Junket Junkies
Congress's Travel Tab Swells
"WASHINGTON -- 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."
Got that?
The preening blowhards are so accustomed to flitting off to a resort in the Virgin Islands and calling it a symposium or some crap, that when open bribery from lobbyists was deemed unsavory they just forwarded the bills to you and me.
"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."
They want us to believe all this luxurious travel on a paris river cruise or to see the Galapagos iguanas helps them do their jobs better.
In reality they genuinely believe that as our privileged elite they deserve this lavish lifestyle. On our dime.
"WASHINGTON -- 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."
Got that?
The preening blowhards are so accustomed to flitting off to a resort in the Virgin Islands and calling it a symposium or some crap, that when open bribery from lobbyists was deemed unsavory they just forwarded the bills to you and me.
"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."
They want us to believe all this luxurious travel on a paris river cruise or to see the Galapagos iguanas helps them do their jobs better.
In reality they genuinely believe that as our privileged elite they deserve this lavish lifestyle. On our dime.
posted by nolocontendere at 6:19 AM
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