Pentagon officials are bracing for a fight with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over her desire to allow lawmakers’ adult children to tag along on taxpayer-funded travel for free.

Pelosi wants them to be able to fill the role of lawmakers’ spouses when the latter are unable to make a trip because of health issues or work commitments.

“It has been longstanding policy that, in the absence of a congressional spouse, the adult child of a member of Congress may accompany the member on official U.S. government travel abroad for protocol reasons and without reimbursing the U.S.

Treasury,” Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said. “Speaker Pelosi believes that a modern policy must reflect the professional responsibilities or health realities that might prevent a spouse from participating, and instead permit an adult child to fulfill the protocol needs of the official trip.”

Pentagon officials say the policy is that the Treasury must be reimbursed at commercial rates for children who accompany members on such trips, often called codels.

But taxpayer watchdog groups and ethics advocates said they were surprised Pelosi would seek more perks for members.

“One of the things she was praised for when she came in was her sweeping reforms on gifts and travel,” said Craig Holman of Public Citizen. “It is very disheartening if she is, in fact, backsliding on this.”

Public Citizen filed a complaint with the IRS last year, saying that family members who receive free travel by accompanying lawmakers should pay taxes on the travel’s value. The complaint focused on privately sponsored travel, but Holman said it should apply to taxpayer-funded travel as well.

Chicago congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law-enforcement sources said. Davis' seven-day trip came under scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to aid the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.

Davis said he believed that the trip, from March 30 to April 5, 2005, was paid for by the Tamil federation, which in accordance with congressional ethics rules sent him a written statement of the travel expenses, more than $7,000 each for Davis and his aide, Daniel Cantrell. Davis said he knew that the group was "associated" with the Tamil Tigers but did not realize that the trip's costs were covered with funds controlled by the rebel group. ... Davis said he always assumed that the organization had a connection with the Tamil Tigers. "I knew that they were associated with the Tamil Tigers, yes," he said.

Lieberman and his staff took 130 trips, more than twice as many as any other member of the Connecticut delegation [between January 2000 to June 2005, according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity], with private interests footing the $119,000 bill.

U.S. Reps. Christopher Shays, D-4th Dist., and John Larson, D-1st Dist., took $81,000 and $66,000 respectively in trips. That's more than U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, who accepted $62,000 in trips.

U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd Dist., and Rob Simmons, R-2nd Dist., accepted less than $50,000 in privately funded travel.

Even if it's for business, few members of Congress travel to undesirable locations, said Sam Stein, a spokesman for the Center for Public Integrity.

"How many of these trips are to the Sudan and how many are to Paris?" Stein said. "Fact-finding missions primarily seem to be in vacation spots."

NOTE: The article incorrectly labels Rep. Shays as a Democrat, when in fact, he is a Republican.

Congressman John Tierney has taken nearly $50,000 worth of privately funded trips in the past five years, including two visits to Cancun, Mexico, a Valentine's Day stay in Jamaica and a 2005 trip to China that was among the most expensive taken by a member of Congress.

Five of the seven trips were funded by the nonprofit Aspen Institute, which paid for travel, lodging and meals for both Tierney and his wife, Patrice. The institute flew the Tierneys to Mexico and Jamaica for conferences on education, to Finland for a conference on political Islam and to China for a conference on U.S.-China relations.

Tierney was hardly the only member of Congress to visit exotic locations on someone else's dime. According to a Center for Public Integrity report released this week, the average member of Congress has taken $70,000 in privately funded trips in the past five years, with some legislators going on dozens of trips worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Congressman Barney Frank topped the Massachusetts delegation, taking trips worth more than $125,000 since 2000.

One of Tierney's trips was particularly notable, however. A weeklong trip to China last year cost more than $20,000, making it the seventh most-expensive trip taken by any member of Congress that year, according to Political Money Line, a nonprofit group that tracks money in politics. It was also the most expensive trip taken by any single Massachusetts representative in the past five years.

Rick Barton, John Tierney's Republican challenger in this years election, calls the trips "suspicious."

