Congressional Travel Disclosure Requirements Repeatedly Ignored Says Report

Members of Congress and their staff are repeatedly violating House and Senate rules by ignoring travel disclosure requirements regarding luxury trips, according to a new report released this week by the Center for Public Integrity. The report cites dozens of trips taken by members of Congress and their staff over a five-and-a-half year period that were paid for by individuals and companies that are registered lobbyists, a violation of ethics rules. It is illegal for lobbyists to pay for trips, but anyone else can. The report also cites at least 20 disclosure forms that were amended, sometimes years later.

ABC News reported last year on one such case that was being closely scrutinized. House Ethics Committee member, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) filed a disclosure form after she and her husband took a free trip to Puerto Rico. The $3,300 trip was paid for by a Washington lobbying firm, a violation of House ethics rules. Four years later, Rep. Jones quietly changed her disclosure report removing the name of the lobbying firm and replacing it with the client, a nonprofit group in Puerto Rico – thus making the trip legal. At the time, Congresswoman Jones said it was a human error. Members of Congress are allowed to make such amendments to their forms. Wendell Rawls, the executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, says many members amend forms claiming that they just didn’t know the rules. "Some of these members of Congress have been there for decades, you’d think they’d know the rules," said Rawls. Rawls also pointed out that while members of Congress must disclose the trip’s purpose, there is no requirement on what that purpose must be. "They can do whatever they want," he said.

Many of the disclosure forms, which are required to be filed with the House and Senate ethics committees, were filed late or left incomplete, according to the report. At least 150 forms listed no sponsor at all. For example, in 2003 Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) stayed at the luxury Breakers Resort in Palm Beach. Her hotel room cost over $1,000 for two nights and her meals totaled over $250, yet the form lists no sponsor nor purpose, according to the report. Rep. Harris did attach an itinerary, however, which listed an entire afternoon as "free time for swimming, golf, tennis, shopping, etc." Rep. Harris’ office did acknowledge the form was not filled out properly, and later they filed an amended form. See examples of incomplete travel disclosure forms filed by members of Congress.