Capitol’s Restaurants Losing Profits Because of Pelosi’s Greening Initiative
By Molly K. Hooper, CQ Staff
CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION – CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
July 9, 2008
Going green is taking a bite out of the profits generated by House restaurants.
In the first four months of a new cafeteria management contract, the vendor running House-side food service operations returned about $100,000 in profits — money that will supplement the tax dollars appropriated to run House buildings.
But Republicans on the committee that approved the contract expected a greater return from the new vendor and are not happy that environment-focused riders were added to the contract after they gave their OK.
“The House has lost significant revenue to date and will forfeit millions of dollars ... over the length of the contract,” Michigan’s Vernon J. Ehlers complained in a letter to Daniel Beard, chief administrative officer for the House.
Ehlers, ranking Republican on the House Administration Committee, said the seven-year contract with Restaurant Associates LLC should not have been altered after the panel approved it last August.
The contract was changed to compensate the vendor for the cost of replacing foam and “non-eco-friendly disposable food vehicles and utensils” with compostable versions, using recycled napkins and towels, and buying locally grown produce.
All those environmentally conscious actions were ordered as part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “Green the Capitol” initiative. The California Democrat launched the initiative without the cooperation of the minority party, and Republicans have been critical of the cost of going green.
By the end of the year, the changes to the food service contract, for instance, will reduce the House’s expected share of restaurant profits in half, to about $600,000, Ehlers said. He called it “a payment scheme that has thus far avoided the proper oversight of this committee and the scrutiny of the Committee on Appropriations.”
Democrats sidestepped the issue of whether going green reduced profits, noting instead that the cafeteria was still operating at no cost to taxpayers.
“We now have a cutting-edge greening initiative that supports eco-friendly processes and sustainability, with no net increase in taxpayer funding,” said Administration Committee spokesman Kyle Anderson.
“Since they can’t dispute the success of the House’s new restaurants and the overall Capitol greening initiative, they’ve chosen to focus on contract details.”
And in a written statement Wednesday, Beard said the green changes did not cost taxpayers a dime. “Through an administrative adjustment to our contract with Restaurant Associates, the House has installed a waste reduction program in our cafeterias that is a key element of the Speaker’s Green the Capitol Initiative,” he said. “There has been no loss of revenues or forfeiture of commissions.”
Ehlers told Beard he wants a report on changes to the food service after its bipartisan review. He also asked for an accounting of the changes in dollars returned to the House.
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