"The timing of a couple of these trips is a little bit unusual," Barton said. "Cancun on spring break and Montego Bay on Valentine's Day. ... I'm just puzzled as to why a conference on education reform needs to take place in a tropical resort."

McNally insists that Tierney is "abundantly cautious" in choosing any trips, and noted that the Aspen Institute dubs itself a non-partisan think tank. Considering the Aspen Institute is the number one sponsor of trips taken by Democrats, it's no wonder Tierney and rest of his party specifically excluded non-profits from their reform package.

Following the initial story, John Tierney had to go on defense over these trips. In a follow up story, Tierney cited the sponsors "non-partisan" nature.

Tierney noted that the Aspen Institute accepts no money from lobbyists, corporations or individuals and invites both Democrats and Republicans to its conferences.

"You think you could really get Democrats and Republicans to go somewhere that's biased?" Tierney asked.

However, the Aspen Institutes sponsors trips for a significantly larger number of Democrats than Republicans. Nearly 70% of what the Aspen Institute spends for these trips goes to Democrats. Rick Barton also questioned the alleged unbiased nature of the group.

But Barton questioned the institute's unbiased nature, noting that its board of trustees includes registered lobbyists and its conferences involve more Democrats than Republicans. And Barton said that whatever the true nature of the trips, they create an appearance of impropriety.

But Tierney's travel issues don't end there.

Tierney said he chooses trips that are relevant to his work in Congress. He attended three Aspen conferences on education reform because he serves on the House Education Committee. He also attended a conference in Finland on political Islam — the conference was originally meant to take place in Turkey — which he said was relevant to his work on the Intelligence Committee. As for his trip to China last year, Tierney said it covered a variety of issues, including education, trade, security and human rights.

The Finland trip on political Islam he attended, which he claimed was relevant to his work on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), took place June 27, 2003 to July 3, 2003... John Tierney was not put on that committee until January 26, 2005.

Tierney also takes an disproportionate number of free trips compared to his power rank in Congress.

According to AmericanRadioWorks, John Tierney ranks an impressive 132 out of 638 for Congressional privately-funded travel. Yet, he ranks a dismal 323 out of 438 for Congressional power.

There is plenty of questionable activity going on with John Tierney. Between taking a huge amount in free trips despite his lack of power, especially such trips like Cancun during spring break and Montego Bay on Valentine's Day with his wife, and being caught lying about his trip to Helsinki, Finland for work on a committee he was not on at the time, Tierney has some explaining to do.

Congress’ crackdown on lobbyist gifts and junkets hasn’t clipped the wings of several members of the Bay State delegation and their staffs, who flew free of charge this year on several purported business trips paid for by special-interest groups, a Herald review found.

These groups have shelled out nearly $17,000 this year to shuttle Bay State lawmakers, their wives and aides to meetings in vacation hot spots such as Fort Lauderdale, San Diego and a beachfront resort in Mexico, according to congressional travel documents.

News of the lawmakers’ junkets comes as Congress scrutinizes special interest and lobbyist gifts in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal. Abramoff, a Brandeis graduate, has pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery after showering Washington lawmakers with gifts including trips and meals. All of the trips taken by the Bay State lawmakers were reported in gift and travel filings required under Congress’ ethics rules.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Malden) landed the sweetest deal, escaping the January cold with his wife, Dr. Susan Blumenthal, to a resort in Punta Mita, Mexico. The nonprofit Aspen Institute footed the $7,800 bill for the couple’s all-inclusive week in the tropical vacation spot just south of Puerto Vallarta.

Several other members of Congress and their spouses made the trip with Markey and his wife, including Rep. Norman Dicks (D-Wash.), and California Democratic representatives George Miller, Sam Farr and Susan Davis.

Of course, Democrats always have an excuse...

A Markey spokeswoman noted that “no lobbyist, congressional staff or outside observers are permitted” at the Aspen Institute conference in Mexico. The institute is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

Rep. William Delahunt (D-Quincy) also escaped the winter doldrums, taking a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip to San Diego in February courtesy of the German Marshall Fund, a nonprofit think tank. The group plunked down $1,575 for the congressman’s hotel, $1,181 for his flight and $384 for meals, congressional records show.

