Do-Nothing Congress Sets Record Travel Vouchers

[Nbadan]

The do-nothing Congress did nothing, worked a total of 109 days in 2012, how could they with all the traveling they did on your and my dime?


One thing the Do-nothing Congress does is travel. In fact, they set a record for travel in August—travel paid for by special interests.

~snip~

The most expensive trip reported was the foundation-sponsored week that Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) and his wife spent in Israel, which cost $30,616, according to travel disclosures. A Palazzo staffer indicated he was amending his disclosure because Continental Airlines is giving him a partial refund.

Rep. John Carter (R-TX) could be in the running for the most expensive trip once Palazzo's travel disclosure form is amended. He reported going on a trip with his wife to Johannesburg, South Africa, and Botswana. The International Conservation Caucus Foundation paid $30,000 for the trip. The two spent more than a week in Africa learning about wildlife and visiting game preserves, among other excursions, the submitted itinerary shows.

Other expensive trips include the nearly $29,000 the Conservation Caucus spent to send Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA.) and his wife on a similar trip to Africa and the week Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) spent in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with his brother, which cost the humanitarian organization CARE about the same.

~snip~

The problem is there is no such thing as a free lunch or free trip.

The Examiner (http://www.examiner.com/economic-policy-in-national/do-nothing-congress-sets-record-for-travel)

Were are the tea baggers?

[Nbadan]

Ron Raul worshipers aren't gonna like this


Rep. Ron Paul hasn’t led his Republican rivals in the polls this election season, but he has led in one category: spending on charter flights.

ABC News and the Center for Responsive Politics have crunched the numbers and you might be surprised to know that the U.S. Congressman that just recently released a tax plan cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget has spent close to $1 million on charter flights.

Paul has far outspent his nearest rival Michele Bachmann, who logged receipts totaling $439,000 on charter fights.

And despite raising vastly more than Paul, Mitt Romney has only spent a third of what Paul has on charter flights: around $300,000 to $400,000.

Link (http://news.yahoo.com/ron-paul-spent-1-million-charter-flights-100238492.html)

[Wild Cobra]

The do-nothing Congress did nothing, worked a total of 109 days in 2012, how could they with all the traveling they did on your and my dime?

Wow...

Already worked 109 in 2012 and you call them a do nothing congress?

That's nothing short of a miracle!

[Nbadan]

Should have said will work...


The Republican House leadership just released the tentative work schedule for the House of Representatives for the next calendar year. It contains only 109 days of actual work. That's for the entire year, folks. That is less than 30 percent of the days a year actually contains. To be fair, it is almost 42 percent of the average number of workdays in a year (in other words, discounting weekend days). But still -- 42 percent?!?

Stated another way, 109 days is one day short of 22 work weeks. There are, in case anyone's forgotten, 52 weeks in a year. This conveniently leaves a whopping 30 weeks off -- 150 work days -- for vacationing and fundraising and campaigning and for all the other things these so-called "public servants" do in their voluminous spare time, instead of the job we are paying them a six-figure income to perform.

This is pathetic. Seriously, we're in the midst of several crises, and the House is going to take an obscene 30 weeks off next year? Majority Leader Eric Cantor, spinning hard, responded thusly: "As with this year, the goal of next year's calendar is to create certainty and productivity in the legislative process, protect committee time and afford members the opportunity to gain valuable input from their constituents at home." For the benefit of the 99 percent who do not speak Washingtonese, I will helpfully translate this into English: "It's an election year, and we've got to raise one whopping pile of campaign contributions by sucking up to the corporations and the wealthy -- and it's really time consuming! Plus, we've got to take our normal month-long vacations every couple of weeks, and we'll be on the campaign trail for all of October -- so you should just be glad we're going to show up in Washington at all. Besides, it's obvious nothing's going to get done for the whole of next year, so why are you complaining?"

Sigh.

When you get down into the details of this problem, it actually gets worse. Congress, at times, magically turns a two-day workweek into a "three-day" workweek, by convening on Tuesday afternoon and heading for the exits before noon on Thursday. That's three calendar days, but for anyone punching a clock, it would only be worth two days' pay.

Nice work if you can get it, eh?

But, as I said, the Democrats aren't all that much better. The last comparable year was 2008, when Democrats controlled the House in a presidential election year. They worked a not-so-impressive 119 days -- one day short of 24 weeks. Not exactly anything to brag about, is it?

But it's still ten days better than the GOP's plan for 2012. And it's a perfectly good political issue to exploit for the House Democrats -- because I'd be willing to guess that 99 percent of Americans would be shocked to learn how little Congress actually works, and also that they'd be outraged if they did hear about it. So it's certainly worth the Democrats' time and effort to point it out.

[Parker2112]

Ron Raul worshipers aren't gonna like this


Link (http://news.yahoo.com/ron-paul-spent-1-million-charter-flights-100238492.html)

If your point is that no lunch is free, then who is paying for Pauls lunch? Cause it damn sure isnt special interests.

Paul has to put much more energy into campaigning/fundraising than the mainstream repubs.

Wake up and think for yourself, rather than having the media think for you.