(ABC) Report: Members of Congress on Power Trips (~ $50 million)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/06/report_members_.html

Report: Members of Congress on Power Trips


Members of Congress and their aides have taken nearly 23,000 privately sponsored trips at a cost of almost $50 million, according to a new report to be released today by the Center for Public Integrity. Destinations included vacation hotspots such as Paris, Italy and Hawaii. This exhaustive study covers a five-and-a-half-a-year period ending in 2005.

While it is illegal for lobbyists to pay for trips, anyone else can legally foot the bill, including companies and organizations with business before Congress. The costs can add up.

Five current and former members of Congress and their aides took trips totaling over $400,000 in the five-and-a-half-year period the study covered. Those five are Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH), Rep. WJ Tauzin (R-LA) and Rep. Don Young (R-AK).

The most expensive trip, costing over $30,000, took Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-VA) and his wife to London courtesy of Brown & Williamson Tobacco. The stated purpose of that trip was for meetings with senior management of British American Tobacco and others.