Who says the Democrat-controlled Congress hasn't accomplished anything?

[Little-Acorn]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7888.html

Pelosi pushes gourmet menu

By: Josephine Hearn
Jan 15, 2008 05:59 AM EST


http://images.politico.com/global/080114_dsc_0707.jpg
The new compostable straws in the House cafeterias do not respond well to hot coffee as reporter Josie Hearn discovered.
Photo: John Shinkle


The processed cheese has been replaced with brie. The Jell-O has made way for raspberry kiwi tarts and mini-lemon blueberry trifles. Meatloaf has moved over for mahi mahi and buns have been shunted aside in favor of baguettes.

A revolution is afoot at the deli counters, grills and salad bars of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Newly ascendant Democrats may have hit roadblocks on Iraq and fiscal issues, but they have revamped congressional menus, replacing fatty, pre-made foods with healthier, gourmet alternatives. The once dreary congressional cafeterias now abound with haute cuisine.

The menu transformation is part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Greening the Capitol” plan to make the House campus more environmentally friendly and socially progressive.

But there can be a downside to delicious. Not everyone is happy with the enhanced offerings. Many congressional employees have complained that as the food quality has increased, so have the prices.

“It’s a big jump from high school cafeteria to fancy-pants gourmet. I just wish my pay improved,” said Caryn Schenewerk, a staffer for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

A fruit and cheese side dish with two small wedges of brie and cheddar, six grapes, two saltines and one strawberry cost $4.95, for example.

[Hagbard Celine]

All that sounds great. Who drinks hot coffee through a straw anyway? That's like asking for a throat burn. *shivers*

[Little-Acorn]

And let's not forget this memorable legislative victory, led personally by Nancy Pelosi (D-HaightAshbury).

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7874.html

Lawmakers, staff pan smoke-free Congress

By: Anne Schroeder Mullins
Jan 15, 2008 06:00 AM EST
Updated: January 15, 2008 12:46 PM EST

A new rule banning the sale of tobacco products on House of Representatives grounds has got Capitol Hill smokers — we hate to say it — smoking mad.

“The health nannies’ arbitrary ban on a legal and heavily taxed product bodes ill for the future marketing of Mountain Dew and Moon Pies,” said Rep. Thaddeus G. McCotter, an infuriated Republican, and smoker, from Michigan.

“This is silly ‘feel good’ crap by a bunch of do-gooders,” barked a high-level Democratic staffer (also a smoker). “We should be worried about the housing crisis, the unemployment rate and the national debt instead of making staffers walk four blocks to buy a pack of smokes.”

We should have seen this coming.

The transition to a smoke-free Congress can be traced to November 2006, when voters — stoked by a growing dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and the state of the nation as a whole — ousted the Republican majority in both houses.

The congressional elections replaced the likes of then-Majority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio — who lit up his beloved Barclays several times an hour, it seemed — with the more health-conscious Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who quickly banned smoking in the Speaker's lobby.

[Classact]

Nancy is planning to send her SCHIP welfare health care for illegal Mexicans to the President again just before the State of the Union speech so the Republicans can beat up the Dems for supporting illegal Mexicans as a new voting block.

[PostmodernProphet]

I am getting a little tired of the accusations that the Democrats have accomplished nothing in 2007.....do you people realize just how difficult it IS to rename 35 post offices?......

[Little-Acorn]

Gives a whole new meaning to "Going Postal". Which the Dems have certainly done.

[red states rule]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/7888.html

Pelosi pushes gourmet menu

By: Josephine Hearn
Jan 15, 2008 05:59 AM EST


http://images.politico.com/global/080114_dsc_0707.jpg
The new compostable straws in the House cafeterias do not respond well to hot coffee as reporter Josie Hearn discovered.
Photo: John Shinkle


The processed cheese has been replaced with brie. The Jell-O has made way for raspberry kiwi tarts and mini-lemon blueberry trifles. Meatloaf has moved over for mahi mahi and buns have been shunted aside in favor of baguettes.

A revolution is afoot at the deli counters, grills and salad bars of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Newly ascendant Democrats may have hit roadblocks on Iraq and fiscal issues, but they have revamped congressional menus, replacing fatty, pre-made foods with healthier, gourmet alternatives. The once dreary congressional cafeterias now abound with haute cuisine.

The menu transformation is part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Greening the Capitol” plan to make the House campus more environmentally friendly and socially progressive.

But there can be a downside to delicious. Not everyone is happy with the enhanced offerings. Many congressional employees have complained that as the food quality has increased, so have the prices.

“It’s a big jump from high school cafeteria to fancy-pants gourmet. I just wish my pay improved,” said Caryn Schenewerk, a staffer for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).

A fruit and cheese side dish with two small wedges of brie and cheddar, six grapes, two saltines and one strawberry cost $4.95, for example.

and you are allowed to take only one napkin at a time from the dispensers

Lawmakers are hoping San Fran Nan does not make the same rule for the bathroom dispensers