15 Percent Of New Representatives Will Sleep Where They Work

In January, the U.S. House of Representatives welcomes 94 newbies. And, 15 percent of them plan to sleep in their offices, reports The Wall Street Journal. Therefore, for this pajama game, the best offices are the ones located near the gym, which has showers. When you visit your representative in Washington D.C., you might measure the walk to the gym.

In these economic hard times when voters hate politics as usual, bunking in is a smart symbolic move. First of all, the representatives are showing they too know the value of a buck. Secondly, being in their office instead of partying with lobbyists indicates their dedication to serving the people instead of themselves and their own ego. Consequently, votersat home might not so resent the $174,000 Congressional salary. If newbies are really shrewd, they might have an air mattress or sheets peek out from the closet.

But even before the bite of the recession and the antipathy toward Washington, D.C., about 10 percent of Congressmen were sleeping in their offices. Most have had the usual family expenses of braces, college tuition, and maybe helping out with aging parents. Few are independently wealthy.