House's own smoke-filled room

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Originally published 12:22 a.m., July 24, 2006, updated 12:00 a.m., July 24, 2006

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It's 4:30 on a Thursday afternoon, and the House of Representatives is hard at work making laws.

During a series of votes, members stroll in and out of the chamber to relax in the Speaker's Lobby -- an exclusive spot where they can put up their feet, crack jokes, read newspapers, make phone calls and, yes, smoke cigarettes, cigars and pipes.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California -- where smoking bans have long been in place -- recently glared across the lobby at a colleague who was cloaked in a plume of cigar smoke.

"There's a story for you," she told a reporter for The Washington Times. "That's not allowed in here anymore."

Actually, it is perfectly legal for members to light up in the Speaker's Lobby, an unventilated room adjoining the House chamber on the second floor of the Capitol.

The room's rules are set by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican who does not smoke.

"Members are required to be here for long hours and oftentimes need to be near the floor for votes and other legislative business," said Hastert spokeswoman Lisa C. Miller. "To provide them a small designated area for smoking gives them the opportunity to be close by."

Leaving the vast building for a puff outside the Capitol could take members 10 minutes, sometimes more than they can spare.

"As long as people have smoked, there's been smoking in the Capitol," said former House historian Ray Smock, noting that vendors once sold tobacco inside the building.

Some members are confused that a new citywide ban on smoking inside the workplace does not apply to some halls or rooms inside the more than 200-year-old Capitol, one of the few places where the term "members only" is still relevant and where smoke-filled backrooms are no myth.

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