![]() ![]() 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. While Pepfar can continue operating without congressional reauthorization, advocates say a failure to do so would signal diminishing US support for HIV/Aids prevention.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? ![]() Smith was a co-sponsor of the 2018 bill extending Pepfar for five years but is now seeking to block its renewal after Biden in 2021 lifted Trump-era restrictions that barred Pepfar and other global programs receiving US funding from performing or promoting abortions. The program was first established in 2003 by President George W Bush to prevent and treat HIV/Aids in developing countries worldwide, and it is overseen by the US Department of State.Ībout 20 million people depend on the program globally, according to a White House statement in January. ![]() “Any multi-year PEPFAR reauthorizing legislation must ensure that Biden’s hijacking of PEPFAR to promote abortion be halted,” wrote New Jersey Republican Representative Chris Smith, who chairs the House foreign affairs subcommittee, in a letter to colleagues in June.Īt McCarthy’s Washington DC office, Capitol police handcuffed six activists and escorted them away, according to Politico reporter Alice Ollstein, who shared videos from the scene at the Rayburn House office building, which is connected to the US Capitol.ĭemonstrators were seen sitting and chanting in McCarthy’s office, demanding the Republican leader reauthorize key provisions of Pepfar, which are set to expire at the end of the month unless an agreement is reached. Some Republicans are opposing Pepfar’s reauthorization, arguing that current restrictions do not sufficiently prevent the funds from being used to support abortions, according to an August report by the Federation of American Scientists. But the program’s latest extension has been caught up in a partisan fight over abortion and is under threat amid Congress’s negotiations over a government shutdown. ![]()
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