http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704323704575461913267776270.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond
The American taxpayer would really like an accounting of why so many of these trips are seen as necessary and why they should have to foot the bill for the needed personal entourage of the traveling elite.
I think we'd like a tally of the total amount spent per year for the travel stipends to.
Congressional investigators are questioning a half-dozen lawmakers for possibly misspending government funds meant to pay for overseas travel, according to people familiar with the matter.
The investigation follows a Wall Street Journal article in March that said lawmakers had used daily cash stipends, meant to cover certain costs of official government travel overseas, to cover expenses that appeared to be unauthorized by House rules. An independent ethics board has referred the matter to the House ethics committee.
Some lawmakers said it has been a longstanding custom of lawmakers in both parties to keep any extra money. If lawmakers weren't allowed to keep leftover travel funds, "you could never get many members traveling," said Mr. Ortiz, the Texas Democrat, in an interview earlier this year.
