Privately Funded Trips Add Up on Capitol Hill

"[It's] useful and very helpful, in fact, when you go down and talk to the government officials, to have congressional people go along and discuss the capabilities of [the plane] with them," Tom Cassidy, chief executive of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, the company's aircraft-manufacturing subsidiary, told the center.

The center's study illustrates how widespread the practice has become, for both Democrats and Republicans. Of the 25 individual lawmakers who accepted more than $120,000 worth of travel during the period, 17 were Democrats. Of the two dozen congressional offices on which private trip sponsors spent the most money, 15 were Republican, the study said.

At least 150 of the disclosure forms scrutinized by the center did not list a sponsor. After the center contacted her, Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.), a candidate for Senate, amended her 2003 form to fill in the name of the group that paid for her two-day visit in November to the Breakers in Palm Beach, Fla. -- the Center for the Study of Popular Culture. A spokesman for Harris called the omission "a staff error."

After he was contacted by the Center for Public Integrity, Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) reimbursed the Cuban government and John A. Catsimatidis, a grocery store owner, $1,922 for expenses incurred by his son, Steven, during a trip that Rangel, his wife and his son took to Cuba to study the ecology there in 2002. House rules permit sponsors of lawmakers' trips to cover the cost of only one accompanying relative. A Rangel spokesman said the office had not been aware of the rule.

The House had more frequent fliers than did the Senate during the period. The 10 congressional offices that accepted more than 200 privately sponsored trips each were all in the House, as were the 11 offices that had travel expenses exceeding $350,000 each. The 10 most expensive trips were taken by members of the House or, in one instance, a House aide.

The study, which took nine months to complete, found many instances in which, the center said, "trip sponsors appeared to be buying access to elected officials or their advisers." Several of the sponsoring organizations defended their trips, saying they provide lawmakers with an opportunity to discuss issues in a relaxed setting.

"If you try to talk to a member for any great length of time about your issues while they're in Washington, they're simply too busy," Tom White, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, told the center.

The center's study was co-sponsored by American Public Media and Northwestern University's Medill News Service.