A nonprofit group founded to push Rep. Ron Paul’s agenda on Capitol Hill has put its weight behind a bill inspired by a reimbursement snafu of Paul’s.
The Liberty Committee, headed by former Paul aide David James, has launched a lobbying campaign for legislation to improve disclosure of Congressional office expenditures.
The bill, H.Res. 580, would help “expose Washington corruption,” the group says, citing Roll Call’s reporting on Paul double-billing plane tickets and other travel expenses both to taxpayers and his campaign.
The practice netted Paul thousands of dollars in dozens of examples for which documents show he was paid twice.
Roll Call’s review also showed that changes to expenditure reporting in 2009 have shielded details about how lawmakers spend their taxpayer-funded office budgets, prompting Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) to introduce legislation on the subject.
Quigley’s proposal would require Members to itemize individual travel expenses, among other things, in order to fill in gaps in publicly reported data that arose in 2009.
That year, the House for the first time released its quarterly expense reports online. But Congressional administrators erased a vast array of details on the expenditures, making it impossible to determine what much of the money was actually spent on.
Liberty Committee, which Paul tasked James to launch in 1998, is lobbying for Quigley’s bill.
Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/ron_paul_inspired_group_lobbies_for_bill_inspired_by_paul_reimbursements-218517-1.html?pos=htmbtxt
The Liberty Committee, headed by former Paul aide David James, has launched a lobbying campaign for legislation to improve disclosure of Congressional office expenditures.
The bill, H.Res. 580, would help “expose Washington corruption,” the group says, citing Roll Call’s reporting on Paul double-billing plane tickets and other travel expenses both to taxpayers and his campaign.
The practice netted Paul thousands of dollars in dozens of examples for which documents show he was paid twice.
Roll Call’s review also showed that changes to expenditure reporting in 2009 have shielded details about how lawmakers spend their taxpayer-funded office budgets, prompting Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) to introduce legislation on the subject.
Quigley’s proposal would require Members to itemize individual travel expenses, among other things, in order to fill in gaps in publicly reported data that arose in 2009.
That year, the House for the first time released its quarterly expense reports online. But Congressional administrators erased a vast array of details on the expenditures, making it impossible to determine what much of the money was actually spent on.
Liberty Committee, which Paul tasked James to launch in 1998, is lobbying for Quigley’s bill.
Read more: http://www.rollcall.com/news/ron_paul_inspired_group_lobbies_for_bill_inspired_by_paul_reimbursements-218517-1.html?pos=htmbtxt
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