![]() The gym’s budget is now covered by the $240 in annual dues from members, and whatever Congress appropriates for its operations, but finding details of the budget is feels a little like searching for the nuclear codes. ![]() An effort to renovate the facility during Nancy Pelosi’s speakership failed when Pelosi made it clear she had other, higher priorities for the $8 million it would cost. Members say the gym has changed little since then. Armey not only showered there, he used to set up a cot and sleep there as well. In the 1980s, House members told Armey, then a junior representative, to stop treating the House gym like a motel and get a place of his own. If the case of Dick Armey is any guide, the members may want to start looking at the classifieds for apartments. In February, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government called for an ethics investigation into the group of more than 30 lawmakers, who say they’d rather shower at the gym than fork over rent money in Washington. While most members use the gym for workouts and a little business, more than 30 currently use it to shower after they’ve spent the night in their House offices. Chuck Schumer, a former House member still known to use the gym, turned the tables on Emanuel two years ago, when he used his workouts there to lobby the Obama chief of staff to get behind the candidacy of Schumer’s pick for New York’s vacant Senate seat, Kirsten Gillibrand, then a House member. Darrell Issa, the California Republican, had his own Rahm encounter just outside of the gym, when Emanuel gave him the silent treatment and raised a middle finger after Issa threatened to begin investigating the Obama administration. Eric Massa (remember his tickle fights with staff?) used the press frenzy surrounding his scandal to recount a tale of Emanuel cornering him about a vote in the gym’s showers while both were naked. And the fascination grows every time the usually forgotten spot makes it into the headlines because of the famous people who work out there, including the embattled Rep. ![]() No staff, no lobbyists, no reporters, and certainly no tourists. ![]() One particularly disastrous game sent Gore from the gym to the hospital with a torn Achilles tendon.Īs with many places in Washington, the allure of the gym is not its luxury (or lack thereof), but its exclusivity. Al Gore often returned, as vice president, for pickup basketball games-and to whip votes for Bill Clinton’s priorities. ![]() Bush kept his locker at the gym into his White House days. Many former House members return even after they’ve gotten bigger, better jobs. Rahm Emanuel frequented the place before going off to run Chicago. Once they do, the results can be a deal done, a powerful friendship struck, a six-pack sculpted-or a scandal unleashed with a towel around its waist and a BlackBerry in hand. The ultra-exclusive “Wellness Center” behind two gray steel doors in the sub-basement of the Rayburn House Office Building across from the Capitol is one of the few places in the world that allows only current and former members of Congress to enter. Yes, there is, and if you’re not a member of Congress don’t bother trying to get in. When photos leaked this week of Anthony Weiner photographing himself in the buff before mirrors in the members-only House gym, one question was inescapable: There’s a members-only House gym? ![]()
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