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A House committee is expected to vote soon on a program that would allow Hill staff working late to take taxis home and have the cab fares paid out of office expenses.
Under current House rules, staff members who work into the wee hours of the morning as their members tend to late-night votes and other business are forced to pay for their cab fare home out of pocket.
But under a measure supported by Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), chairman of the House Administration Committee, the rules would be changed to allow Members Representational Allowances to be used for late-night taxis home.
The proposal was initially expected to be considered in committee this week but was postponed after Republican members said they needed more time to review the language. A House aide said GOP members wanted to eliminate any possible abuse of the program, such as late night taxi-rides to bars or grocery stores.
At the same time, a spokeswoman for ranking member Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) said the committee’s top Republican is supportive of the program in theory.
“He is not skeptical; he’s supportive of this,” said Salley Collins, a spokeswoman for Ehlers. “What he wants to do is have additional time to look into this to ensure that this is administratively feasible and that it’s written in such a way that it’s easily and correctly adhered to and not abused.”
Brady’s office said the chairman stands behind the venture. “Chairman Brady is committed to moving forward with the program,” said Kyle Anderson, a spokesman for Brady.
While the next committee date has not yet been set, Brady and Ehlers plan to meet in the following weeks to iron out details.
The taxi measure is a part of the “Green the Capitol” initiative, which aims at reducing the level of pollution House members and their staffs produce. It is also intended to help ensure staffers leaving the Capitol area late travel safely.
Staff members contacted by The Hill said late nights are common, and that the program would help sometimes underpaid staffers, who can’t always cut down on expenses by sharing cabs.
“One night three of us were here until probably 2:30 in the morning,” said an aide in a Democratic office. “And we were all headed in different directions, so we had to take our own cabs.” |
