman ultimately had to settle for a 1997 executive order forbidding smoking in federal facilities. The rule exempted certain places, such as the White House.
Lawmakers in Washington, however, have been free to smoke ’em if they got ’em, as executive orders do not apply to the legislative branch.
A rapidly proliferating number of states, counties and cities have been restricting smoking in workplaces, restaurants and taverns. Suburban Montgomery, Prince George’s, Howard and Talbot counties in Maryland have approved strict laws restricting smoking.
D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams spokesman Vince Morris steered clear of taking sides on smoking in the Capitol but offered his concern for the well-being of the District’s congressional overseers.
“It’s in everybody’s best interest that all 435 members of Congress stay healthy,” Morris said. Read
Congress Has Yet to Kick the Habit
2/19/06 By Faye Fiore and Nick Timiraos Read
Air is unlikely to clear in smoky halls of Congress
2/12/2006
Andrea Stone
WASHINGTON — Smoking in most indoor workplaces here will soon be illegal because of a vote by the District of Columbia City Council. But in a few ornate congressional alcoves, the term "smoke-filled room" still will apply.
The district's law would ban smoking in indoor workplaces and restaurant dining rooms on April 3 and in bars and nightclubs next January. First, like all district laws, it must go to Congress, which holds veto power over the city's affairs.
House Government Reform Committee spokesman Robert White expects the smoking ban to survive. "We haven't heard a puff of opposition," he said.
Even if Congress approves the smoking ban, its members don't have to abide by it. Congress sets its own rules and are not bound by local ordinances.
"I'm all for home rule," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., as he gripped a well-chewed cigar. "But I think inside the Capitol it is reasonable to have rules that are ... set by the Congress."
The Senate restricts smoking to senators' private hideaway offices in the Capitol and one glassed-in lounge. Smoking in the Senate chamber has been forbidden since 1914, according to the historian's office.
The House — where Republicans last week elected chain-smoking Rep. John Boehner of Ohio as their new leader — allows smoking in the rear of the chamber and in the Speaker's Lobby off the House floor, where a painting of former speaker (and later vice president) John Nance Garner holding a stogie hangs.
Fifteen states, New York, Chicago, dozens of other cities and countries such as Ireland and Sweden have approved smoking bans in workplaces, restaurants or bars, according to the American Non-smokers' Rights Foundation.
Advocacy groups say they never tried to extend the ban to Capitol Hill. "Congress does what it wants," said Angela Bradbery, co-founder of Smokefree DC. "All workers should be able to breathe clean air at work. But there's not much we can do about it."
Other branches of the federal government have been changing, however. In 1997, President Clinton signed an order banning smoking in all executive branch buildings. Last year, a federal courthouse within sight of the Capitol dome went smokeless.
"Usually when you walk in here, it's filled with smoke," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., as he stood in the Speaker's Lobby. The top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, Waxman has tried unsuccessfully to ban smoking outside the House chamber and in House office cafeterias, always citing the dangers of secondhand smoke.
"It's time that the Congress does the same thing we're seeing all around the country," Waxman said.
House intern Annalise Leibold, 20, of Washington, agrees. The local law "ought to apply in a federal building," she said, sitting near the smoking area in the Rayburn building cafeteria. "It just makes me want to eat more quickly. It's not a very good atmosphere to be in."
However, Doug Markley, 58, an environmental contractor from Denton, Texas, who was smoking nearby, said members of Congress should get a pass. "You've got guys up here doing this kind of work who need a smoke," he said. "By God, you ought to give them a place to smoke."
Still, change wafts slowly in a place where columns are capped with decorative tobacco leaves and spittoons once lined the halls.
"It's a longtime tradition," Rep. Mike Sodrel, R-Ind., said as he puffed on a cigarette in the Speaker's Lobby. "I have smelled cigar smoke (during) late-evening sessions."
Others said they would be willing to follow district laws if the House adopted them.
"We abide by their traffic laws and their parking laws, or at least most of us do," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., stubbing out a butt. "We should give some consideration to it. I wouldn't mind. I'll live longer."
Congress not subject to rules against smoking
Sunday, February 12, 2006
ANNE E. KORNBLUT
New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON - When the citywide smoking ban takes effect here next month, at least one workplace in town will be spared: Congress, the beneficiary of a kind of diplomatic immunity for federal lawmakers.
That is excellent news for Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio, the new Republican majority leader, who regularly smokes cigarettes between votes in the House. And for Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who smokes cigars while reading newspapers in the speaker's lobby. And for Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., who is struggling to quit but can be seen inhaling in weaker moments during the workday.
Because while the rest of the country has turned against smoking with great zeal, Congress has stubbornly - some would say proudly - refused to bend. Smoking is still allowed in numerous indoor spaces in the Capitol, most noticeably in the gilded reception area where lawmakers crowd together during the long yeas and nays. In a time when the "smoke-filled room" is more metaphor than fixture, its literal incarnation in Congress can seem almost quaint.
Members are uncharacteristically shy about discussing their smoking habits in a public domain where smoking is supposedly taboo. Not one smoker-lawmaker contacted for this article returned the call. Photographs of lawmakers smoking are virtually impossible to come by (as the blog Wonkette discovered last week when it put out a public call for photographs of Boehner smoking).
Yet in private, some lawmakers have shown little desire to tamp down the addiction. In some corners, the right to smoke in Congress is seen as a last stand against political correctness, a bulwark against the anti-smoking fervor that swept the political universe during the Clinton years. (The Clintons famously banned smoking from the White House, reportedly to the annoyance of smokers from the other party who had to attend long meetings there.)
"What will happen is someone will come along and ruin this last bit of fun," said Christopher Buckley, whose satiric novel "Thank You for Smoking" has been made into a movie.
