House’s Ice Deliveries Kick the Bucket

Let us bow our heads as we mourn the passing of another longstanding tradition in the House of Representatives.

As of this week, House members no longer have early morning, door-to-door delivery of taxpayer-subsidized buckets of ice. That’s right: For them, the iceman cometh no more.

And Republicans, led by Rep. Bill Thomas of Bakersfield, are gleefully patting themselves on the back for doing away with yet another vestige of 40 years of Democratic rule in the House.

Don’t get him wrong. Thomas--who has served in Congress since 1979--has himself crunched on the hand-delivered ice from time to time.

But now, in the GOP’s campaign to highlight and eliminate perk after perk, Californians Thomas and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) are playing key roles as perk police. Thomas chairs the House Oversight Committee that runs the administration of the House, and Packard heads the appropriations legislative branch subcommittee that handles spending legislation for Congress itself.

Thomas and six fellow Republicans on his committee recently wrote a “Dear George” letter to the architect of the Capitol, George M. White, ordering that the personalized ice service be halted.

“Although it is a longstanding practice to deliver a bucket of ice every day to 891 offices of the House of Representatives, we have learned that this courtesy costs at least $400,000 per year in labor and materials. With the rest of government, and the legislative branch, being asked to trim costs, we think that this service should be provided in a much more cost-effective manner as a ‘do it yourself’ service,” according to the letter. “Committee staff will work with you to aid in publicizing the new information.”

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To hear Republicans talk, perks on Capitol Hill are on the verge of becoming extinct. “They pop up and we take a shot at them!” said a spokesman for Thomas’ oversight committee.

Next, perhaps, members of Congress will be asked to pay more for haircuts at the House beauty salon and barbershop, and maybe even give up a few parking spaces. In fact, Thomas will begin hearings next week on other austerity measures, including privatization of the beauty salon and barber services, which tend to run in the red at taxpayers’ expense. Thomas’ committee already cut the amount of money members can spend to send mail to constituents.

An independent audit of House operations is under way and is expected to show, among other things, exactly how many congressional parking spaces have been “loaned” to lobbyists.

No one these days will defend the daily deliveries of ice manufactured by a Winnebago-size machine. But Democrats, meanwhile, have grown weary watching Republicans score huge political points on issues like ice buckets. Oh puhleez!, they fume, is all this gimmickry, anti-Washington talk really necessary?

“Do they think that’s going to balance the budget?” Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.) wonders aloud, noting all of the massive budget cuts still to come. “I don’t think so.”

Republicans want to talk about ice and haircuts, she says, but what about the members who take a big perk by refusing to rent an apartment in Washington and sleeping in their taxpayer-funded offices.

Schroeder complained to Thomas in a letter that the Capitol Hill dwellers--most of them Republicans--still get a $3,000 tax deduction for Washington living expenses on top of their $133,500 annual salary. She also questions whether the members will report the housing perk as income on their federal income tax returns. Thomas has not replied.

These residents of “Hotel Congress”--some guess the number is as high as a dozen--shower in the House gym and eat in the House restaurant, and a pet cat has been seen roaming around one member’s office, she adds. “Next thing you know, they will be getting room service from the restaurant,” Schroeder says.

But Packard, 64, a 13-year congressional veteran and a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, says the swelling federal budget is a top priority for Republicans, but that cutting wasteful congressional operations, such as ice deliveries and hair salons, is important too.

They “symbolize what the American people find most troubling about their government--an entity which has grown so large and far removed that it no longer recognizes and serves their interests,” Packard says. “I want us to look at our original mission and fund only those things most vital to carrying out that mission.”

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The ice age, by the way, is not quite over: Congress will study it. “A continuing study will be made over the next few weeks which will analyze ice requirements,” said a recent memo from the Capitol architect. “Upon completion of the study, a permanent system will be implemented to make ice available for official use.”

Maybe they could borrow some ice from the Senate.