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Washington • Government watchdogs argue that Rep. Jason Chaffetz and other House members who bed down in their offices are violating congressional rules and possibly federal law.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics on Tuesday requesting a formal investigation of at least 33 House members who supposedly sleep in their Capitol Hill offices during the week, all of whom are men.
"House office buildings are not dorms or frat houses," said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan.
Chaffetz, R-Utah, is one of the most famous members of what some playfully dub the "couch caucus."
He arrived in Washington in 2008 with a $45 cot wrapped in a trash bag under his arm, attracting the attention of national media and even comedian Stephen Colbert. Since then, Chaffetz has recorded "cotside chats" that he puts on his website.
"Isn't there something more important to be looking at?" Chaffetz asked Thursday after first hearing of the complaint. "I guess there will be a whole bunch of attorneys getting involved. It doesn't seem that productive."
He said House members have bunked in their offices on couches, air mattresses and cots for decades. He does so for financial reasons.
"It's a financial reality of trying not to take on two house payments," he said. "I already have a mortgage."
That's no excuse, according to Sloan.
"If members didn't want to find housing in Washington, they shouldn't have run for Congress," she said.
In a letter to the ethics office, CREW alleges that members are personally benefiting from their office budgets and "misusing official resources" in direct conflict of House rules, which allow only incidental use of equipment and supplies.
Sloan alleges that any members who sleep in their offices are also undermining the decorum of the House and disrupting normal cleaning and remodeling.
"It is unseemly for members of Congress to sleep in House offices," Sloan writes in her letter. "It is also distasteful for members who sleep in their offices to wander the halls in sweat clothes or robes in search of a shower."
And House members may run afoul of the law if they aren't including the fair market value of their lodgings as taxable income, CREW alleges, estimating that it could be about $2,000 per month.
Chaffetz responded curtly: "I'll take a look at it."
He is the only member of Utah's federal delegation to sleep in his office. Rep. Rob Bishop rents an apartment on Capitol Hill, and Rep. Jim Matheson owns a condo just a few blocks from his office.
Sen. Orrin Hatch owns a house in a Virginia suburb, while newly elected Sen. Mike Lee hasn't decided whether he will get a place for himself or his entire family.
Either way, Lee has ruled out sleeping where he works.
An increasing number of freshman lawmakers do, however, and CREW cited a January story in The New York Times about new members who claim that sleeping in the office shows they are devoted and won't be corrupted.
"Washington is not going to be a home for me. I'm only there to work," Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Mich, told The Times.