As citizens we can be assured that members of the 108th Congress are taking, quite seriously, their responsibilities for the recently

begun session.

The House of Representatives made a priority of preparing for the anticipated after-hours work necessary to conduct the people’s business.

In passing an annual rules package at the beginning of the session, House leaders voted on a rule change to allow lobbyists far greater latitude in catering meals to members’ offices.

We may rest easy knowing our representatives won’t be preparing legislation on empty stomachs.

Nor will they have to spend our money, which pays their salaries, on food delivery.

“The pizza rule” as both Republicans and Democrats call it, allows charitable lobbyists to feed lawmakers who could become so immersed in work that they forget to call Domino’s.

Apparently some forward-thinking lobbyists anticipated this problem. According to The Washington Post, a lobbying firm representing pharmaceutical interests provided dinner for House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) staff while it worked late on a prescription-drug bill.

We may be assured that the properly nourished staff worked extra diligently to make sure they crafted precisely the fairest legislation for

the people.

Of course skeptics will

always criticize.

They will use buzzwords such as “influence peddling” and suggest

gifts could somehow affect how legislators act.

In fact, Don Simon, acting president of the public-interest group Common Cause, was quoted by The Washington Post as saying the change passed “in a stealthy fashion without any public scrutiny,” just because it was voted on merely hours into the session, with no advance notice and minimal debate on the floor.

What Simon failed to recognize was that conscientious House members were so eager to avoid falling behind in doing the people’s business that they couldn’t delay passage merely to allow for all this public-scrutiny stuff.

For the record, the Republican-controlled House passed the rules change, 221-203, along party lines. Democrats, who apparently plan on either fasting or knocking off early throughout the session, tried unsuccessfully to block the change.

Ironically the change revoked limits that had been imposed in 1995 by then newly- elected speaker Newt Gingrich and the Republican-controlled House.

The old rule imposed a limit of $50 on any gift from a lobbyist or other outsider, with an aggregate annual limit on all gifts from any single source at $100.

This overlooked the reality that members have many hungry mouths to feed, so the new rule divides the value of any given meal by the number of people from the member’s staff who

eat it.

According to The Washington Post, ethics committee chairman Joel

Hefley (R-Colo.), said he objected

to the change but was overruled

by GOP leaders. Thank goodness

for leadership.

Hastert’s spokesman John Feehery stood up for the change by saying “interns or the low-paid staff” rather than lawmakers themselves

would benefit.

Though a valid point, this, of course, underestimates the dedication of lawmakers who undoubtedly work side by side with their staff after quitting time.

“If someone wants to send some food in to them,” Feehery told The Washington Post in reference to the staffers, “they should be allowed to

eat it.”

See, all we’re talking about here is a meals-on-wheels program for disadvantaged Capitol Hill staffers. Of course, if all this is necessitated by inadequate pay for Representatives’ staff, lawmakers could always pay them more.

But I digress.

Feehery’s point appears to be that pesky little ethics rules that say elected officials should not accept gifts from those who are affected by the legislation they write and pass shouldn’t apply unless large gifts

are involved.

And speaking of large gifts, the House passed another change, one allowing members to accept free trips to events where the net proceeds

go to a certified charity. Traditionally these trips have been to luxurious

golf resorts.

Again the lawmakers demonstrated considerable foresight.

After burning the midnight oil doing the people’s business, pausing only to eat what lobbyists can scrounge up, they no doubt will need the occasional free trip to a luxurious golf resort to recharge their batteries so they can later resume the people’s business with renewed vigor.

So as the president no doubt will affirm in his address to Congress on Tuesday night, “The state of the union is strong.”