$611,623 White House Room Gets Fleece Award
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WASHINGTON — A room within the White House complex that was trimmed in gold leaf and given a six-figure restoration job on Sunday won Sen. William Proxmire’s Golden Fleece Award for government waste.
The award went to the Executive Office of the President for “spending $611,623 to gild one medium-sized room” in the Old Executive Office Building, a historic Victorian-era structure where many top Administration officials, including Budget Director James C. Miller III, have offices.
The room, restored by the General Services Administration as part of continuing renovation of the building, was first used more than 100 years ago by the secretary of the Navy but is now used only for ceremonial functions, the Wisconsin Democrat said.
Proxmire (D-Wis.) did not dispute the historical value of the room, which has been occupied by 15 secretaries of the Navy, by President Herbert Hoover for four months in 1930, by Gen. John J. (Blackjack) Pershing from 1921 through 1947, and by every vice president except Hubert H. Humphrey since 1947.
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