Its starting to get to the point where all you can do is shake your head and laugh, so yesterday we hear that tax payers are paying 40k to fire a pedophile, Tom Davis said it takes aboout a million dollars to fire a teacher with tenure in california, now today i see this article that we are bailing out some barbershop/hangout that all the congressmen like going to, yet for the life of them these clowns in congress/senate, cant find enough waste to trim a few hundred billion off the budget....... I have an idea for cutting waste, how bout we start with not paying pedophiles to quit, and not bailing out congress' hangout spots? The sad thing is that not only are we as tax payers paying to keep the barbershop afloat, id be willing to bet we are also paying for the politicians haircuts down there, after all these guys got to look good on camera while they fleece the taxpayers.... A LOT OFF THE TOP Taxpayers fleeced in bailout of Senate barbershop âinstitutionâ Americaâs most distinguished leaders get their hair cut at the Senate barbershop, but taxpayers are the ones really getting clipped. The barbershop ran almost $300,000 in the red last year but received an infusion from Senate coffers that is keeping it in business, the Senate sergeant at arms, Terrance Gainer, told The Daily. A federal bailout isnât that unusual since the economic downturn, but some senators didnât even know their salon was in hot water â and donât think it should be, considering what they pay for a little off the ears. A shampoo, cut and blow dry is $27 and highlights are $105, according to the barbershopâs website. A trim costs $20, more than double what Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., gets charged when he goes to his barber back home. âI give him $12 with a tip,â Leahy said. When Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., learned about the shortfall, he said, âIt did? It shouldnât. It should pay for itself.â A Senate barbershop subsidized by the government is a sore point with GOP members, too. Former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., blames the money woes on the stylists, who are federal employees. He contends theyâre overpaid compared to their private-sector counterparts. âThey are using union labor, and so their benefits and wages are higher than those of many jobs,â Fitzgerald said. To support his argument, Fitzgerald contrasts the salaries and benefits of the Senateâs stylists to what is offered by Capitol Barber, three blocks away. Capitolâs four barbers and stylists made $22,000 to $30,000 last year with no benefits, manager Lynn Dang said. At the Senate barbershop, formally called Senate Hair Care Services, the top four barbers and stylists made more than twice that â $54,761; $70,349; $73,658; and $81,641 â plus they have a generous 401(k) plan, health care and paid vacation. In all, the government contributed $230,000 in benefits for the barbershop, said Eve Goldsher, a spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee. Gainer acknowledged the barbershopâs staff members âare well paid, and it gives them a leg up on their nongovernment counterparts.â Regardless of where they stand on lending the barbershop a financial hand, senators agree the barbershop is first rate. One of the barbershopâs most loyal customers is Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has been going there since he was the Navyâs liaison to the Senate in the late 1970s. McCain told The Daily he is fond of all the stylists, especially longtimer Mario DâAngelo. âI call him the butcher. He is a butcher, and Iâve got the scars to prove it,â McCain joked. âIâm lucky to be alive and have needed several blood transfusions to survive.â Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., called DâAngelo âan institution.â âIâve been going to him for 20 years. He is so real. I know his extended family, which is Italian, of course,â Kent said. âWeâre very close.â Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, described DâAngelo as âone of the finest people in the whole Senate.â As a sign of appreciation, Hatch said he sends DâAngeloâs family a card and candy every Christmas. Housed in Room 70 of the Russell Senate Office Building, the barbershop is easy to get to from the Senate floor. All a customer has to do is take the elevator and to the basement, hop on an underground Senate train and walk a few hundred feet. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., had her well-coiffed dark hair cut done at the barbershop once â simply for the convenience. âUsually, I get my hair cut at Posh Hair Studio in Concord [her home stateâs capital], but it was right there,â she said. For the barbershopâs first 110 or so years of operation, from 1859 through the early 1970s, senators were its only customers â and they didnât hand over a dime for their dos, according to Senate historian Donald Ritchie. Today, the barbershop is open to the public and had 27,000 customers last year. Legislators are still special, though. Hanging on one wall is a white 2-foot-by-3-foot sign stating: âMembers and employees of the Senate shall have priority in this shop.â On other walls hang two photos that show the exclusiveness of the barbershopâs clientele: One is a color photo of President Obama, inscribed: âBest wishes!â The other is a signed photo of John F. and Jacqueline Kennedy. Perhaps a future president gets his â or her â hair done now at the salon; itâs anybodyâs guess. What is certain is that the barbershop is an institution â and Gainer wants to make sure it survives, however he has to. After struggling to stabilize the barbershopâs finances for the five years heâs been on the job, Gainer has decided privatization is the only answer. âThereâs no way to sugarcoatâ the barbershopâs fiscal woes, he said. âIf you put aside [the employeesâ] livelihoods, itâs costing the government money, and that includes taxpayers like you and me. Thatâs the way it is,â he said. âI just have not pulled the trigger. That’s on me.â http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/02/13/021312-news-senate-barbershop-1-4/