Congressional office spending goes online

Posted by Alaska_Politics

Posted: November 30, 2009 - 3:20 pm

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Curious how members of the House of Representatives are spending your money in their offices? For the first time, the House has released that information online.

Rep. Don Young's office account information from the most recent quarter is on page 2771 in the third volume. These reports are quarterly, so if you want to get a sense for how much money individual employees earn, multiply times four. Same for rent and other expenses.

Congressional spending came under scrutiny this summer when the Wall Street Journal looked into office accounts after a scandal over spending abuses by British members of Parliament. The Journal report found nothing illegal in the House spending -- but did catch some unusual spending, including money spent on digital cameras and flat panel TVs for some offices.

At the time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to put the hard-to-access spending reports online, and did so on Monday. Before they were available online, the reports were available only in a basement office in the Cannon House Office Building across the street from the Capitol. They're bound in books printed quarterly in type the size of classified advertising in a newspaper.

The Senate forms, which are less detailed, remain offline -- and are even more difficult to access than the House reports once were. Released only twice a year, they're stored in an office in the basement of the Hart Senate Office Building, across from the Senate drapery division.

Individual House members have a budget of $1.4 to $1.9 million a year to spend on staff salaries, franking, equipment and travel to and from their district. Some, such as members from Western states, are allotted slightly more money because they have higher travel costs. Individual members of Congress have broad discretion with spending as long as it's within the House rules.

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