Posted on 05/18/2014 11:11:29 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
Members of Congress fly across the country continually for business, but a new bill would keep them from spending taxpayer money on first-class seats.
The "If Our Military Has to Fly Coach Then So Should Congress Act" was recently introduced by Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.), with his colleagues Reps. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and John Barrow (D-Ga.).
The bill is aimed at cutting "waste, fraud and abuse," according to a statement by Rep. Gosar. "Members of Congress should not be using taxpayers' hard-earned money to buy luxury airline seats. If members of our military can't fly first class using taxpayer funds, neither should members of Congress," Gosar said.
Each member of Congress receives an average of $256,574 as a base allowance for travel, according to the Congressional Research Service, which would not be affected by the bill. The bill would instead prohibit members of Congress from using that allowance on first-class travel,according to ABC News.
Politicians would still be able to use their numerous frequent flier miles to upgrade their seats as well.
They are our employees!!
I worked in DC for an extended period, commuting home on the weekends.
My experience: Representatives (from the House) flew coach. Senators flew first-class, along with their aides.
Senators got special treatment, too. I happened to be upgraded to first class, and noticed that the seat across the aisle from me remained empty after everyone appeared to be on board. It was interesting, because I knew there were still people wait-listed for an upgrade.
Normally, the next person on the upgrade wait-list gets an upgrade and changes seats, so they can give that coach seat to the next person on the standby list (which was long, as this was a full flight). This wasn’t happening.
Just before the door closed, a Senator slipped onto the plane and sat down to the aide that had already boarded.
In contrast, Representatives get paged over the terminal public address. I recognized their names from districts near me.
How about they stay in their district? Only allow them to spend 90-120 days a year in DC in a designated condo location. They can use Skype or go to meeting like the rest of us.
Personally, I think congresscritters should stay in their home district and teleconference everything.
But then they wouldn’t get to go to as many cocktail parties and expensive dinners paid for with other people’s money.
Are they kidding? A quarter of a million dollars each year to every congressman to cover travel costs???? That's like $134,000,000 a year JUST for travel expenses. Is this supposed to cover all their staff too? And does every political person who works for the White House or the congress get this too? No fricking wonder our country is in such sad shape.....talk about elitist...talk about the opportunity for fraud waste and abuse.
I was flying home from a trip to DC a few years ago, and both Florida senators were on the plane. Rubio was in coach (across the isle from me) along with his staff, and Bill Nelson was flying first class.
Enough said.
Coach? The bastards should have to take Amtrak or Greyhound/Trailways everywhere they go.
We're not overweight, we're undertall. ;-)
I vote horse and buggy!
BTTT
Congress to be exempt of course.
Wait a minute. These jerks get a quarter of a million dollars a year for travel which is NOT affected by this bill.
How is this saving money? If they use their allowance on first class tickets, they just get less flights per year. They are still burning up a quarter of a million dollars a year.
Smoke and mirrors.
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