Congressman Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii is whining because Speaker Pelosi won’t release the funds to remodel the House gym.

It’s not quite up to his standards and the wives have a terrible hardship of having to walk across a parking lot to get there, and besides, the aides to the Congressmen have a better gym with flat screen TVs mounted on their ellipticals. Anyway, it’s only a measly 8 million bucks.

Speaker Pelosi is having none of it, but not for the right reasons. She’s concerned about how it will look to the electorate and how it will affect her majority. Nothing said about it being a waste of taxpayer money and these facilities are available anywhere if you pay the membership fee.

Abercrombie is touting his efforts to secure funding in the legislative branch spending bill to begin an estimated $8 million renovation of the House gym. The project is personally important to Abercrombie, who sets a yearly goal to bench-press 200 pounds more than his age, now 69.
Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are not eager for a multimillion-dollar renovation of the congressional members-only gym to be one of the first accomplishments of the Democratic majority. They worry that freshman Democrats could be attacked on the campaign trail next year for approving a fancy new gym for themselves after winning office.

Democratic leaders held a special meeting with Abercrombie earlier this year to tell him that now is not the time for a new House gym and also instructed him not to mention the issue to reporters, according to Democratic sources

But Abercrombie hasn’t stopped talking about it. He insists that the gym needs renovating and is pushing for federal money to finance a redesign.

When it comes to the House members’ gym, Abercrombie also talks tough.

Officially, the facility is called “The Wellness Center.” Abercrombie calls it “The Badness Center.”

It may not be a Turkish prison, but the windowless facility in the bowels of the Rayburn House Office Building is hardly upscale.

The gym’s scent is reminiscent of sweaty basketball pennies and musty basements. A half-court backs up against a little netted area for driving golf balls. Drab 1970s-era office chairs line the gym wall.

Behind a saloon-style door off the half-court, the exercise machines are crammed together.

The lack of amenities are all the more galling when compared to the gleaming new gym reserved for House staffers. In the staff members’ gym, each elliptical machine and treadmill has its own flat-screen TV hooked up to cable.

The locker rooms are well lit (not many overhead fluorescents), with vanity tables in the women’s for reapplying mascara or blow-drying hair.

Staffers can attend classes or roll around on Pilates balls in an aerobics room lined with full-length mirrors. The staff gym is designed to allow men and women equal access to all the equipment.

Poor little thing. Let’s take up a collection so he can join the “Y” or a Gold’s Gym or something. He can get a discount on a “Y” membership because he’s a senior citizen.