In Congress, student-loan repayments are among a range of education-related perks for staffers. In addition to repaying student loans, Congress spends more than $3 million offering staffers courses during work that include job-related training -- along with yoga, Pilates, "The Senate's Vice-Presidential Bust Collection" and "Home Buying for Beginners," according to congressional expense records and officials.
In recent months, some courses offered by the House Learning Center have drawn scrutiny from House Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard, whose office oversees the center. Mr. Beard estimates that the House spends $1 million a year on training.
He said some courses, such as those that teach how to use a BlackBerry, or about the legislative process or the Capitol building's history, could be offered by equipment vendors, the Library of Congress -- or not at all.
"We teach an 'effective writing' course," Mr. Beard said. "My thought was, if somebody can't write effectively, why are they here?" This year, he said, "I want to scrub this down and make sure we are only doing the things that we need to do."
