Maroc - RAWSTORY.COM - Raw Story - 12/Aug 12:35

House Republicans spent millions more on taxpayer-funded travel than Democrats

This article originally appeared in OpenSecrets. Sign up for their weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.House Republicans outspent their Democratic counterparts in taxpayer-funded travel expenditures by nearly $8 million since the start of 2023, a new OpenSecrets analysis found. Eight out of the top 10 biggest spenders between the start of 2023 to March 2024 were Republican members of Congress. They accounted for 7% of total taxpayer-funded travel spending by GOP members of Congress and with each of the top spenders spending two to five times more than the average House office.The total travel spending reported by House Republicans’ offices exceeded $23 million from January 2023 to March 2024 — nearly $8 million more than House Democrats spent on travel during the same period. Despite having only a seven-member majority, House Republicans have significantly outspent Democrats. Congressional offices of House Republicans spent around $102,000 on average for travel during that period, while the average spent by House Democrats sat around $70,000, according to the House Statement of Disbursements. According to the Congressional Management Foundation, the average total annual budget of a House office is around $1.5 million, which is distributed across a variety of categories such as personnel compensation, franked mail, supplies and materials and travel. ALSO READ: Tim Walz's personal finances are extraordinarily boring — and that may help HarrisThe most commonly cited travel expenses are lodging, meals, wifi on travel and parking as well as the transportation expenses themselves such as car rental, airfare and taxis. Entertainment or recreational activities are not considered to be a part of the travel category and are not covered by taxpayer money, according to Public Citizen. House Statements of Disbursements are public reports featuring all receipts and expenditures of offices of the U.S. House of Representatives, as required under federal regulations. These reports are released quarterly by the Chief Administrative Officer of the House.Since 2009, House Statements of Disbursements have been accessible to the public. However, they do not reflect information about the purpose of the travel, travel destinations or specific transportation details. Of all 435 House Member offices, the top spender on travel was the office of Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) which spent about $379,000 on travel expenditures since the start of last year, nearly 5 times more than the average House member office. Gooden’s travel spending constitutes more than 16% of his office’s budget, also higher than the average of around 4% spent by other House offices, according to OpenSecrets’ analysis. ALSO READ: 21 worthless knick-knacks Donald Trump will give you for your cashGooden is known to be an active traveler with high spending on both office and campaign-related travel, according to Roll Call. After winning reelection to his second term in 2022, Gooden spent leftover campaign money abroad and at popular destinations, including New Orleans, La., and Las Vegas, Nev. Gooden himself has been spotted in a meat boutique in Israel, a bar in New York and Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida. The office declined our request for comments about the purpose of the travel, its details, or sources of funding.The second biggest spender was a Democratic member from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Rep. Gregorio Sablan. Yet, Sablan’s office represents a territory almost 8000 miles from Washington, D.C. managed to incur around $90,000 less than Gooden from Texas. Bob Schwalbach, Sablan’s chief of staff, told OpenSecrets that the high travel expenditures simply reflect the costs of getting to the district.“It’s very expensive to fly halfway around the world from Washington to the Northern Mariana Islands,” Schwalbach said. Considering the distance, the office focuses on constituent relations. Schwalbach explained that the office covers staff travel to the district “to keep our work as relevant and informed as possible.”Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) is the third-highest top congressional office travel spender from 2023 to 2024. From 2011 to 2019, Gosar spent more of his taxpayer-funded office budget on travel than nearly every member of the House and most House Republicans, according to The Arizona Republic.Gosar’s travel spending previously attracted scrutiny after his office spent nearly $1 million in taxpayer dollars spent on trips between 2016 and 2022, CNN reported. At the beginning of 2024, Gosar’s office spent more than $3,700 on car rental in less than a month, OpenSecrets’ new analysis found. Information about the type of car and destination was not required to be disclosed. The Senior Director of Ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, Kedric Payne, believes the lack of transparency in House disbursement reports causes an even bigger issue. “The lack of details in published travel records makes it nearly impossible to see who is complying with the law,” Payne told OpenSecrets. He emphasized that “voters have a right to know whether public officials are misusing public funds.”Some members of Congress have also called for more transparency around congressional travel disbursements that draw from taxpayer funds with bills introduced by members on both sides of the aisle. For example in 2016, former Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) introduced the Taxpayer-Funded Travel Transparency Act to require more in-depth descriptions of travel expenses but the bill died in committee. More recently in 2023, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) reintroduced the Transparency in Taxpayer-Funded Travel Act, which similarly would require disclosure of the purpose and other details about travel. The bill was referred to the Committee on House Administration in June 2023. Some congressional official travel of Members is funded through committees that the member sits on, according to the Committees Congressional handbook. Travel expenditures bankrolled by a congressional committee are not reflected in the statements of disbursements of the members’ offices. For example, the office of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, spent around $81,000 on travel since the start of 2023. Despite having various travel duties due to his committee appointment, McCaul’s expenditures were smaller than the average amongst the House offices because of the committee’s funding of the travel. Similar patterns can be applied to leadership positions such as the Speaker of the House, Majority Leader and Minority Leader. The member offices with the most costly trips from 2023 to 2024 were taken by members of Congress from Texas and Florida, whose offices spent an average of about $124,000 and $87,000 per member office’s travel expenditures, respectively. In percentage terms, the states and territories with the biggest travel spenders were Marianna Islands, Guam and the State of Idaho. Travel guidelines are established by the House Ethics Committee and Committee on House Administration, the committee that also authorizes House Member offices’ budgets, Members’ Representational Allowances. All official travel by members or their staff must be paid for or authorized by the House Committee on Ethics in cases where outside organizations fund the travel or the travel is considered a gift. The most common reasons for official congressional travel include transportation from and to the district they represent, to various conferences and events, and other official duties. According to the Ethics Committee guidelines, private sources may not fund congressional trips having an official purpose.Please note: travel expenditures above reflect on the total spending of the congressional office including both the members and their staff. Data used in the article includes expenditures from January 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024.