Cornyn Spends Most on Travel

Rocketman95 · Jul 9, 2009

oddson must be in too much shock to post this.

DALLAS – Sen. John Cornyn has earned a new reputation. It's one he doesn't brag about, but isn't ashamed to admit.

He’s now known as the U.S. Senate's biggest spender on domestic travel, according to official travel records found in The Report of the Secretary of the Senate.

"We're conscious of those costs,” Cornyn said. “We try to keep them to a minimum. But, the fact of the matter is if you represent a big state like Texas and you're as far away as we are from Washington, D.C., it's going to take some money."

Federal records revealed Cornyn spent $152,766.63 traveling during the first six months, between October 2008 and March 2009, of this fiscal year. The amount is more than any other senator.

"His excuse is, ‘Well, it's a big state,'" said Tom Smith, of the watchdog group Public Citizen. "I agree senator. It is a big state, and most big cities where he's spending most of his time have real good airline service. He should be flying coach with the rest of us."

Cornyn said he often flies commercial, but he also admits he does takes charter jets. They cover more ground and allow him to see more constituents, the senator said.

Cornyn's expensive travel tab was first revealed by Politico.com. This was the first time he has responded to questions about it.

CORNYN: I think it was a little bit of a cheap shot.

NEWS 8: In what sense was it a cheap shot? They were using the Secretary of the Senate information.

CORNYN: Oh yeah, not every state is the same. When you represent a state as big as Texas and traveling home from Washington D.C. every weekend, it unfortunately costs some money.

But, Texas' senior senator, fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, only spent $88,000 during the same time period. That’s a little more than half of Cornyn’s bill.

Plus, California's two senators combined spent a little over $101,000 on travel, according to the same record.

But, Cornyn has company at the top. Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, of New York, spent the second highest amount on travel at $144,014.22.

Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) all spent more than $100,000 on domestic travel for the first half of the fiscal year.

The remaining 95 senators spent less.

But Cornyn, often a proponent of transparency in government, tracks and publicizes a lot of his trips online for anyone to see, including pictures of his more than 150 stops in Texas over the last few years. They’re all detailed on his Senate website.

The senator’s biggest, and perhaps most questionable travel expense, was a retreat he took his staff on in February. For three days, the staff stayed in St. Michaels, Maryland, which is just outside D.C. It cost taxpayers more than $55,000.

Records show a third of the costs, $17,353, was Cornyn's alone. He was reimbursed for $7,750 in incidentals. The senator's per diem, a daily allowance, was $5,226 for the three-day trip. For a 162-mile, round-trip journey from Washington, D.C., transportation to get the senator to Maryland cost taxpayers $4,377.66.

"He claims to be a fiscal conservative,” Smith said. “This to me is the worst of the tax-and-spend liberals in Congress. He's spending more money than New York senators are on travel. If that doesn't put a ring of shame on John Cornyn's face, I don't know what does,"

NEWS 8: After that was brought to your attention, would you change anything with your travel expenses?

CORNYN: No, I wouldn't. I believe the travel I do is essential.

Cornyn can spend his travel budget however he wants and let voters decide if his trips are worth the price.

E-mail [email protected]
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so, he blames the size of texas on the amount he's spent, yet over a third of that money was for a retreat just outside of d.c. at least come up with a better excuse, mr. senator.

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