It took six months for Congress to approve aid to Ukraine, members barely kept the government funded earlier this year, and impeachments seem to crop up weekly, without much success.
But there is one issue that is smoking hot and gaining traction with members of Congress. Based upon a report from Axios, Congressperson Tom Cole (R-OK) believes, “We desperately need a place to smoke cigars.”
“There’s no better time to build a relationship than over a cigar,” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania told Axios. “You can actually have a long conversation with somebody, and it really leads to building bridges.”
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), a former sheriff, can often be seen lighting up a cigar at the top of the House steps after votes.
Axios reported that Cole’s move to the House Appropriations Committee has left GOP lawmakers without a haven to smoke their cigars.
Cole’s Capitol office provided lawmakers a space to bond and develop policy over cigars. Yeah, that’s what they did.
When Michael Burgess (R-TX), a physician by trade, took over Cole’s old office, he snuffed out the cigar tradition.
This cigar problem is so serious that lawmakers are calling on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to solve the dilemma. “We’re gonna keep pushing to the speaker’s capable hands,” Cole told Axios. “But with all due respect to the speaker, he wouldn’t know which end of the cigar to light.”
House members were once able to smoke in the Speaker’s Lobby, but Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) killed that option in 2007.
Cole has pledged to not give up the cigar smokers’ fight and has said that members are still welcome at his personal office in the Rayburn Building for cigar-smoking while a solution to this problem is in the works. Whew, I bet that’s a relief.
Help may be on the way, because in late-2021, the Congressional Cigar Caucus was approved as a Congressional Member Organization, a Caucus, with 30 Congressional members. There are now more than fifty members. There are actually hundreds of caucuses in Congress, including the Rum Caucus and the Pickleball Caucus to name a couple.
The Cigar Caucus described itself in 2021: The Congressional Cigar Caucus will serve as an informal group of Members dedicated to preserving the artisan craft of the cigar industry while educating Members on how the cigar industry impacts American families, workforce, agriculture, and the economy. Wow!!!
And they are looking for more members.
So, it all should work out, and just in time. Those demanding a new smoking safe-space have reminisced about the former hideaway as an important environment for members of Congress, male and female, to be mentored by senior colleagues.
“It’s more than just cigars, it’s a place for new members to get to know and be mentored by a member like Tom Cole,” noted one lawmaker.
“There’s no better time to build a relationship than over a cigar because you’re with somebody for 45 minutes to an hour,” Reschenthaler said. “You can actually have a long conversation with somebody, and it really leads to building bridges within the conference, but also bipartisan bridges.”
Multiple news outlets in recent months have rated the current 118th Congress as possibly the least productive in history. In 2023, Congress passed only thirty-four bills into law, the lowest number in decades.
But isn’t it reassuring to know that Congress can still take on, and hopefully solve, the tough bi-partisan issues that affect every-day Americans? I know I will be watching this one.
And, just for your consideration in this election year, a Winston Churchill quote that I have always valued: “Some men (or women) change their party for the sake of their principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.”
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI, and publishes opinion columns regularly.
Tweets @curtmacrae — comments to rantsbymac@gmail.com
Comments