A bipartisan taxpayer-funded program approved last year has compensated nearly $5.2 million to more than 300 House lawmakers for food and lodging while on official business, and they are not required to provide receipts, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The program, passed by the House Administration Committee last year, was designed to help lawmakers cover the costs of maintaining homes in the District of Columbia and their congressional districts. But basing the program on the honor system without requiring receipts is a “ridiculous loophole,” Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the good government group Public Citizen, told the Post.

“Clearly it becomes very difficult to tell whether or not it’s a legitimate payment and whether it’s proper,” Holman said.

Lawmakers cannot be repaid for principal or interest on their mortgages; they can only be reimbursed for days they’re working or flying to D.C., and they can’t ask for more back than their actual expenses. They’re also subject to daily spending caps determined by the General Services Administration.

Of the 435 voting members of the House, 153 Democrats and 166 Republicans received reimbursement for food or lodging expenses last year, alongside three delegates from U.S. territories. The other 116 members received no money, according to a Post review of the first 11 months of data released by the House.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., was reimbursed the most, according to the Post, with nearly $30,000 in lodging expenses and more than $10,000 for food in 2023. He was reimbursed for more than $4,000 for lodging in two different months and more than $3,000 in five different months.

A spokesperson for Gaetz told the Post he was reimbursed for lodging expenses on days when the House was out of session, but Gaetz remained in D.C. on official business for depositions related to his post on the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

Some House members who own homes in the D.C. area, including Reps. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C., Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Mike McCaul, R-Texas, did not participate in the program, the Post reported. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., who owns a $1 million home in Virginia, was reimbursed less than $1,500 each month.

Members of Congress make $174,000 a year, which is about twice the median U.S. household income, but they usually maintain two households: one in D.C., an expensive metro area, and another in their home districts, the Post reported.

Some groups argue that higher lawmaker salaries would make public service more attractive to a wider array of Americans and discourage corruption. But members of Congress have not given themselves a raise since 2009, as voting to do so is considered politically unpalatable. Some lawmakers have turned to living in their own offices to defray the costs.

“I wish members would give themselves a raise that they probably deserve and then we’d all move on,” a staffer involved with congressional accounting told the Post. The staffer spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the program publicly.

“But they don’t have the backbone to do that, so [they gave] members a raise through this backdoor way that allows for abuse because there is no record keeping and there’s no receipts,” the staffer said.

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.