CNBNews

America’s most distinguished leaders get their hair cut at the Senate barbershop, but taxpayers are the ones really getting clipped.

The barbershop ran almost $300,000 in the red last year but received an infusion from Senate coffers that is keeping it in business, the Senate sergeant at arms, Terrance Gainer, told The Daily.

A federal bailout isn’t that unusual since the economic downturn, but some senators didn’t even know their salon was in hot water — and don’t think it should be, considering what they pay for a little off the ears.

A shampoo, cut and blow dry is $27 and highlights are $105, according to the barbershop’s website. A trim costs $20, more than double what Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., gets charged when he goes to his barber back home.

“I give him $12 with a tip,” Leahy said.

When Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., learned about the shortfall, he said, “It did? It shouldn’t. It should pay for itself.”

A Senate barbershop subsidized by the government is a sore point with GOP members, too.

Former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., blames the money woes on the stylists, who are federal employees. He contends they’re overpaid compared to their private-sector counterparts.

“They are using union labor, and so their benefits and wages are higher than those of many jobs,” Fitzgerald said.

To support his argument, Fitzgerald contrasts the salaries and benefits of the Senate’s stylists to what is offered by Capitol Barber, three blocks away.

read via www.thedaily.com

BY MARK STRICHERZ MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012

submitted by GFC