Taxpayers and Private Groups Pay for Congress's Globe-trotting Over Memorial Day

While many Americans watched their wallets, several dozen members of Congress used the Memorial Day recess to travel overseas to places including Rome, Venice, and Athens without digging into their own. At least 73 lawmakers traveled abroad that week, many with spouses in tow, a U.S. News review found. The largest contingent was 17 members of Congress ensconced for five nights in the $480-a-night Rome Cavalieri Hilton, courtesy of the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit group famous for transporting lawmakers to chic destinations, ranging from the Grand Cayman Islands to Istanbul, for in-depth looks at foreign policy and other issues.

The Aspen Institute brought the lawmakers to Rome for a seminar called "Political Islam: Challenges for U.S. Policy." But it wasn't just the members of Congress who benefited, at no cost to themselves, since all but one brought along a spouse or child. Trips for two soared as high as $20,120, and the bottom line for members and their companions rose to nearly $263,000, according to disclosure reports.

Nine Democrats were on the Rome trip: Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Rush Holt of New Jersey, Nita Lowey of New York, and Howard Berman, Susan Davis, George Miller, and Henry Waxman, all of California. Eight Republicans also were on board: Sens. Robert Bennett of Utah, Richard Lugar of Indiana, and George Voinovich of Ohio and Reps. Charles Boustany of Louisiana, Geoffrey Davis of Kentucky, John Duncan of Tennessee, Fred Upton of Michigan, and Greg Walden of Oregon. All but Bingaman brought one relative, most often a spouse; Blumenauer took a son. Three members, Lowey, Miller and Upton, extended the trip to Italy at their own expense. Aspen, which has been holding such conferences for lawmakers since 1983 and now puts on about five a year, marks a milestone in August with its 100th conference in Paris, according to Dick Clark, who directs the Aspen Congressional Program. Those meetings will probe the cultural and ideological aspects of Islam.

Although "recess" isn't the official term anymore, the globe-trotting during Memorial Day weekend debunks the idea that members are at home during the break. The Senate called the week a "state work period," and the House used the term "district work period." Several lawmakers ventured into war zones, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, or to strategic locations, such as Pakistan, which Congress watchers don't question. But they raise flags when members travel to picture-perfect places such as Italy, Greece, and the arctic reaches of Norway, as they did over Memorial Day. Taxpayers paid for 70 percent of the trips, which whisked lawmakers to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America.

Ten lawmakers went on a weeklong, taxpayer-paid trip from May 23 to 30 for meetings of the Transatlantic Legislators' Dialogue in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with subsequent stops—and la dolce vita—in Venice and Naples. The dialogue unites lawmakers with peers from the European Parliament. Seven in the U.S. delegation had a spouse along, says Lynne Weil, spokeswoman for the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The group was rounded out by six aides and the House chaplain, according to reports on official foreign travel, which do not list accompanying spouses. The reported costs were $53,992, a figure that understates the bottom line since most lawmakers flew on military planes and the Pentagon refuses to release details such as the aircraft, manifest, and estimated cost. Spouses fly free aboard such flights, Weil says. A draft itinerary leaked to the Washington Post showed the lawmakers were to visit a Slovenian castle, dine near Naples at a Michelin two-star restaurant, and, at their own expense, take in opera in Venice. The group was led by House Democrat Shelley Berkley of Nevada. Her spokesman, David Cherry, confirmed the outings but stressed the business at hand: from a wreath laying at a U.S. air base to discussions on topics including climate change, energy, trade, port security, Iraq, Iran, and Afghanistan. Berkley, in a statement to U.S. News, said the dialogue was a forum for U.S. and European allies "to learn from one another and build even stronger ties."

Berkley, along with Reps. Russ Carnahan of Missouri, Phil Gingrey of Georgia, Cliff Stearns of Florida, Joe Barton of Texas, and Gary Ackerman and Steve Israel of New York, all brought spouses. Reps. Eliot Engel of New York, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, and Loretta Sanchez of California traveled solo.

From May 25 to 31, four House lawmakers journeyed to Oslo and scenic Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago of pristine arctic wilderness studded with mountains and glaciers, at the expense of sponsors including the nonprofit International Management and Development Institute. Reps. Rick Boucher of Virginia and his wife, Henry Johnson of Georgia and an aide, Mark Souder of Indiana and a son, and Deborah Pryce of Ohio and a sister all took the trip. Topics for the weeklong U.S.-Norwegian Congressional Roundtable included climate change and energy. The tab was $71,358. Johnson, in a statement to U.S. News, called global warming a pre-eminent issue and noted that he saw widespread thawing "occurring much more rapidly than a decade ago." Pryce, who is leaving Congress after this term, had no comment on the trip. "You've seen the disclosure statement? That kind of speaks for itself," says Rob Nichols, her spokesman.

Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland flew to Athens for three nights for ceremonies honoring his father, former Sen. Paul Sarbanes, and met with Greek officials. The Constantinos Karamanlis Institute for Democracy paid costs of $7,811 for Representative Sarbanes, who spent time with relatives in Greece at his own expense. He noted in a statement to U.S. News that he is Greek-American and belongs to the congressional Hellenic Caucus and added: "Though it packed a lot into a few days, this was a unique opportunity to meet with a range of high-level officials to gain their perspective and insights."

Tougher rules now govern travel after an uproar over disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who ferried a few lawmakers to golf trips at the famed St Andrews Links in Scotland several years ago. Chief among the changes is that lobbyists, or firms that employ them, can't plan anything but the shortest trips. The Senate makes an exception for charities with lobbyists, as does the House for colleges and universities that retain them. Amid the new rules, an irony has emerged. While more sunlight streams into travel paid for by outsiders, like Aspen, there is comparatively less divulged when taxpayers foot the bill.

Two areas generally shielded are the cost of using military planes and that of bringing lawmakers' spouses on military flights. At the Department of Defense, spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Maka was asked for details on the "codels" (congressional delegation travel) for the Memorial Day period, including the Italy and Slovenia trip. He refused. "As a matter of practice, the department does not release the specifics of congressional delegation travel," he says.

At Public Citizen, a watchdog group, Craig Holman applauds the tighter restrictions on travel that took effect in 2007, especially the curbs on the influence of lobbyists. But he laments the limited disclosure made when lawmakers travel on the public dime. "A lot of these trips are educational," he says, but "we don't have a clue what goes on during those trips and how much (actually) is being spent." How many went abroad in late May is unclear, as reports still are trickling in, though current reports show that Democrats took nearly two thirds of the known trips.

The Aspen Congressional Program vastly outpaced other outside groups in footing the bill for congressional travel, spending nearly $5 million since 2000, according to figures compiled by Congressional Quarterly's MoneyLine. Lawmakers praise Aspen, but some acknowledge concern over how outsiders view lavish freebies. "Do I worry about perception? Sure," says one lawmaker who has taken part in Aspen conferences and spoke anonymously to be candid. "There's no question there've been boondoggles in the past...embarrassing abuses of congressional privilege." He once floated the idea that Aspen convene a congressional conference in a national park lodge rather than at a lavish foreign destination but was shot down. One reason is that the Senate rules limit such domestic trips to three days and foreign trips to seven days, not including travel. Another reason is Aspen's first two conferences on Maryland's Eastern Shore "were a disaster," Aspen's Clark says. "People came late, canceled, went back early, were on the phone all the time."

Clark, a one-term Democratic senator from Iowa during the 1970s, says many spouses sit in on all the meetings and points to tangible results emerging from his conferences, such as No Child Left Behind education reforms and the landmark Nunn-Lugar program to rid the former Soviet Union of "loose nukes." As for the swank accommodations, he admits, "It's true, I don't take people to Holiday Inns." At Common Cause, a watchdog group, spokesman Michael Surrusco said while Aspen conferences are regarded as substantive, "a reasonable person is right to wonder if it is really necessary that a member and his wife get a $20,000 week in Rome in order to deal with this particular topic. Is it appropriate, is it necessary, is it directly germane to the work they are doing?"

House Democrat Rush Holt of New Jersey, who went to Rome, defends the program and says the conferences are so good that he's learned more from them than from official travel to Islamic countries. "Our day-to-day life in Congress is broken into 15-minute segments, 12 hours a day, so the program is among the best opportunities we have to delve into subjects," he says. "They are one of few opportunities we have for deliberative, substantive, bipartisan looks at important subjects."

Voinovich, the Ohio senator, echoes Holt in calling Aspen conferences "extremely helpful." Not only did he take his wife to Rome, but the two also enjoyed a tropical destination this spring. The couple joined seven other lawmakers March 24, the day after Easter, for a five-day conference courtesy of Aspen on the Hawaiian island of Lanai. The setting was a sumptuous Four Seasons resort, the Lodge at Koele, and the sessions explored U.S.-China relations. All but one of the eight lawmakers took their spouses to the Aloha State.

A new trend among average people is a "staycation," or sticking close to home. In June, for example, the percentage of Americans who planned a vacation within six months fell to 36 percent, the lowest since the question first was asked in 1978, says the Conference Board, a not-for-profit research organization. No one would call the Aspen conferences "vacations," though the settings certainly fit the bill. Give or take, Clark expects 15 members of Congress in Paris once August rolls around, though, for now, he's mum on just who's coming.

-With Jennifer O'Shea