Congressional Per Diems

While our congressional clowns wax indignant on corporate bonuses, they're pocketing huge per diems; not taxable of course......

The total cost for congressional overseas travel is never made public because the price tag for State Department advance teams and military planes used by lawmakers are folded into much larger budgets. Members of Congress must only report the total per diem reimbursements they receive in cash for hotels, meals and local transport.

They don't have to itemize expenses—a convenient arrangement since most costs are covered by the government or local hosts. Some trips subtract some hotel and meal costs from the per diems, others do not. "The policy is completely inconsistent," one House member told me. Total per diem allowances (per person, including staff) can top $3,000 for a single trip. Unused funds are supposed to be given back to the government, but congressional records show that rarely happens.

It's all part of the "arrogance of D.C.," Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) told me Monday. "These are lucrative payments since many members have zero expenses overseas." After his last government-sponsored trip to Iraq, Mr. Coburn wrote the U.S. Treasury a check for his unused per diem. Not wanting to be dependent on government handlers, he paid for his own trip to the Middle East a couple of years ago. "I learned a lot more on my own than on the government trips I've been on," he says.

You know, I've not been a fan of conservatives shouting down member of congress at these so called town hall meeting. But maybe it's about time these guys were actually scared of the electorate for a change.

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