Democrats push for transparency in adopting new regulations governing Member spending
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Republicans rejected greater transparency provisions today during a House Administration Committee markup to adopt changes to the guidelines governing Member office spending. The Committee Republicans unanimously voted against an amendment offered by U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) designed to make privately owned vehicle mileage reimbursements more accountable to taxpayers.
The amendment was introduced to provide more transparency for taxpayers to see Member and staff reimbursements for the use of private vehicles while on official business. This issue was elevated in the wake of a federal investigation into former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock's inflated mileage reimbursements. The amendment was rejected 6-3 on a party-line vote.
"There is much merit in today's resolution, including important new measures to increase transparency and accountability, but there remains more work to do," said Lofgren. "It is unfortunate we could not come to an agreement to significantly increase transparency in mileage reporting, an area which has proven to be insufficient in preventing fraud and abuse at taxpayer expense. I am disappointed that my Republican colleagues unanimously stood in opposition to greater sunlight in government."
Lofgren's amendment would require a Member's publicly available Statement of Disbursement to disclose information on a per-travel-date basis, including disclosures of where they traveled for official business meetings, limited to intersections or centers of zip codes. While not achieving the full disclosure that Lofgren initially sought, the amendment offered gives taxpayers more information than they currently have access to, and could help combat fraud and abuse of the private vehicle reimbursement program.
In an effort to provide her Republican colleagues with a full range of options, Lofgren offered two additional proposals during pre-markup negotiations, one of which would have required significantly more robust reporting requirements, and another, smaller improvement over the status quo. Both proposals, in addition to today's amendment, were rejected by Committee Republicans.
Background:
Lofgren is the lead Democrat on a bipartisan review panel to identify opportunities for the Committee to provide enhanced education for each Member of the House. The Members began this review at the end of March 2015, following the resignation of former Rep. Aaron Schock (R- Ill.). Among other issues, Schock was investigated for inflating mileage reimbursements to cover payments on a personal vehicle.
The full Committee on House Administration voted to adopt changes to the regulations governing Member Spending today.
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