Dear Conservative,
How much do you spend on air travel and hotel accommodations? If you are like most Americans, the answer is usually “as little as possible.” Unless there is some special occasion, most people want to save as much as possible when traveling, especially if they do it a lot. Well, that is not the case for your elected officials.
According to two new studies released almost simultaneously, this Congress and President are the most traveled and most pampered in U.S. history! As millions of Americans are forced to cut-back as a result of these politicians’ utterly failed economic policies, your elected officials are jetting around the country and around the world on YOUR dime!
When times are tough, we watch how much we spend. Rule #1 is never pay for something when it can be bought for less. When it comes to airline travel, there are so many ways to cut costs. Congress, apparently, hasn’t heard of any of them.
The biggest joke in Washington DC is that working in Congress is a “full time” job. Congressmen and Senators have conspired to create what is now known as the 3-day work week. Legislators fly into the Capital on Tuesday, work for a couple days, and then fly home on Thursday for a long weekend. This is happening every damn week!
As if it couldn’t get worse, not only does congress charge YOU, the American taxpayer for their First-Class flights to and from Washington every week, but they are also paying for their international flights with the “company credit card.” They rack up tens of thousands of dollars in travel expenses and then they have the nerve to come to us and demand more tax revenue! I don’t think so!
Luckily, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has introduced a resolution to stop members of Congress from abusing the public’s trust and flying across the country and the world in First Class on the taxpayer’s dime.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is a nine-term Congresswoman from Texas’ 18th Congressional District. She is also not necessarily the “sharpest tool in the shed.”
In addition to thinking that the Constitution is 400 years old (yes, she actually said that), Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee is also the leader behind a movement in the Democrat caucus to cease writing legislation and focus all her efforts on drafting unconstitutional executive orders for the President to sign without Congress.
Speaking to fellow Democrats, Jackson Lee infamously said that she believes “this caucus will put us on the right path and we’ll give President Obama a number of executive orders that he can sign with pride and strength… In fact, I think that should be our number one agenda.”
Just last year, Ms. Jackson Lee went on seven-day trip through Asia and stuck the taxpayers with the $23,646 bill. Remember, that is just ONE Congresswoman taking ONE trip. But, she is not alone… Congressmen and Senators routinely take extravagant foreign trips, only to pass the bill on to the American taxpayers. When possible, they also force the taxpayers to pay for upgrades to First Class.
Currently, Michelle Obama is in China on a “Cultural Diplomacy” trip (whatever that means). But, her gallivanting with communists isn’t really what bugs me the most – though it certainly does. What infuriates me is the fact that the First Lady and her daughters are staying in a suite that costs $8,350/night. That is just for the accommodations for the First Family… imagine what the cost will be when you calculate the other hundreds of other rooms necessary for staff and security.
To put it in perspective, when Vice President Joe “Hair Plugs” Biden made the same trip to China last year, his “entourage” ended up costing the taxpayers $384,479 in order to pay for the 1,345 room nights that had to be reserved.
So far, the White House has refused to reveal how much Michelle Obama’s trip to China will be costing the American people. The only solace we have received from the White House is that whatever the trip may ultimately cost, it is “worth it.”
Last June, Michelle Obama decided to go to Ireland for a day and that trip ended up costing YOU, the American taxpayer, $5 Million. I am legitimately afraid to see what her little vacation to China is going to cost. This has led many pundits to call the First Lady “Moochelle” Obama, since every time they turn around, she has discovered a new way to spend taxpayer money.
Michelle Obama isn’t even elected. Her visit to China isn’t a diplomatic trip, though that is certainly how the White House is portraying it. If it was a diplomatic trip, why would the President’s daughters and mother-in-law go along too?
All of our elected officials, both in Congress and in the White House, are desperately trying to milk the taxpayers for all they are worth before it is too late. Michelle Obama knows that in 2016, her joyride is over. So, she has to see the world now before she is the one who has to pay for it!
It is time to rein in this out-of-control travel spending! We, as a nation, can’t afford it but even if we could, these crooks don’t deserve it!
With 435 Congressmen, 100 Senators, and a First Family eager to see the world on someone else’s dime, there is no doubt in my mind that the American taxpayers are spending BILLIONS of dollars on unnecessary and over expensive governmental travel. Last year, President Obama’s trip to Africa alone cost taxpayers over $100 Million alone. Now, I understand that a lot of that is unavoidable. While the cost to bring truckloads of bullet proof glass from country to country may seem excessive, those are precautions that must be made to protect the Commander and Chief. Of the many duties that fall on the President, meeting with our allies abroad is one of them.
Through the first five years of his presidency, Barack Obama has spent more time abroad than any other President in U.S. history. So far, Obama has taken 31 international trips for a total of 119 days. At that point in George W. Bush’s presidency, Bush had taken a total of 28 trips for 116 days, while Bill Clinton had taken just 27 trips for 113 days. So in the grand scheme of things, Barack Obama’s international travel isn’t all that extravagant (relatively)
However, in just the last year, the cost to run Air Force One has increased by 27%. In 2012, it cost $179,750 to keep Air Force One in the air for just one hour. Today, that cost has risen to $228,288.
This may not seem like a huge increase, but it is. Currently, Pres. Obama is in Europe trying to get the European leaders to support levying sanctions against Russia. The President’s itinerary has him flying to Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome, and then to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia before returning home. Obama’s Europe-Middle East trip will cost the American taxpayers an estimated $6,620,352 in airfare alone!
If you were President and knew that it cost this much to travel, what would you do? Would you travel the world, or would you try to save the taxpayers some money?
Instead of traveling around Christmas time, Ronald Reagan would spend the holidays at Camp David to save money and so that his Secret Service entourage wouldn’t have to be apart from their families. Barack Obama does exactly the opposite. Obama’s Hawaii vacation last Christmas cost taxpayers $4,086,355 in airfare alone!
Last August, taxpayers paid $2,145,907 just so Barack Obama could fly to California to dine with a donor and appear on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show for the 6th time.
Barack Obama is just one of the many politicians and bureaucrats who are abusing the public’s trust by burdening taxpayers with paying for their luxurious vacations. While Americans are suffering, trying to make ends meet, these politicians are traveling the world in First Class on YOUR dime!
Yes, we need to move to balance the budget. We owe that to our children, their children, and the countless generations that will come after us. There are a lot of things that need to be cut and scaled back, but Congressional and Executive abuse of taxpayer-funded travel must be at the top of that list. Right now, you are paying for Michelle Obama to gallivant through China. You are paying for corrupt politicians in Congress to fly across the country twice a week in First Class.
All the while, Congress is reducing the travel budget given to our men and women in uniform and our brave soldiers are forced to travel across country out of pocket. This is disgraceful!
There is a mad rush on both sides of the aisle to rack up as much travel expenses as possible before these politicians are forced to leave office. This has to stop and it needs to stop NOW!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
No comments yet - make the first one!