SAN FRANCISCO — Less than a year and a half in office, Alex Padilla has already made his mark in the U.S. Senate.
Last summer, when the dining room on the north side of the Capitol ended its pandemic-related closure, Padilla arrived wielding a bottle of Tapatío, the hot sauce native to the Los Angeles area.
Change comes slowly to the Senate, a sclerotic institution that still has a pair of spittoons on the floor because, well, tradition. But the manager of the dining room immediately agreed to add the zesty condiment to the menu, ending the requirement that lawmakers bring their own heat and instantly elevating the quality of the Senate’s famous, if bland, bean soup.
