Congress Having a Party, On Us

Under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, members of Congress have increased their foreign travel expenses by over 50% since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006. Democrats as well as Republicans are guilty of wasting our money on these junkets, but the higher profile, more expensive trips certainly seem to be taken by Dems.

Pelosi herself led a delegation of Dems to Afghanistan this past February. They spent less than a day on the ground in Kabul, before flying home. Prior to getting to Kabul, the group made an 8 day rest stop in Italy, where she and her bunch of thieves racked up almost $58,000 in hotel and meal bills - all paid for by the US taxpayers. This doesn't include the cost of the USAF planes and personnel that had to serve as taxis for the trip.

Sen. Daniel Inhouye (D-HI) took half a dozen Senators and their spouses on a junket to the Paris Air Show this year. They flew on a USAF 737 transport plane ($5700 an hour to operate). They stayed at a $460 per room per night hotel in Paris during the trip. They had a dinner party at the US embassy, and a cocktail party at the Eiffel Tower. All of it was paid for by the taxpayer. What exactly this trip was supposed to accomplish is not clear.

The cost of flying a small group of lawmakers overseas (on a G-20 class aircraft) is about $150,000. Larger groups use the USAF version of the 757, which costs $12,000 a hour to operate.

How dare these people tell us that we have to sacrifice to help the country out of the recession. How dare they raise our taxes, just to throw money away in activity like this. Democrat, Republican - I don't care - these thieves ought to be thrown in jail.

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal for shedding light on this.