Someone get Chuck Hagel a frame for his government ID card. If some members of Congress get their way, that might be the only official portrait taxpayers will pay for.
This week the Senate introduced not one but two new bills that would ban federal spending on traditional oil portraits for cabinet-level officials.
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The lack of public funding has meant that officials have had to turn to other funding sources for their portraits. The president’s portrait is paid for by generous private donors, as are the portraits of House committee chairs that continue to adorn the walls of (some) committee chambers, looking down on their successors and occasionally inspiring awkward feuds.
