Congress Hard at Work? Not!
Today’s Wall Street Journal has a front-page article featuring an analysis of the significant rise in the cost of Congressional travel. The reporters write:
“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.”
The Journal reports on travel to the Paris Air Show and on behalf of homeland security, however, the most outrageous examples involve travel to exotic locale -- one was a two-week trip to Europe by retiring Rep. Bud Cramer (R-Alabama) “to conclude some issues (he) was working on; the second a trip by Rep. Brian Baird (D-Washington) and four other lawmakers to the Galapagos Islands “to learn about global warming.”
Take a few minutes to read the entire article. Outraged? Then call or write Arlington’s Congressional mandarins:
- Sen. Jim Webb - write or call (202) 224-4024
- Sen. Mark Warner - write or call (202) 224-2023
- Rep. Jim Moran - write or call (202) 225-4376