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The last two smoking rooms on Capitol Hill, in the Cannon and Longworth House Office Buildings, will close for good this week, The Hill reports.
How can Congressional office buildings even have smoking rooms anymore? Because they are technically exempt from D.C. law, so they aren't subject to the workplace smoking ban the District enacted at the beginning of 2007. But when Democrats took over Congress a couple years ago, they began aggressively moving toward getting rid of smoking in all Congressional buildings, starting with the Speaker's Lobby and ending with these two tiny break rooms that even most Hill staffers probably didn't know existed.
The Hill's story includes an indignant quote from a staffer who frequently used one of these smoking rooms that seems tone-deaf even to a smoker. "It’s just so inconvenient," he said. Seriously man, you're a smoker in 2009. Surely you've gotten used to inconvenience by now.
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Memories of getting into an elevator in Hart with Ted Kennedy who was smoking an F'ing stogie. Good to be the king, I guess.
boo hoo. take your cancer sticks outside with the rest of the unclean masses.
As a smoker, I'm actually all in favor of this. Smoking indoors just leads to more smoking. Every time I go to a bar in Virginia, I end up smoking about four times as many cigs as I do in MD or the District...and so does everyone else, resulting in my coming home smelling like I rolled around in an ashtray for a few hours. I don't need cancer that bad...just kinda bad.
I'm OK with the Republicans having their own private smoking room. The lobbyists could stock it with cartons of their preferred brands too. That'll show the dems with their commie clean lungs!
i'm generally in favor of limiting smoking indoors. but Pelosi in all her infinite wisdom and desire to control the world in which we all live, also banned smoking in the rayburn (outdoor) courtyard. Thanks, Nancy.
Now, if you are having a shitty day dealing with a shitty boss, of which there are far too many on in Rayburn, Longworth and Cannon, you need to go through security - which, when you're having a bad day, will invariably be overfilled with tourists. Even the staff entrances get mucked up with some dbag intern bringing a 20 person tour through.
To be honest, I'm not sure why any employer owes his employee any accommodation for their recreational drug habit.
And isn't anyone afraid that taxpayers might be a *little* miffed that Congressional employees (who already enjoy Universal Healthcare on the taxpayer's dime) are voluntarily giving themselves an expensive* cancer? "Appearance of impropriety" and all that.
*: Some studies show that smoking saves money by killing you faster, so it might just look like you're wasting taxpayer money, when in fact, you're saving them money.
This is why I rarely smoked at work when I worked in Hart ca. 2001-2003 - couldn't deal with security screening every time I wanted to have a smoke.
Of course, back then I'm pretty sure the snack bar had a smoking section, but that seemed a bit much.
"How can Congressional office buildings even have smoking rooms anymore?"
Ummm, how 'bout because our elected "representatives" make sure to exempt themselves from the laws that govern the unwashed masses?
I thought cigarettes were illegal in DC. That why I've been lighting up in the bathroom. Plus it covers up the stink.
I thought cigarettes were illegal in DC. That's why I smoke in the bathroom. Plus it covers up the stink!
stupid stupid comment system!!!
Go back to listening to Brownsville Station, Liz. And remember to flush twice. It's a long way to the cafeteria.