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President Obama might not have much to be happy about amid the shutdown but he'll be able to enjoy some nice glassware next year

End-of-tax-year spending spree means U.S. embassies will have shiny new glasses.

News that the U.S. government is spending $5 million on glassware may irk workers still on unpaid leave on the ninth day of the federal shutdown, but that hasn't stopped the U.S. Office of Acquisitions awarding a lucrative contract to Vermont-based glass designer Simon Pearce.

The potential five-year deal announced by the Department of State includes 12,000 new pieces of stemware to be shipped to U.S. embassies abroad in the coming 12 months – with more glasses due to follow during the remaining four years of the deal.

"It is a custom-design line of hand-blown glasses," Steve Seto of Simon Pearce told Vermont-based television station WCAX. "The very first piece that was designed and recently approved was a Champagne flute."

But hand-blown glasses come at a cost: prices start at $65, while Champagne flutes are $100 a pop.

The glass contract was signed in September at the end of the tax year, which is often marked by a spate of spending as government agencies are forced to use the money or lose it.

According to New Hampshire’s Valley News, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy, a key figure in sealing the deal, wrote to the Secretary of State in support of Simon Pearce’s bid to become the glassware supplier.

Glassware isn’t the only item the U.S. government has signed up to in recent weeks: the Department of Veterans Affairs spent more than $500,000 on artwork, and the Agriculture Department spent $144,000 on toner cartridges in a single day, The Washington Post reported.