October 7, 2004

Study reveals abuse of Congressional travel

By Wendy Leopold

Luxury resorts. Private jets. A trip to the Wimbledon finals. These are just a few of the perks enjoyed by members of Congress — with the tab picked up by outside interests jockeying for influence.

In the last four and a half years, members of Congress have taken more than 4,800 trips funded by private groups at a price tag of $14.4 million, according to an investigation by Northwestern’s Medill News Service in partnership with American Public Media’s Marketplace evening business radio program and its national documentary unit, American RadioWorks.

The investigation culminated in “Power Trips: Congress Hits the Road,” a series of radio broadcasts and newspaper reports examining the little-publicized rule allowing U.S. representatives and senators to take privately funded trips — and the lack of enforcement of the rules. “Power Trips” puts the spotlight on some of Congress’ most frequent flyers and the groups that most often fund them.

The reports are the result of a four-month investigation by a team of graduate students from Medill School of Journalism under the direction of assistant dean and Medill News Service co-director Ellen Shearer with Steve Henn of American RadioWorks. Together, they built a navigable database including every travel disclosure form for privately funded trips filed by Congress members from Jan. 1, 2000, through June 30, 2004.

According to the reports, Senate and House members since 2000 have accepted about 200 trips worth $400,000 without disclosing where they went, and another 31 trips worth about $66,000 without disclosing who paid for them.

Members of the public can examine the records of their own — or all — Congress members by visiting the Web-based database at www.americanradioworks.org/features/congtravel or www.medillnewsdc.com.