Travel Costs Up 50% Since Democrats Took Control of Congress

Americans are suffering from a recession and cutting back on costs. Meanwhile, Congress is taking lavish trips on your dime.

The Wall Street Journal reported:

Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

Here is a great picture and comment via Gateway Pundit:

From Gateway Pundit:

As Charlie Rangel demonstrates, spending all of your money and your children's money is exhausting work.

VP Biden spits shoe leather and takes train home

Vice President Joe Biden got a spanking in the media this week over his warning against travel on planes and trains. Looks like he is having his "crow" on a train ride from D.C. to Delaware. MyWay is reporting:

WASHINGTON (AP) - One day after saying he wouldn't travel in tight quarters because of the swine flu scare, Vice President Joe Biden rode a train Friday from Washington to Delaware.

Known for speaking freely, Biden told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that he had urged family members to avoid airplanes and subways for fear of contracting the H1N1 flu virus.

"I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said.

The comments infuriated the travel industry and triggered several revisions from the Obama administration, whose official advice is less severe.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano commented, "If he could say that over again, he would say if they're feeling sick, they should stay off of public transit or confined spaces."

By Friday night, Biden seemed ready for his own do-over. A longtime rider of Amtrak, he took a train from Union Station to his Delaware home, his office said.

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Joe Biden the travel "fearmonger"

The White House apologized for Joe Biden sticking his foot in his mouth while discussing swine flu. Biden tried to destroy the travel industry by warning against plane, train and subway travel. They try to explain "what he meant to say." The easiest course would be to muzzle him. CNN is reporting:

(CNN) — The White House apologized Thursday "if anybody was unduly alarmed" by Vice President Joe Biden's comments that seemed to suggest Americans should avoid air travel or confined spaces of any kind.

"What the vice president meant to say was the same thing that many members have said in the last few days," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "And that is, if you feel sick, are exhibiting flu-like symptoms….that you should take precautions, that you should limit your travel."

Here is the apology video via CNN