Delahunt spokesman Steven Broderick said the San Diego trip involved meetings with German lawmakers and were part of Delahunt’s duties as chair of Congress’ German study group.

“The trip to San Diego was in keeping with that responsibility,” Broderick said.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) has taken three special-interest-funded junkets this year, including a four-day trip in February to Los Angeles paid for by the Retirement Housing Foundation and a two-day jaunt to Philadelphia funded by the National Constitutional Center. Frank also traveled to Fort Lauderdale for two days last month, courtesy of the Family Pride Coalition. The group is a nonprofit group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents and families.

Frank spokesman Steve Adamske said the congressman does not accept corporate-sponsored private jets or travel, nor does he accept payment for speaking engagements. He said the special-interest-funded trips were appropriate because they “reduce the impact on the taxpayer.”

Springfield Democrat Richard Neal, meanwhile, took a two-day trip to Miami in January for a summit on estate planning. The $630 flight, hotel and meal tab was paid by megabank Wachovia Corp., records show.

Neal spokesman William Tranghese defended the Miami trip, saying Neal sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax-related issues.

Congressman Martin Meehan, who has not taken any special-interest-funded trips this year, cited the Abramoff scandal last week in calling for tougher lobbying reforms.

HAT TIP: Hub Politics

Freshman Rep. Charles "Charlie" Melancon, D-Napoleonville, has taken $62,000 in trips.

Melancon took six trips, including ones to Napa Valley, Calif., where he discussed California demographics and security, and to Kazakhstan, where he served as an election monitor and linked south Louisiana oil businesses with that nation.

Melancon, a freshman representative, called the trips a good way to avoid becoming entrenched in Washington.

"If I have a concern it's being caught up in the Beltway," he said. "It's important to get out there and understand concerns."

The leading recipient of [privately funded] trips in the Louisiana delegation is U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans. Jefferson’s office racked up about $81,800 worth of trips both home and abroad.

Jefferson himself took six trips, among them excursions to Las Vegas, Qatar and Egypt. On most trips, Jefferson took his wife, Andrea, and he took his two daughters on a speaking engagement to Miami, according to congressional travel disclosure records.

Jefferson defended the travel, saying that the trips were either diplomatic or trade missions. He sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws, and the trade subcommittee.

Jefferson said he would support banning some trips.

"It’s probably good to ban trips to play golf, but to go help the Middle East?" he said.

Jefferson’s legislative director, Todd Metcalf, called the trips "extremely educational." Yeah, I bet they are.

As lawmakers last month scrambled to avoid the fallout of a widening influence-peddling scandal, US Representative Michael E. Capuano of Somerville and his wife went on a $19,403 corporate-sponsored trip to Brazil -- one of the most expensive trips taken by any member of Congress during 2005, according to congressional travel records.

The trip included several lobbyists and representatives of companies that helped finance the nonprofit business organization that sponsored the trip, according to participants.

Congress is considering whether to ban such trips following the scandal surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Capuano defended the trip saying that he has many Brazilian-born constituents in his district, and then blamed Republicans because he felt he would not be able to persuade them to authorize the trip as a government expense taxpayer funded.

Most pathetic was his reaction to the extraordinary cost of the trip:

But Capuano said he might have skipped the trip if he had realized how much it would cost.

''My reaction was the same as yours: What the heck cost so much?" Capuano said. He said he was surprised that his business-class airline seats were so expensive. ''I had no clue," he said. ''I didn't pay for it."

Oh, and apparently he was completely oblivious to the fact that lobbyists were on the trip with him.

Capuano said he was aware lobbyists were on the trip. ''I don't think there is anything wrong with it," he said, adding, ''I know what the times are. These companies do a lot of business in America." The trip by Capuano and his wife ranked as the 14th most expensive privately paid trip taken by any of the 535 members of Congress during 2005, according to an analysis done for The Boston Globe by Political Money Line, a service that tracks money and politicians.

