Staffers protest cafeteria price hikes

Nearly 150 Democratic and Republican staffers have signed their names to a petition to halt Friday’s scheduled price increase in the House cafeterias, according to the founder of the website www.stopthepricehike.com .

The 10 percent increase is due to rising food and gas costs, according to the Chief Administrative Office (CAO), which oversees the House eatery vendor, Restaurant Associates (RA).

{mosads}But the website’s manager, Brian Diffell, says CAO Dan Beard’s allowance of the price change is an example of his disregard for staffers.

“There’s a concern, I think, that you’re seeing a vendor and a House officer operate independently of the process and we’re the ones getting hit by it,” said Diffell, a senior policy analyst in the office of House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).

Diffell said it is mostly Republicans working on the website, but that staffers from both parties have signed the petition.

Jeff Ventura, spokesman for the CAO, said the price hike reflects the same increase families throughout the country are enduring during these hard economic times.

“This is not the school lunch program,” Ventura said. “I think American taxpayers would find it deeply troubling that, in this economy, a small group of Hill staffers feel they are entitled to receive a special, taxpayer-subsidized exemption from the food price increases every hardworking American family is now struggling with.”

But Diffell says it is not the actual increase that is troubling the Democrats and Republicans who have signed the online petition. It is the way that the CAO went about the increase.

“None of us are so crazy that we think that when the price of a restaurant’s inputs goes up that you can’t increase prices,” Diffell said. “What we’re upset about is that this has been done — and I’ve spoken with a number of people who are much more familiar with this process than me — it’s being done in a way that’s unprecedented over at the CAO’s office, has not gone through the committee process that these things typically go through.”

Under its contract, RA is allowed to make price adjustments that correspond with the cost of food and transportation without any outside approval of the House Administration Committee, which oversees internal House affairs.

“These increases were forced by market conditions, executed legally under closely followed contract guidelines and appropriately vetted with the Committee on House Administration,” Ventura said.

Diffell acknowledged that there is no required process of vetting the committee on the increase, but said he has spoken with staffers in the committee and they say that the “informal” process was not adhered to.

“The CAO is clearly empowered to make these decisions, but there is an oversight body,” he said. “Most of the folks I’ve spoken to on the committee believe that this has not been followed in the right way.”

But the spokesman for Democrats on the committee, Kyle Anderson, said lawmakers and representatives from RA had been in discussions prior to the increase.

“Despite the fact that RA is contractually permitted to make discretionary price adjustments, they presented their plans to the committee for review and discussion,” Anderson said. “We have encouraged RA to find creative solutions to ensure that cafeteria items remain affordable for members, staff and visitors. However, it’s unreasonable to believe that the House food services would be insulated from the food price increases that American families across the country are facing.”

The spokesman for the Republican members of the committee declined to comment.

The price increase is one in a series of instances in which the CAO’s actions have been called into question, largely by Republican offices. Others include the decision to award RA the food services contract, and costs associated with making the House more environmentally friendly.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), citing several of these instances, called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who appointed Beard, to fire him nearly three months ago.

Though Diffell said he thinks the price increase speaks of a larger cause for concern within the CAO, he said the website goes beyond a partisan effort.

“So this has started a domino effect of concerns, and this sort of fits, in my mind, and a number of folks’ minds, into a pattern,” Diffell said. “The people who have signed the petition are Democrats and Republicans; this is not me trying to be partisan. I think what you’re seeing now is some bipartisan frustration, or more consumer frustration, you know — in addition to being staffers, we’re also consumers."

Diffell said he is planning to send the petition to the CAO early next week after the price increase has gone into effect.