Power Trips

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Family Trips
House rules on travel companions were skirted — then loosened
WASHINGTON, June 22, 2006 — Members of the House of Representatives and their staffs skirted congressional travel rules about 190 times in a 5½-year period ending in mid-2005 by bringing unauthorized companions on trips bankrolled by private groups, the Center for Public Integrity has found. >>
Poor Form on Senate Guest Disclosure
Travelers' filing doesn't require companion names or expense details
WASHINGTON, June 22, 2006 — Over the course of 5½ years, U.S. senators and their aides reported taking companions on privately financed trips far less often than their counterparts in the House, a study by the Center for Public Integrity found. >>
Unregistered Advocates?
Influential groups sponsoring $20 million in travel not registered to lobby
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2006 — Over the past three years, as Airbus and Boeing have been locked in a bitter fight over each other's government subsidies, an obscure nonprofit has sponsored at least 10 trips for congressional officials to Toulouse, France, where Airbus is headquartered. >>
To Panama and Back
Contractor implicated in Cunningham bribery scandal sponsored 2000 trip for aide
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2006 — In April 2000, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham sent his chief of staff to Panama for what the aide described on his travel disclosure form as "education and research." >>
Abramoff Travel Ties
Disgraced lobbyist's firm, clients sponsored more than a dozen congressional trips
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2006 — Playing a round on Scotland's historic Old Course and watching the Chitimacha Louisiana Open are two very different golfing experiences, but they have one common connection: Jack Abramoff. >>
Ethics Committee Members, Staff Among the Well-Traveled
House legislators mulling rules and their aides took about $1 million in trips
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2006 — In the next few days, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is expected to recommend changes to the chamber's rules on privately sponsored travel, including measures that could strengthen disclosure requirements and close loopholes used by lobbyists. >>
Flouting the Rule on Lobbyist-Paid Travel
Review finds at least 90 apparent ethics violations
WASHINGTON, June 12, 2006 — It's a cardinal rule in Congress: Lawmakers and their staffers may not take travel paid by registered lobbyists or lobbying firms. The intention is to keep professional influence-peddlers from gaining special access to lawmakers. >>
Lobbyists Tag Along on Civil Rights Tour
Alabama pilgrimage also provides chance to mingle with lawmakers
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2006 — Seven times in the last nine years, the Faith and Politics Institute has taken a congressional contingent on what it calls a "civil rights pilgrimage" to Alabama. >>
So Much Travel in So Little Time
Former DeLay staffer racked up $85,000 in travel in 26 months
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2006 — As chief of staff to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Susan Hirschmann spent months away from Capitol Hill, visiting exotic international locales while conferring with heads of state and staying at oceanside resorts — most of the time with her lobbyist husband in tow. >>
Special Report
Privately Sponsored Trips Hot Tickets on Capitol Hill
Study finds almost $50 million spent on travel for lawmakers, aides
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2006 — Over a 5½-year period ending in 2005, members of Congress and their aides took at least 23,000 trips — valued at almost $50 million — financed by private sponsors, many of them corporations, trade associations and nonprofit groups with business on Capitol Hill. >>
Top Gun of Travel
Spy plane's maker spent roughly $660,000, targeted legislators' aides
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2006 — Among the top corporate sponsors of congressional trips is a little-known California defense contractor that far outspent its industry competitors on travel for more than five years — and that in 2005 landed promises of billions of dollars in federal business. >>
Rangel Trip Raises Ethics Questions
N.Y. legislator's first filing didn't disclose Cuban government as sponsor
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2006 — Four years after taking a privately funded trip to Cuba with his wife and son, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., has acknowledged a violation of House ethics rules and reimbursed two of the trip sponsors. >>
Who Are the Top Travelers?
WASHINGTON, June 5, 2006 — Measured in both dollars and number of trips, members of the House and their aides made more extensive use of privately sponsored travel than their counterparts in the Senate from January 2000 through June 2005. >>