MEDILL NEWS SERVICE > Power Trips: Congress hits the road

Democrats Dominate Top 10 Traveler List
By DALIA HATUQA and MEGHAN STREIT
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON - Although there were more Republicans than Democrats in Congress this year, Democrats were in the majority in one area - as the top beneficiaries of trips paid for by private sponsors.

Six Democratic members of Congress were on the top 10 list for the total value of the trips they accepted in the first eight months of 2006, according to analysis of travel reports by Medill News Service. Their trips - to places as far from Capitol Hill as Istanbul, Turkey, and as near as Baltimore - totaled $157,000.

The four Republicans on the top 10 list accepted trips worth a total of more than $104,000 during the same period.

Democratic dominance of the top 10 is not new: Since 2000, Democrats have held sway among the top 10 travelers in all but 2001 and 2005. But that may change in January. After winning control of the Senate and House in the November elections, Democrats say they want Congress to clean up its act. The cleaning spree could curtail privately funded travel, especially from lobbyists or organizations that hire lobbyists.

Members of Congress and their aides have taken nearly 26,000 trips worth $54.8 million from Jan. 1, 2000 through mid-August 2006, according to the Medill News Service analysis.

However, the amount of travel has dropped significantly this year following the guilty plea of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who admitted to bribing members of Congress, in part through use of lavish travel. A comparison of travel in March 2005 to March 2006 shows a drop from almost $2.4 million to $70,000.

Collectively, Democratic lawmakers accepted trips worth more money in each of the years from 2000 through mid-August 2006 than did the GOP members.

But, when staff members are included in the overall totals for privately sponsored travel, Republicans have the edge.

Including staff trips, Capitol Hill Republicans have accepted more than 15,000 trips worth an estimated $30 million from private interests since Jan. 1, 2000. Approximately 4,100 Republicans elected officials and staff members took at least one in the last six years.

In comparison, some 2,900 Democratic lawmakers and staff accepted more than 10,600 trips worth nearly $24 million.

Republicans cite two reasons for the higher overall numbers: There are more GOP members and aides and, until the November elections cost them majorities in the House and Senate, their party controlled committee staffs, whose travel was counted in their respective chairmen's totals.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., leads the Democratic members of Congress in the total value of travel paid for by third parties since the beginning of 2000 -- 46 trips costing almost $187,000. Miller, a confidant of House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, took trips worth more than $23,000 in 2006.

The Aspen Institute, a public policy think tank that is the top private sponsor of congressional travel, paid for 25 of Miller's trips. Miller, who is slated to chair the House Education and Workforce Committee, traveled to China, Jamaica, Russia and the Cayman Islands. He took his spouse on 20 of the trips.

Miller took six Aspen-sponsored trips focused on relations with Russia and four more dealing with U.S.-China relations. The institute also financed trips considering energy and environmental issues. "The purpose is to develop a cadre of people who keep up with the issue," said Dick Clark, director of the Aspen Institute's congressional program. "We don't invite somebody and write that off…These issues change every year."

The Aspen Institute gatherings are valuable because they are removed from Washington's highly partisan atmosphere and include a variety of experts, a spokesman for Miller said.

"The trip enables substantive conversations between Republicans and Democrats … because you are in a private setting," Daniel Weiss said.

"Miller not only participates in the foreign travel, but he attends many of their 8 a.m.

breakfast seminars on Capitol Hill where Aspen keeps these conversations going," he added.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who is outgoing chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has accepted trips of more value than any lawmaker from either party. From 2000 through mid-August 2006, private sponsors sent Sensenbrenner, often accompanied by his wife, Cheryl, on 22 trips worth more than $193,000. During this period, Sensenbrenner visited Tokyo twice, Las Vegas three times and Paris and San Francisco each twice.

Sensenbrenner's most expensive trip was a Middle Eastern excursion to Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to investigate money laundering. The Islamic Institute picked up the $18,000 tab for that five-day trip.

The Transatlantic Policy Network, a group that fosters partnerships between the U.S. and European Union governments, sponsored the Sensenbrenners' trip to Paris and Brussels in 2004. The week-long getaway cost $16,500.

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana was second on the list of top-traveling Republicans. The chairman of the Foreign Relations committee has taken 38 trips since 2000, costing private sponsors more than $188,000.

Like the Democrat Miller, the Aspen Institute paid for most of Lugar's travel, including annual retreats to Punta Mita, a luxurious spot on the Mexican coast. Three of his trips to Mexico involved discussions of U.S. relations with Latin America. One was to talk about Chinese relations and another was to learn about Islam.

"I have counted on these programs to find co-sponsors for significant legislation and to hear hundreds of arguments delivered over a similar number of hours by persons in both houses and parties, so that I was able to identify potential allies in forwarding legislation and programs," Lugar said.

Aspen's Clark said the institute has good reasons for sending lawmakers to far off locations. The only way to get a conggressman's attention for Aspen's issues in a bipartisan forum is "to take them outside the country," he said.

"If you try and do it on the Hill during the day, it's a complete flop," Clark said.

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