17,000 free trips show how lobbyists flout congressional ethics rules
Story by Adriana Navarro, Caley Fox Shannon, Taylor Nichols and Heidi Przybyla • 23h •
In 2007, after one of the biggest scandals in K Street history, Congress cracked down on lobbyists’ ability to wine and dine lawmakers and aides with a host of reforms — including limits on extravagant, all-expenses-paid trips.
In the nearly two decades since, the influence industry has blown a hole through those rules, according to a new analysis of House travel disclosure data by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland in partnership with POLITICO. U.S. representatives and their staff have taken at least 17,000 trips since 2012 that were paid for by private parties, many of them nonprofits with deep ties to lobbyists and special interests.
Leading the way is the nonprofit Congressional Institute: Between 2012 and 2023, Capitol Hill staff members and one lawmaker took more than 4,200 trips on the institute’s dime. Run by veteran Republican staffers, the institute is funded by $3 million in annual dues from private interest groups such as Business Roundtable and the American Hospital Association. The overwhelming majority of the trips were taken by GOP staff, according to the data, which found just one example of a Democrat attendee.
Congressional travel rules generally bar lobbyists from playing a significant role in organizing or participating in trips sponsored by corporate entities. Such free trips are limited to no more than one day, with few exceptions.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/17-000-free-trips-show-how-lobbyists-flout-congressional-ethics-rules/ar-AA1qZmRB?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=625cae2521f540d1bcd75e9a25f0bce9&ei=163
