Rep. Donald Payne Jr., D-N..J., this week criticized House Republicans for changing the rules to allow legislators to smoke in congressional offices.
The new Congress passed a House Rules package earlier this month that allows legislators to smoke cigarettes and cigars in their congressional offices, a practice that was banned under former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in 2007.
"In yet another self-serving move, Republicans have allowed smoking in public offices. It violates local and federal law and threatens the public health," Payne said on the House floor.
"It is a life-threatening decision that proves Republicans do not care about the health and safety of Americans. They write the laws but don't follow them," he added.
He then went on to cite statistics.
"In the last few decades, secondhand smoke has killed more than 2.5 million Americans," Payne said. "It causes heart disease, lung cancer, and strokes. And it's extremely dangerous to children. Local and federal laws ban smoking in public and federal buildings, and many studies have shown there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke."
Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, defended the practice of smoking indoors while on Fox News last week, saying that "it's about freedom," and downplaying the dangers of second-hand smoke: "I don't know what all the hoopla is about," and claiming that "nobody complains about it."