A total of 110 senators took third-party funded trips between January 2000 and June 2004 at a total cost of $2.4 million, according to an analysis of congressional travel records by Medill News Service in partnership with American Public Media's Marketplace program and American RadioWorks.

Smith went on 14 trips totaling $33,498, while Wyden took 12 trips costing $21,891.

Smith's most expensive trip, to London to give a speech and participate in roundtables sponsored by the Ripon Education Fund, cost nearly $12,000. Ripon is comprised primarily of lobbyists, mainly in the health care, pharmaceutical and financial services industries.

In June 2004, Smith took a $1,700, one-day trip to New York sponsored by the JED Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to reducing adult suicide rates. There would seem to be nothing remarkable about that, except that fact that he spent more than $1,100 on food.

A spokeswoman for Smith, Caroline Espinosa, did not return a call and an e-mail seeking comment.

The Tel Aviv University American Council sponsored Wyden's most expensive trip, a $5,000 fact-finding visit to Israel in December 2003.

Wyden's visit to Israel "brought home the complexity of the conflict in the Middle East," according to Josh Karden, his chief of staff.

"As a member of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Wyden received a first-hand look at how terrorism is dealt with in a place where such attacks are far more commonplace" than in the United States, Karden said.

Wyden gave three speeches over the course of one year to the United Jewish Communities, a collective of more than 100 Jewish philanthropic groups, according to the organization's Web site. The three trips cost a total of nearly $1,900.

"As the senator is of the Jewish faith, it's not surprising that Americans of the Jewish faith are interested in meeting him," Karden said.

He said Wyden complied with Senate rules in his trips and there was "absolutely zero cost to the taxpayer and absolutely no strings attached."

Rep. Greg Walden took nine trips worth $31,759. A week-long fact-finding trip to Japan in March 2002 with his wife cost more than $14,000, nearly half the total value of all of his trips.

Return to Power Trips: Congress hits the road