In a flashback to several decades ago, several congressional offices regurgitated the acrid cigar smoke of a Republican who appeared to have lung cancer, conjuring a new image of a smoky room filled with cigar makers.
Reuters reporter Patricia Zengerle believes the smoke is now commonplace because more Republican smokers — perhaps choosing to join their cigars in their offices — have since won the House majority.
“So there’s indoor smoking on the Capitol side of the House now that the Republicans have it under control,” Zengerle reported earlier this week.
Some reporters said the lawmakers were “hotboxing” cigar smoke – smoking in a confined space, which is usually used to refer to a joint that inhales.
“When you have a change in the control of the party, and they move the office like they are only if the member who moves to the office is … a cigar smoker – you have smoke,” Wrote Zengerle.
The District of Columbia requires all public buildings to be smoke-free, and an executive order signed by former President Bill Clinton bans smoking in federal buildings. But the private offices of House lawmakers are exempt, making the Capitol one of the remaining “office buildings” in the country where smoking is allowed, Bloomberg said.
The Daily Beast’s political reporter complained in a tweet about “cigar hotboxing” in “a certain Rules Committee chairman’s office” near the House press gallery. He added that it smelled absorb “multiple floors” because his office is near the “high” elevator.
House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma (R-Okla.) is often found smoking in the committee’s area on the third floor of the Capitol, noted Bloomberg. In particular, Cole has been a speaker at the Cigar Association event. He appears to be making a certain mark when asserting his right to smoke cigars.
HuffPost’s Arthur Delaney said he was “struck by the overwhelming smell of cigar smoke outside the Rules Committee when lawmakers returned to Washington January 3. The bad smell has remained strong ever since,” he added.
The press gallery, across the hall from the office, now has “some air purifiers running” to deal with the smell, Delaney said.
Pressed about the smell outside the office this week, Cole reportedly swore: “I didn’t give up cigars.”
Several others on Twitter expressed concern about the health impacts of people inhaling secondhand smoke and the possibility of air pollution. nicotine damage to the walls and works treasured in the Capitol.
A series of efforts that began in 1871 to reduce smoking in the Capitol did not prevent congressional lawmakers from smoking in their offices, leaving constituents and visiting staffers exposed to the smoke.
Republican leaders have a particular reputation as smokers.
Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) smoked so many cigarettes that incoming Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) needed new carpets, new paint and an ozone machine to clean the air — at taxpayer expense — to get the place working again. in 2015, The New York Times reported at the time.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) banned smoking from many buildings in 2007, including the popular speaker’s lobby, when Democrats were in charge — but members can still smoke in the office.
Smoking is not permitted anywhere on the Senate side of the Capitol. The Centers for Disease Control says smoking causes 480,000 deaths each year in the U.S., with about 41,000 due to secondhand smoke inhalation.