July 2, 2009 2:36 PM
Congress traveling on your dime - up 10x since 1995
Yes, these are the same dictatorial hotshots who raked corporate leaders over the coals for availing themselves of company perks.
Obviously emboldened and full of themselves. Let's start keeping tab on our individual legislators and publicizing their "junkets" with delegations to fun places that thanks to them we'll never see.
From the Wall Street Journal (That's Nancy Pelosi, by the way, checking out high-end souvenirs on her last trip to Egypt.):
Congress's Travel Tab Swells Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold; From Italy to the Galápagos
July 2, 2009
By BRODY MULLINS and T.W. FARNAMWASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.
The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.
Lawmakers say that the trips are a good use of government funds because they allow members of Congress and their staff members to learn more about the world, inspect U.S. assets abroad and forge better working relationships with each other. The travel, for example, includes official visits to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel.
Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes -- as they usually do -- their spouses can fly free.
Read entire article here.
*blood boiling*
Posted in Complaint Department, Obama Nation | Permalink
Comments
I don't believe that there is one single country where politicians don't abuse their position, in one form or the other.
Posted by: Odette Celibataire Endurici | July 3, 2009 1:41 AM
If we expect to have politicians with character, we have to elect them. And we have to hold them accountable once they're in office. And we have to raise children with a strong work ethic and a heart for service and the character to do what's right!
Our politicians have to take personal responsibility for their actions...but I feel like the public has to take some responsibility, too, for electing them and for leaving them in office.
Posted by: Shannon Miller | July 3, 2009 10:23 AM
I agree, Shannon, and I'm doing my best. It's hard though, when you have a bunch of stupid people who only vote party line because that's what they did their whole life.
That's what happens in New York State. They vote Democrat because #1) they're union and the unions tell them who to vote for and/or #2)they've been Democrats their whole lives and have strange views about Republicans. (i.e. they don't help the "working" man).
I know this because I've talked with them and there is nothing you can do or say to change their hard-headed minds. Even if they claim to be pro-life. (shakes head in wonder).
Posted by: Sue in Buffalo | July 3, 2009 1:55 PM
I'm w/you, Sue. I live in the Bay Area of No CA, and while I don't have the opportunity to vote (or not) for Pelosi, it's doubtful San Franciscans will throw her out. They should, but it doesn't seem to matter how she conducts herself while in office.
Most of the guys in Washington, e.g., Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Barbara Boxer, to name but a few, are entrenched, and the voters seem happy to keep it that way.
Of course, last time around, voters voted for "change," although, nothing did!
Cathy
Posted by: Cathy | July 3, 2009 3:20 PM
