It's their money... just like our money is their money (they think). They want to force people like you and me to empty our pockets to help feed families that are here illegally....even while they spend money like that on luxuries (flowers???) for political points. It's mind-boggling hypocrisy.
Part of being a "progressive"/Liberal/Democrat/Socialist/Communist is that you never practice what you preach, but if you must, you do that with other people's money.
You are talking about an area where people spend far more on a power lunch that I do on a week's groceries--in some places in DC, I could eat very well for a month on what they will spend on dinner and drinks. If you haven't, check into the allowable per diem expense for business purposes for Washington DC. Those expense allowances vary by region/city, and the allowed deduction for being in DC for business for a day is higher than most anywhere else in the county.
Personal austerity for their icons? Not from the progressives. Besides, stacks of cards saying "I donated ten bucks to St. Judes's Hospital for Children or the local food pantry, in your name." Just lacks the feeelings factor of visual impact for liberals, while Conservatives would get cold chills from seeing a few bushels of cards like that because it would have deep significance for us.
The optics make for better press (to them).
We don't know how soon the flowers will make it out the door, or where/how they will dispose of them, so there may be some opportunity there somewhere for someone to make a buck yet, if only for disposal fees.
Now, not to be a spoilsport, but if you think back to the
Spy vs. Spy of the Cold War (still happening, I am sure), can you think of a more fun place to hide microphones or surveillance gear than somewhere in that jungle of blossoms and thorns?
Hubris would virtually guarantee that photo op, and the gear to listen in on all those comments at least would be in the door. At the least, having to conduct a sweep for surveillance gear would take the 'fun' out of it. At most, getting that fly on the wall could be illuminating--and the beauty of that is that there is no telling whether the persons planting it were Democrats or Pubbies...or foreign interests, or maybe all that and more...