Senate Ethics Approves Multiple Airline Tickets
The Senate Ethics Committee has officially ruled that senators can book multiple flights for the same trip and just use one ticket without breaking the chamber's new zero-tolerance gift ban.
As Capitol Briefing has previously reported, an airline industry legal opinion last month created havoc among Senate staff whose job duties include scheduling end-of-the-week trips home for senators to be with their families and constituents.
In a letter dated Oct. 17, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) - the chairman and vice-chairman of the evenly divided six-senator panel - declared that "there would be no gift ... if a member (or a Senate employee making a reservation for that member) makes more than one reservation for official travel with a participating airline."
The Air Transport Association, in an internal legal opinion, had questioned whether it would be a gift to allow senators to do something that the general public doesn't have the chance to do: book multiple tickets and then just take the one that best fits their schedule. Airlines including Continental, Northwest and Delta - each of which services the home airports of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) - began refusing the multiple booking services.
Rather than awaiting the issue to be handled by their committee chairs and ranking members, Reid and McConnell slipped a provision into a spending bill earlier this month declaring multiple bookings to be permissible for both senators and staff - an expansion of the prior practice, which was limited to senators. For now, the Ethics Committee ruling settles the matter unless the Reid-McConnell provision ends up making its way through a House-Senate conference and is signed into law.
For now, the multiple-ticket benefit will not be extended to staff, as the Boxer-Cornyn letter was specific in saying that only a "member" can get multiple tickets.
Their letter was prompted by questioning from Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Rules and Administration Committee, which wrote most of the new lobbying laws. Feinstein has contended that the multiple-ticket practice was something given to other travelers, including frequent fliers.
"Members are often unable to predict with specificity when they will be able to travel because of the fluid and unpredictable nature of Senate business," Feinstein and Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), ranking member of Rules, wrote to the Ethics pane earlier this month. "Consequently, members frequently reserve more than one flight to ensure they will be able to return to their home states to attend constituent events and conduct other official business."
One other issue is left uncertain about the Ethics letter as compared to the Reid-McConnell provision. The committee letter specifies that the multiple-ticketing benefit is permissible for "official travel", leaving open the question of whether it would be OK for Senate staff to make many reservations for their bosses on weekends in which the lawmakers simply plan on going home and spending the weekend with family and friends. The Reid-McConnell provision simply says that multiple ticketing is not a violation, not specifying the need for official travel.
Update/clarification: Senate rules have long considered traveling to home states part of official travel, so the Boxer-Cornyn letter does continue to allow such multiple-booking travel. However, in both the Ethics and Rules letters, the lawmakers clarify that multiple reservations are only acceptable for official travel, meaning the practice would be prohibited for political travels such as to and from fundraising events.
By Paul Kane |
October 29, 2007; 4:15 PM ET
Ethics and Rules
, Senate
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Posted by: Lurking in the Weeds | October 30, 2007 9:54 AM
Earlier this year, when I read that certain Congressmen were involved in incidents with airline employees I thought 'this is great, now maybe Congress will feel the pains frequent travelers are suffering at the hands of an ignorant and powerful industry, and do something to change the problems'.
Now that the members have gotten approval to bypass the procedures we mortals must endure, I predict that no serious attempt will be made by lawmakers to reign in the abysmal customer service provided by the airline industry that is literally costing our country billions of dollars in lost productivity annually.
Posted by: Patrick Huss | October 30, 2007 10:48 AM
Just goes to show you that Congress (both Democrats and Republicans) have fallen back on the old adage: "Do as I say, not as I do"!
The more I hear from Diane Feinstein, the more I am beginning to believe that she is nothing more than a Republican in Democrat's clothing. AFter all she went along on the FISA ruling and voted with the REpubs and the Bush. Now she wants to allow the multiple bookings. Wow! More graft and corruption being ok's by the Democrats. Well what do you expect, they are all pigs at the trough.
Posted by: RedRat | October 30, 2007 12:30 PM
Mukasey will withdraw this weekend.
He is thinking about historical legacy and his personal reputation-- it is not the opposition in the Senate. He and his family are realizing that to become associated with this administration is akin to jumping into a corrupt cesspool.
From a historical perspective, this administration will be the dark point of the American democracy experiment... the ugly Fascist Mussolini and Franco-like regime of the US.
Posted by: erict | November 1, 2007 9:24 PM
I am 90 years old and have a file about six
inches thick with letter to the editor that have been published. I NEVER have trouble thinking of what to say and say it
well. However, lately, between airline rules that are selective, and government
activety that is so reprehensible, even I
have trouble finding words to express my reactions to the reprehensible activities going on in our country today. How could
this have happened and why? Someone, maybe
GOD will make them pay for what they have done to us and our country.
beloved country today.
Posted by: Ethel Dimont | November 1, 2007 10:48 PM
I am 90 years old and have a file about six
inches thick with letter to the editor that have been published. I NEVER have trouble thinking of what to say and say it
well. However, lately, between airline rules that are selective, and government
activety that is so reprehensible, even I
have trouble finding words to express my reactions to the reprehensible activities going on in our country today. How could
this have happened and why? Someone, maybe
GOD will make them pay for what they have done to us and our country.
beloved country today.
Posted by: Ethel Dimont | November 1, 2007 10:49 PM
Cool post! I'm add to bookmark... Autor what is youre name?
Realy best blog...
Posted by: GlavMed | November 2, 2007 1:08 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Amazing how well both parties work together to achieve a bennie. Too bad they can't do as well working for the country.