$140,000 House lounge complete

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The members-only lounge in the House of Representatives side of the Texas Capitol is a far cry from what is was just a few months ago.

"We had refrigerators that didn't work, cabinets falling off their hinges and drawers that wouldn't open," said Rep. Tony Goolsby (R-Dallas), the chair of the House committee that approved the lounge renovation.

The lounge now has a $3,400 ice maker, two 42-inch LCD T.V.'s, new carpeting, 19th century brass chandeliers, granite countertops, custom made cabinets and drawers that can heat or cool food. The lounge renovation comes at a time when the Governor has asked all state agencies to cut back their budgets by 10 percent.

"We started making plans to renovate the lounge three years ago," Goolsby said. "We made final appropriations a year ago, before the economy took a took for the worse."

Goolsby admitted he has had some negative feedback from taxpayers, but perhaps the harshest criticism has come from the watchdog group Public Citizen.

"It's an outrage," said Public Citizen president Tom "Smitty" Smith."This comes when every other agency is being asked to scale back on their spending."