Free Flights for Members of Congress

from the Best Congress Money Can Buy Blogspot

posted 05/09/07

Air Pelosi Loosens Up Travel Restrictions, Congressman Can Now Accept Flights with Lobbyists If they're "Just Friends"

Led by House Ethics Committee chair Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the House of Representatives on Wednesday unanmiously agreed to loosen strict rules on members' acceptance of free airplane rides that were adopted when Democrats took over Congress in January.

The measure, adopted on a May 2 voice vote minutes before the House of Representatives adjourned at 11:59 p.m., was labeled as an effort to "clarify certain matters relating to official conduct" of the House of Representatives. The change stipulated that members of Congress can fly their own airplanes on official business as well as accept "personal use of an aircraft ... that is supplied by an individual on the basis of personal friendship."

"As long as you call a lobbyist your personal friend, it is apparently OK," says Sloan, who believes the ethics enforcement process is crippled because only members of Congress can file complaints against their colleagues. "I don't see a member filing a complaint against another member for flying on someone's plane, saying they are not really friends."

For those keeping score, this means the Air Pelosi Congress in the first four months has:

• Tried to exempt a business in Pelosi's home district from new minimum wage increases.
• Tried to score a full-size 757 Air Force 2 for the Speaker's personal use.
• Sold access to committee chairmen in exchange for donations to the DNC
• Added $24 Billion in special interest pork to a bill that was supposed to fund our soldiers in Iraq.
• Sent a delegation of congressmen, mostly Democrats but also some moderate Republicans, to a luxurious Caribbean resort for "fact-finding."
• Earmarked a Water Bill to subsidize Air Pelosi's business interests
• Tried to block a bill protecting citizens reporting terror activity from being sued by groups like CAIR
• Pressured the Congressional Research Service to hide information on earmarks inserted into bills
• Voted to deny workers the right to a secret ballot in union elections