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REPORT TALLIES CONGRESSIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURES
James Clyburn spent $265.00 on donuts. Gresham Barrett bought $243.78 worth of bottled water. And John Spratt blew through $7,791.40 in office supplies.
These are just a few of the $1.85 million worth of expenditures paid for with taxpayer money during the third quarter of 2009 by members of Congress from South Carolina.
A report released Monday by the Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House lists line item administrative disbursements for the quarter, as well as a sum total for the year to date. So far this year, the Palmetto State’s six member House delegation has spent a whopping $5.36 million in public funds.
The report offers a pretty interesting look at how lawmakers are spending your hard-earned tax dollars.
In addition to his bottled water tab, Barrett dropped another $303.70 on food during the quarter. Keep in mind, Congress wasn’t even in session for most of the month of August.
But, for Barrett, those expenditures were just a drop in the bucket compared to the $17,514.12 he spent on “franked” mail this year and the $65,091.68 on travel. Much of Barrett’s mail money for the year was likely spent in May on a piece that critics claimed was little more than “fluff” to promote his campaign for governor.
Barrett spent a total of $782,137.82, including personnel, during the first three quarters of the year.
The biggest spender of the delegation was Rep. Bob Inglis. Ingis has dropped a whopping $39,254.24 on franked mail so far in 2009. And he has spent another $62,094.77 on travel, which doesn’t even include the $103,000 tab Inglis and nine others racked up during an exotic, 11 day, taxpayer-funded vacation earlier this year.
For the year to date, Inglis has spent $920,178.33.
While Clyburn spent the most total, at 973,017.03, he spent the least on mail. The House majority whip used only $2,061.35 for mail and another $46,216.48 for travel.
Rep. Henry Brown could be considered the most frugal member of the delegation. Brown spent $9,239.51 on mail this year, $26,876.25 on travel, and $794,635.12 total.
Rep. John Spratt spent $5,855.92 on mail this year and $28,109.87 on travel. The 14-term Congressman spent a total of $925,741.53.
The state’s remaining Congressman, Rep. Joe Wilson, spent $50,673.59 on mail, $47,731.245 on travel and $969,829.49 total.
Wilson – $50k on mail
Inglis – $39k on mail
Barrett – $17k on mail
Brown – $9k on mail
Spratt $5k on mail
Clyburn $2K on mail
Looks like Joe “Empy Suit” Wilson is going pretty happy with the taxpayers’ postage machine.
Why is Brown more frugal than Barrett?
Brown = $794k
Barrett = $782k
What happened to Fiscal Responsibility? Cost cutting is a requirement for small businesses to survive what about our representatives. Oh, it’s taxpayer money not real money.
In the era of Al Gore’s broadband internet and Obama’s emphasis on utter transparency, how long must voters wait to have Congress assemble electronically from within their home states?
Not only would transportation expenses be slashed (Madame Pelos’s Air Force gilded chariot included), but costs would be transferred to lobbying firms and those who employ them, and be more visible to the local electorate.
Before people get upset they need to fully realize the amount of mail Congressional offices recieve. Between cap and trade, health care, 2nd Amendment issues, and other issues, from what I have been told and read, Congressional offices have recieved record numbers of letters, post cards etc. So when you get a response from your Congressman that counts as franked mail. So if you don’t want money spent on franked mail don’t write your Congressman – which i’m sure will go over well with the public.
In regards to water and food, I know when I have visted my representative I was offered water, so it’s not like it’s just for the Congressman or his staff. If you have ever been in DC in August, you can apreciate the hot humid summer as we have here, so I was very thankful to be offered water.
Also I apreciate hearing from my Congressman. People are so quick to judge and complain that they haven’t heard from their Representative. However when they do reach out to people as in surveys, e newsletters, or even tele town halls you complain they spend too much money.
The truth hurts. People have made it a damned if you do, damned if you don’t mentailty and it’s a wonder why they even try at times. In saying this, I will continue to write my representative and I am happy that my tax money is being spent on him being able to communicate with me, instead of it being used to fund ACORN and others!
[...] U.S. House report listing line item administrative expenditures showed that the average amount spent by each [...]