Good morning. Today, we find out that unemployment is up to 9.5%. But the liberal media spin is that it was projected to be 9.6%!! Thank you, Obama Stimulus!! And if that doesn't cause you to start your day happily enough, we also hear that North Korea has fired two short range missiles off its coast. Fun! Life is good ladies and gentlemen. Just in case you need more good news, the Wall Street Journal wanted to make sure you knew about the extravagant government spending that has been rising exponentially and completely under anyone's radar.
Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.
The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel.
Although complete travel records aren't yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
In mid-June, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D., Hawaii) led a group of a half-dozen senators and their spouses on a four-day trip to France for the biennial Paris Air Show. An itinerary for the event shows that lawmakers flew on the Air Force's version of the Boeing 737, which costs $5,700 an hour to operate. They stayed at the Intercontinental Paris Le Grand Hotel, which advertises rooms from $460 a night.
The lawmakers were invited to a dinner party at the U.S. Embassy and had cocktails at a private party at the Eiffel Tower. Mr. Inouye attended a dinner sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, a U.S. trade group. Another senator on the trip, Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, took a cruise on the River Seine with defense-industry executives and elected officials from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
Mr. Inouye and Mr. Shelby declined to comment.
Often, lawmakers combine trips to war zones with visits to more tranquil spots. In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals.
Oh but it's no big deal right? These people deserves these perks for all the hard work and service they put forth for the nation! That is debateable in itself, but the problem with spending like this that is outside of lawmaking and on the taxpayers' dime is that it carries over into their Congressional duties. Frivolous spending of your money means nothing to them. They do it all the time! What is a few hundred thousand dollars, or a few hundred BILLION dollars, here and there? YOUR money become monopoly money to them when there is no limit on it, and when the government simply prints more. This is no better than any other form of government corruption and waste. People need to be informed, and this needs to stop.