"As sure as night will follow day, now some aging senator or congressional page will come down with lung cancer and sue the United States government because of this very room," Buckley said. "And that last bit of fun will be foreclosed."
Except it's not the last, as it turns out. Against a tide of frantic smoking-ban legislation from coast to coast, the industry has fought to keep smoking permissible everywhere, succeeding mostly in casinos and airport lounges, particularly in the South, and the like. Gambling interests even have their own smoking lobby, and some of the airport lounges were paid for by Philip Morris. Some factory assembly lines, including those at General Motors, allow workers to smoke on the job, partly because of old agreements with labor u nions that wanted to keep workers comfortable. Newer u nion agreements have focused on worker health, and are beginning to phase smoking out.
And even in states that ban smoking altogether in public places, there have been tobacco tussles around statehouses.Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California put up a tent outside the smoke-free capitol in Sacramento so he could conduct business over cigars.
Read
All (Puff) in Favor (Puff) Say Aye (Wheeze)
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: February 12, 2006
WASHINGTON
WHEN the citywide smoking ban takes effect here next month, at least one workplace in town will be spared: Congress, the beneficiary of a kind of diplomatic immunity for federal lawmakers.
That is excellent news for John A. Boehner of Ohio, the new Republican majority leader, who regularly smokes cigarettes between votes in the House. And for Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat, who sits and smokes cigars while reading the newspaper in the speaker's lobby. And for Sherwood Boehlert, the New York Republican, who is struggling to quit but can be seen inhaling in weaker moments during the workday.
Because while the rest of the country has turned against smoking with great zeal, Congress has stubbornly — some would say proudly — refused to bend. Smoking is still allowed in numerous indoor spaces in the Capitol, most noticeably in the gilded reception area where lawmakers crowd together during the long yeas and nays. Standing ashtrays, usually partly filled with cigar and cigarette butts, are strategically placed in the corridors. In a time when the "smoke-filled room" is more metaphor than fixture, its literal incarnation in Congress can seem almost quaint.
Members are uncharacteristically shy about discussing their smoking habits in a public domain where smoking is supposedly taboo. Not one smoker-lawmaker contacted for this article returned the call. Photographs of lawmakers smoking are virtually impossible to come by (as the blog Wonkette discovered last week when it put out a public call for photographs of Mr. Boehner smoking).
Yet in private, some lawmakers have shown little desire to tamp down the addiction. In some corners, the right to smoke in Congress is seen as a last stand against political correctness, a bulwark against the antismoking fervor that swept the political universe during the Clinton years. (The Clintons famously banned smoking from the White House, reportedly to the annoyance of smokers from the other party who had to attend long meetings there.)
"What will happen is someone will come along and ruin this last bit of fun," said Christopher Buckley, whose satiric novel, "Thank You for Smoking," has been made into a movie.
"As sure as night will follow day, now some aging senator or Congressional page will come down with lung cancer and sue the United States government because of this very room," Mr. Buckley said. "And that last bit of fun will be foreclosed."
Except it's not the last, as it turns out. Against a tide of frantic smoking-ban legislation from coast to coast, the industry has fought to keep smoking permissible everywhere, succeeding mostly in casinos and airport lounges, particularly in the South, and the like. Gambling interests even have their own smoking lobby, and some of the airport lounges were paid for by Philip Morris. Some factory assembly lines, including those at General Motors, allow workers to smoke on the job, partly because of old agreements with labor u nions that wanted to keep workers comfortable. Newer u nion agreements have focused on worker health, and are beginning to phase smoking out.
And even in states that ban smoking altogether in public places, there have been tobacco tussles around statehouses, which are mostly subject to the lawmakers and not the laws. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California put up a tent outside the smokefree capitol in Sacramento so he could conduct business over cigars.
In Mr. Buckley's novel, the protagonist is a publicist for the tobacco industry who nicknames friends in the alcohol and firearms industries merchants of death. Antismoking advocates are all too willing to attribute the tobacco zone in Washington to similarly sinister forces, arguing that the Republican leadership is in the pocket of tobacco behemoths.
Cigarette companies, after all, have poured more than $55 million into campaigns over the last 15 or so years. Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of Texas and the former majority leader, borrowed the corporate planes of R.J. Reynolds at least nine times in the last seven years. One of Mr. Boehner's most famous acts — handing out checks to lawmaker colleagues on the House floor in 1995 — involved donations from tobacco lobbyists.
But if the tobacco lobby was at work in keeping Congress a nicotine refuge, it probably could have saved itself the trouble. A confluence of more potent cultural and demographic forces seems to be at play on Capitol Hill, with lawmakers indulging in a familiar hubris.
"Congress generally has rules for us and rules for them, and the rules for them are very often more pleasant than the rules for us," Mr. Buckley said.
"They exist on their own island," said Vincent Morris, a spokesman for the district's mayor, Anthony A. Williams, who declined to veto the new city council ban on smoking in restaurants and bars. "We would not be able to enforce the smoking ban in the speaker's lobby," Mr. Morris said, referring to the reception area. The Congress, he said, "is kind of old school in that sense."
Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, a nonsmoker who has written letters urging the House leadership to revise the internal rules, said, "I think some Republicans in the leadership smoke and feel they have a right to smoke wherever they want to smoke."
"If I want to sit in the speaker's lobby outside the House chambers I have to breathe in tobacco smoke, from cigarettes and cigars," Mr. Waxman said. "And it's sometimes unbearable."
But Washington's antismoking advocates seem resigned. "We recognize Congress does what it wants and has always done what it wants," said Angela Bradbery, a founder of Smokefree DC. "We don't have the capacity to do anything about it. And we're not going to try to get them to change their ways."
|