''This is exactly the type of trip that is causing a problem," said Larry Noble, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, when asked about the Capuano trip. ''If it truly was . . . needed for their jobs, then they should be able to" fund it as an official congressional trip ''and explain it to the taxpayers."

I wonder if Nancy considers this part of the culture of corruption?

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said yesterday that a two-day trip to Boston in 2001 to speak before a social organization was paid for by the group and not a lobbying firm as originally reported on a House travel document.

House ethics rules prohibit members from allowing lobbyists to pick up their expenses.

To correct the mistake, Abercrombie said he filed an amended travel report last week listing the social organization — Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts, a patriotic military fraternal organization chartered in 1638 — as the trip's sponsor.

Abercrombie decalred, "My record in office, going back 30 years, reflects my commitment to that approach ... I have acted in good faith at every step in the matter of my trip to Boston. I made no attempt to conceal the facts and voluntarily and on my own initiative brought the issue to the attention of the (House) Ethics Committee."

"The information in the filing erroneously identified the sponsor of the trip," he said. With thirty years in office, I highly doubt this was just a slip. "When questions about the trip were first raised on April 20, my staff reviewed the matter and learned that the Rooney Group had been reimbursed for my air fare by Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts."

Unfortunately for Abercrombie, Melanie Sloan, of the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens For Responsibility and Ethics In Washington, says “[e]ven if Rooney did get reimbursed, the trip would constitute a violation of House rules."

Two members of Greenberg Traurig were also on the trip, which, according to congressional records, was paid for by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, a Malaysian think tank that is believed to receive some funding from the Malaysian government.

And what is Abramoff's connection?

Since early 2001, when Abramoff joined Greenberg Traurig's Washington office -- bringing with him six colleagues and several high-paying clients -- the firm's annual lobbying revenues have soared, exceeding $25 million in 2003 and landing the firm at No. 4 in revenues among all K Street firms.

MORE: Democrats connections to Jack Abramoff...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) filed delinquent reports Friday for three trips she accepted from outside sponsors that were worth $8,580 and occurred as long as seven years ago, according to copies of the documents.

The filing is among hundreds of revisions from members of both parties who have amended missing or incomplete reports as scrutiny of lawmaker travel has intensified.

The most expensive trip was not reported on Pelosi's annual financial disclosure statement or on the travel disclosure form that is required within 30 days of a trip.
...
The unreported trip was a week-long 1999 visit to Taiwan, paid for by the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, for "meetings with government, military and business officials," according to a filing Pelosi signed June 30. The flights cost $3,400 each for Pelosi and her husband. The hotel cost was $940. The sponsor, which has picked up trips for leaders of both parties, paid $300 for meals.

The Hill reported last month,

Many of the 34 lawmakers who participated in the trips given by the Taiwanese groups — the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (CNAIC) and the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) — met with high-ranking government officials while in Taipei. However, CNAIC and CIECA did not declare their lobbying activities with either the Senate’s public-records office or the Justice Department.

Filing the reports late doesn't make the situation any better, according to House ethics rules, "members cannot accept trips paid for by foreign agents."

That includes you, Nancy.

Sen. Dick Durbin ... took four trips paid for by outside interests and has assets of about $900,000, according to annual reports released on Tuesday.
...
Durbin traveled to Hawaii, Italy, India, Bangladesh and South Africa, according to his report. The non-partisan Aspen Institute paid for two trips and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations another and the fourth by the taxpayer-funded Democratic Policy Group. These free trips -- not to be confused with official congressional travel -- are the subject of more intense partisan political scrutiny this year

I wonder if Howard Dean thinks Durbin should go back to Illinois to serve his jail sentence?

Oh, and he was nearly two years late in filing the disclosure forms for that trip:

Click on the image above for a larger version.

[Maxine] Waters, the California Democrat, insisted her late reports were unrelated to DeLay's troubles, and blamed those who paid her way.

"Sometimes they run late because the people who are responsible for inviting you have to get you all the receipts and they are so slow," Waters said.