Lawmakers receive up to $250.00 of tax payer money per day to cover expenses when they travel on official business. The Wall Street Journal reported that lawmakers are keeping the change when they travel on official business. Lawmakers are supposed to return unused cash back to the government. It’s important to remember that when our fat-cat lawmakers travel most of their expenses are covered by local governments in the countries that they are visiting or by the State Department.
“You are all concerned about nickels and dimes, and I’m not,” said Rep. Alcee Hastings (D., Fla.). “You know, in a taxicab in Kazakhstan, I don’t have time to get a receipt—I don’t speak Kazakh.” I guess that it is easy to be nonchalant about money when it’s tax payer money and not your own hard earned cash.
When I travel for work and I incur expenses I am required to turn in receipts to receive reimbursement. I would like to propose that our free spending lawmakers front the cash for travel expenses and be required to turn in receipts to receive reimbursement. Alcee Hastings would be more concerned about nickels and dimes if she was fronting her own cash to cover her expenses while participating in the government travel club.
Cheers!