House inked $96K deal to give staff premium access to meditation app

The U.S. House cited the coronavirus pandemic and the January 6 incident as its reason for spending $96,000 in taxpayer money on a meditation app.

The contract was made possible, in part, by the $1.9 billion emergency spending package Congress passed last year to bolster security in response to the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Calm's partnership with the House was spearheaded by the House Appropriations subcommittee on the legislative branch. 

Subcommittee chairman Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat and well-known devotee of yoga and meditation, penned a letter last December with his GOP counterpart on the panel announcing the partnership. At the time, the duo wrote the investment was part of a larger effort to address the trauma inflicted on staff by the events of Jan. 6.