Lawmakers expensed millions in 2023 under new program that doesn’t require receipts
Critics say the program’s lack of transparency and record-keeping opens it up to abuse. Matt Gaetz was the program’s top spender.
More than 300 House lawmakers were reimbursed at least $5.2 million for food and lodging while on official business in Washington last year under a new, taxpayer-funded program that does not require them to provide receipts.
The program, which kicked off last year after a House panel passed it with bipartisan support, was intended to make it easier for lawmakers to cover the cost of maintaining separate homes in D.C. and their home districts. But critics argue that its reliance on the honor system and lack of transparent record-keeping makes it ripe for abuse.
The reimbursement scheme’s lack of receipt requirements is a “ridiculous loophole,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the good government group Public Citizen. “Clearly it becomes very difficult to tell whether or not it’s a legitimate payment and whether it’s proper,” Holman added.
The program has only a few strict rules: Lawmakers cannot be repaid for principal or interest on their mortgages, they can only get reimbursement for days they’re actually working or flying to D.C., and they can’t ask for more back than their actual expenses. They’re also subject to daily spending caps determined by the General Services Administration. Members are “strongly encouraged,” but not required, to keep records of their expenses, according to guidance issued by the House Committee on Administration.
The same rules apply to every member. But lawmakers’ reimbursements requests have varied widely, and because the program doesn’t require receipts or detailed public disclosure of what members are expensing, taxpayers have to take lawmakers’ word that they’re playing by the rules.
Of the 435 voting members of the House, 319 members — 153 Democrats and 166 Republicans — received reimbursement for some food or lodging expenses last year, alongside three delegates from U.S. territories. The other 116 members received no money from the reimbursement program, according to a Washington Post review of the first 11 months of data released by the House.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the program’s overall top spender, was reimbursed for nearly $30,000 in lodging expenses and more than $10,000 for food in 2023. He was reimbursed for more than $4,000 for lodging in two different months and more than $3,000 in five different months.
A spokesperson for Gaetz said he was reimbursed for lodging expenses on days when the House was out of session but Gaetz remained in Washington on official business for depositions related to his post on the select committee on weaponization of the federal government.
“Rep. Gaetz has always complied with House rules regarding congressional reimbursements,” a spokesperson for Gaetz emailed in a statement. “In 2023, Rep. Gaetz dedicated significant time to his work on the Weaponization Subcommittee, requiring his presence to be in Washington, D.C., on days often when there were no votes, which incurred additional reimbursement expenses to conduct depositions.”
Other members of the weaponization committee expensed significantly less than Gaetz.
Some members of Congress who own homes in the Washington area, including Reps. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Mike McCaul (R-Tex.), have chosen not to participate in the program at all. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), who owns a $1 million home in Virginia, was reimbursed less than $1,500 each month.
But other D.C. area homeowners, including Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), requested significantly higher reimbursements than Banks did for some months of 2023.
Mace, who co-owns a $1,649,000 Capitol Hill townhouse she purchased in 2021 with her then-fiancé, Patrick Bryant, expensed a total of $19,395 over the nine-month period ending on Sept. 30, 2023, an average of more than $2,000 a month. She expensed over $3,000 for lodging in January, March and May.
Swalwell, who purchased a $1,215,000 home in the Eckington neighborhood of Washington, was reimbursed nearly $19,000 for lodging expenses over 11 months in 2023. In May of that year, he received $2,838 in lodging reimbursement.
As homeowners, Mace and Swalwell aren’t allowed to ask taxpayers to cover their mortgage payments, and can only expense taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities and other ancillary costs.
“There’s nothing ‘average’ about having three children and a wife who are trying to live between two expensive areas,” Swalwell spokeswoman Cassie Baloue said in a statement. “The Congressman’s expenses reflect the actual cost of working in D.C. and are signed off by House Administration.”
Swalwell owed about $1,144 per month in taxes and insurance alone, according to figures provided by his spokeswoman, and incurred other home maintenance costs she declined to specify.
“Every month is different as to what maintenance costs Rep. Swalwell is reimbursed for,” she added. “Everything he does is allowable.”
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/04/house-representatives-expenses-receipts-lodging/?
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