The new era of restraint in the Senate will mean no more free haircuts.

The latest to feel the application of austerity measures are the Senate’s barbershop and beauty salon, whose elimination was approved by senators yesterday.

According to an information request filed by the newspaper El Universal in 2014, the Senate was spending 87,971 pesos per month (US $6,630 at the time) to pay the salaries of two barbers and three beauticians.

A visit by the newspaper yesterday found that the beauty salon has already shut down but the barbershop remains open with a single barber.

The Chamber of Deputies enjoys the same services but barbers and beauticians there have not been informed about plans to close them down.

One of the barbers rejected the notion that millions of pesos were spent on the salaries of the five employees. He claimed that they make their living on tips left by deputies and staff.

The president of the upper house’s political coordination council, Senator Ricardo Monreal Ávila, explained that the cutbacks will mean Congress is no longer “a house of privilege.”

He also said the Senate is going to set an example because the country “is economically and morally bankrupt.”

Source: El Universal (sp)