WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The $10,000-ticket flights accounted for 40 percent of lawmakers’ publicly-reported trips, which Congressional records estimated cost $14.7 million in fiscal year 2016, USA Today reported on Monday.
Treasury Department reports contradicted Congressional reporting and estimated the travel costs at around $20 million.
22 February 2017, 18:05 GMT
Congressional travel costs jumped to an estimated $15 million in 2016 from less than $11 million in 2011 in part because House and Senate committee chairs wanted to spend more time in the field.
Travel costs for one committee, the House Intelligence Committee, increased from $1.1 million to $1.9 million after Congressman Devin Nunes became chairman in 2015, according to the reports.
Us lawmakers do not pay for their own overseas trips, which are funded by the Treasury Department.
