A Spirited No!

The celebrated phenomenon known as "the three-martini lunch" came up before the House Ways and Means Committee last week, and Republican Congressman Richard T. Schulze of Pennsylvania wanted to know if the witness actually had ever been to a business lunch where anyone drank three martinis. "Not if I had any control over it," answered Treasury Secretary W. Michael Blumenthal.

This was a little odd because Blumenthal, former chief executive at Bendix, was testifying in defense of President Carter's plan to halve tax deductions for business entertainment. But Blumenthal did offer some notable cases of corporate high living, particularly one trencherman who charged off 338 business lunches in one year.

In counterpoint, Representative Schulze claimed that the average cost of a business lunch in his district was $3.29 --just enough, as one committee observer estimated, for two Big Macs and a drink.

A theologically inclined Democrat, Omar Burleson of Texas, was moved to ask: "If a three-martini lunch is so evil, why is this half an evil all right?" Of the seven committee members who questioned the plan, only Democrat Harold E. Ford of Tennessee supported the cut, and even he forced Blumenthal to admit that one result would be the loss of some 50,000 to 70,000 restaurant jobs. When the hearing ended, the Congressmen left no doubt that if anyone restricts the three-martini lunch, it will not be Congress.

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