photo: Dan Macy
When we think of the term “bygone era,” one thing that commonly comes to mind is the space program. And perhaps another is employment perks. Not that either is gone, by any means. But times seem to be changing for both during an era of economic contraction, so perhaps it is no coincidence that the two topics share this special link.
That association seemed more palpable if you were in Washington, D.C. on April 17. That is the day that the space shuttle program, the product of better economic times to be sure, symbolically came to a close with the transfer of the Shuttle Discovery — in a spectacular flyover — into retirement outside the nation’s capital. It is also the day after a congressional hearing focused on an apparently grandiose waste of taxpayer money by a federal agency — the General Services Administration (GSA), ironically enough the agency that oversees all of the federal government’s real estate, employee travel and other nationwide policies — on what Congress is calling a “bash in Las Vegas.” That earthbound spectacle has already revealed lavish employee perks and travel accommodations that call to mind the champagne times of the Reagan era, when the space shuttle program was in its heyday.
But while the space shuttle ended its run with a smooth landing near the capital, the GSA, still flying high, is hitting some serious chop over its spending on fringes — including a luxurious loft suite with a hot tub in it, high over Las Vegas — that seemed more apt for the age of Airport ’77 than for the post-Lehman Brothers era. The GSA got in trouble over a conference for 300 employees that cost taxpayers $823,000. The conference took place in late 2010, well into the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. A scathing report by the GSA Inspector General (IG) Brian D. Miller called the expenses “excessive, wasteful and in some cases impermissible.”
Travel and Entertainment Benefits
Will federal business travel go the way of the space program, which became too costly for the country to bear and now exists as a mere shadow of its former self? It’s probably in for some pressure, thanks to the GSA spending as though it was the good old days in which people were fond of saying, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Was it that long ago that President Obama uttered the famous remark that stirred up a protest by the mayor of “Sin City”? The president said to banks, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.”
That was 2009, right after large banks that took public funds during the onset of the financial meltdown sent their employees to luxury hotels and resorts for company-sponsored conferences. The word “luxury” became taboo, and soon even private-sector companies found themselves actually spending more money, in some cases, to send their employees to less-glamorous sounding cities, just to avoid bad publicity. But the feds went and took a trip to Las Vegas on the taxpayer’s dime.
One member of Congress even called for an end to the GSA. Well, maybe it’s time for an update in the agency’s thinking, anyway. And that seems like just what will happen, as is evident in the April 2 response to the IG’s report by the embattled chief of the GSA, who resigned later that day. The reform would apply to government employees, but federal travel policy can be a bellwether for the private sector. Federal agencies have to follow federal travel guidelines, and the IRS uses the federal travel rates — travel per diems, for example — as the basis for tax treatment of business travel fringe benefits in the private sector, too.
Other Fringe Benefits Caught Up in the Going-nowhere World of Washington
The GSA’s old school ways aren’t the only stale thinking in Washington. Back up in the sky, the Shuttle Discovery — perched atop a modified Boeing 747 — moved on from the clouds over the GSA’s headquarters in Foggy Bottom and glided past the Capitol dome, once seen by President Abraham Lincoln as a symbol of unity but now seen as a symbol of partisan bickering. All the inaction seems to be happening on one side of the dome, in the House of Representatives, as Congress displays to all in the land that it knows more than anyone about dysfunction. Buried deep in a piece of stalled legislation is a tax break for commuters who want to save money and do something good for the environment on the side, perhaps — a qualified transportation fringe benefit (QTFB). Going nowhere in the House currently is the transportation funding package known as “MAP-21,” or Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, the Senate version of which contains the QTFB provision.
The political parties cannot seem to agree how to move ahead, even as they let tax policy from the last century encourage driving to work over taking mass transit. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried to update the thinking of government by introducing a QTFB provision to the massive transportation bill. Schumer’s amendment would provide equitable tax breaks for driving to work or taking the train or bus there. But for now, even though employees’ use of public transportation to get to work is on the rise, the tax break for driving and parking the car is nearly twice as generous as that for taking the train or the bus to work.
It All Circles Back to the GSA
This is despite Obama’s initiative to get federal employees to cut back on their carbon footprint. In a sad twist of irony, the GSA — the agency that the president appointed to spearhead that very clean energy program — got into more trouble over a video clip that appeared to poke fun at the president and his eco-friendly initiative, which is designed to make federal employees travel less and do other greener things, like ride the bus or train to work. The video, which was provided to the congressional oversight committee investigating the Las Vegas conference, was presented for an award at that very conference. Observed CNN about the video: “One line of the song says ‘POTUS wants a press event, a project he can show,’ while a worker holds up a portrait of Obama. POTUS stands for “president of the United States.”
Talk about twisted. If this represents the end of an era, let’s hope the next era involves more common sense.