This is both a substantive and symbolic point, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
With the new year ushering in a D.C. smoking ban, House members could take refuge in puffing away in the Speaker’s lobby, an ornate room next to the House chamber. Members, reporters and staffers hang out there during votes.
Not any more. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday banned smoking in the lobby to save all from exposure to secondhand smoke.
“The days of smoke-filled rooms in the United States Capitol are over,” said Pelosi.
I knew a young man who once worked as a page in DC (don't worry, he had no hand in any sexual escapades). He told me once of an incident he witnessed during a session of Congress. Someone accidently knocked over an ashtray, which sent clouds of ash spilling around the immediate area. For some reason, my friend tells me, this necessitated a total evacuation of the building(did someone put anthrax in the ashes?), followed by the activities of the day getting canceled outright and the congresspeople sent home. That story always struck me as an illustration of beuraucratic nonsense, but now I can rest assured that it will never happen again.