It took 20 years – and George W. Bush – for federal employees to be allowed to collect frequent flyer miles on official travel. Now members of the U.S. House of Representatives can pay for travel to D.C. themselves, on personal credit cards, collect miles and points and get reimbursed from their House office.
That’s a new change that will give them:
- $172 – $257 per night for lodging while in D.C. (varies by month seasonally)
- $79 daily for meals and incidentals ($59.25 on the first and last days of travel)
They can rent apartments and take partial reimbursement, or stay in hotels at federal employee rates, and earn points and elite status – doing it all on a hotel co-brand or bank transferable points card. And all of a sudden they can be earning 3x or 4x on dining, without coming out of pocket..
—-> https://t.co/XqCsl1l0V4 pic.twitter.com/thUhIZDjXN
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 11, 2023
This was approved in the last (Democratic) Congress and implemented in this one, and is funded out of the Members Representational Allowance. The move is being criticized as a ‘back door pay increase’ and some shade is being thrown at members who oppose an increase in the minimum wage.
The first half of Eddie Murphy’s The Distinguished Gentleman (1992) was the single best movie ever made about politics, and he explains the con:
And yet I think there’s another way to look at it,
- Travel to and from a primary workplace, and meals during regular work, aren’t usually reimbursable for ordinary taxpayers.
- But Members are, effectively, expected to maintain two residents – one in their district and one in D.C. for work.
- And maybe it’s better to have their office cover these expenses than have them rely on donors?
- Otherwise it’s only those who are already wealthy that can afford to become Representatives, or those for whom a Congressional salary minus these expenses is a step up in how much they could otherwise earn (and maybe those aren’t the people you’d want writing laws?).
I’m always a little bit torn between thinking those governing us should remain connecting to those they represent, and experience life in the same way, and believing that they (at least should) have a high opportunity cost of time and that we want them working all the time, actually reading legislation on the plane, etc. and therefore ought to be traveling first class. Surely Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen should be flying first class, at least.
I wonder if it’s the miles that will keep George Santos from resigning?
George Santos goes by at least three or four different names in about as many years.
About who writes the laws, it’s basically coming from party leadership, party leadership’s favorites and their favorite committee staff. In large part this lack of “writing laws” work is why so many of the less experienced House members in particular are big on the media (including social media) and fundraising circus as that is how they get attention and use their time since they have less to do with writing the laws than on voting on laws written by and on behalf of senior party leadership and the leadership’s favorites.
Well I guess it’s better than having them launder money through the congressional post office.
It will be interesting to see what kind of scam George Santos tries to pursue to skim money from this reimbursement arrangement. But he may find himself arrested and being prosecuted such that it gets in the way of his milking the taxpayers as much as he may want.
Members haven’t had a cost of living increase in about 20 years. We should pay them more, not less.
@ DaninMCI — I tend to agree. In the scheme of government “corruption,” this wouldn’t even register. It’s the type of perk that many working people, in all walks of life, can utilize. I see no big problem with it, especially since it doesn’t really cost the government any money.
And, for purely selfish reasons, if Congressmen better understand how credit card loyalty points can help their fellow elites, they’re less likely to do something stupid that strangles this golden goose.
Hopefully George Santos will be enjoying 100% taxpayer-funded room and board in the not-too-distant future.
Santos is pathetic but does provide a needed vote for one group. In any case, for the reasons discussed here, paying legislators a decent salary has been something that has been argued about since the Greeks and Romans. The real problem isn’t penny ante things like this, but the massive legalized corruption post-Citizens United. Elections are expensive and politicians will pander to those who pay for them. (Some won’t, but then find their opponents suddenly outspending them by any amount needed to win.) When a corporation or special interest group has great “freedom of speech” because its massive amounts of money talk louder than individual citizens, we are in trouble.
We are in trouble.
Well, I wasn’t expecting almost the comments to be about George Santos.
The fraud opportunities are endless here. Book a first class ticket that’s refundable and exchange it for economy and expense the first class ticket or take a voucher and pay out of pocket. Make purchases, expense and return purchase. Almost every big company in US when to company cards that they have 100% transparency with and charges on personal cards are scrutinized very closely.
@Meta Fan – that type of activity can easily be audited by a new college graduate/junior woodchuck auditor or a good spreadsheet. I’m sure the US government will have no idea how to do that or any repercussions for mistakenly found misbehavior. After all, it’s only taxpayer money.
Most federal agencies have made this practice illegal for feds with limited exceptions, so of course Congress made an exception for themselves. They are morally bankrupt…..
The Constitution came with privileged treatment for Congresspersons, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that the tradition of these persons being privileged under the law continues in various forms and that they seek to expand their privileges by changing rules to suit their favor.
George Santos and his crooked buddies who ran a suspected Ponzi scheme in Florida
hosted one or more fundraisers on behalf of Trump’s campaign (and maybe also DeSantis), and they were sort of like Trump in exploiting Republican donors and voters by playing on the loyalty of the “loyal flock” in hopes of getting more money to fund their own personal lifestyle.