La. senator’s EGO Act would forbid spending taxpayer dollars on congressional paintings
When Billy Tauzin ‘s official portrait was hung in the U. S. Capitol in 2002, it was a sure sign that he had made it. There was the Republican congressman from Chackbay, seemingly smirking with a gavel in hand, standing authoritatively before the U. S. flag and the rostrum of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that he chaired.
“I’m now part of the history of this place,” Tauzin told The Times-Picayune at the time. “That’s kind of cool.”
That was then, however, and this is now. Politicians’ portraits – those funded with public money, anyway – are falling out of favor in Congress, a sign of populist revolt against excess federal spending.
The latest blow was struck Monday (Sept. 18) when the Senate approved a measure by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., to forbid using federal money to pay for portraits of “the president, the vice president, a member of Congress, the head of an executive agency or the head of an office of the legislative branch.” Cassidy’s forced-acronym EGO Act, for Eliminating Government-funded Oil-painting, passed by unanimous consent, without a roll call vote.
“When America is trillions of dollars in debt, we should take every reasonable measure to reduce the burden passed on to our children and grandchildren,” Cassidy said. “Tax dollars should go to building roads and improving schools — not oil paintings that few people ever see.”
Cassidy says the professionally painted portraits can cost $20,000 to $40,000. Eliminating public funding for them could save $500,000 annually, according to a Congressional Budget Office report.
That’s chump change for a government that spends $4 trillion a year. But it could be a symbolic brushstroke in a state such as Louisiana, where median household income is barely $45,000. Saving $500,000 in the federal budget is the equivalent of funding 11 Louisiana households.
To be sure, taxpayers don’t foot the bill for all official portraits. Public money historically pays for oil likenesses of congressional leaders, such as the House speaker, but lesser lights sometimes rely on lobbyists, campaign contributors and other private donors. Tauzin, for example, appointed his regular fundraiser to organize donors for his $35,000 portrait, by the artist Daniel Greene.
Cassidy began targeting publicly funded portraits in 2013, when he was a member of the House. He succeeded in banning them annually via budget amendments in 2014,2015 and 2016 but has continued, as with his EGO Act legislation, trying to make it a permanent transgression. His latest effort is now pending in the House.
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Drew Broach oversees coverage of Louisiana state politics and environment issues — plus other odds and ends — for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Email: dbroach@nola.com. Facebook: Drew Broach TP and Louisiana Coastal Watch. Twitter: drewbroach1. Google+: Drew Broach.
