Bringing Higher Standards of Accountability to Congress
Jim Himes is advancing an array of reforms to bring greater transparency and accountability to Congress. The Greenwich Time recently reported on one important component of Jim's reform initiative.
They don't call it petty cash for nothing.
U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., found that out when he tried to return $400 in unspent petty cash from a December trip to Afghanistan he took with several fellow members of House Homeland Security Committee.
Surely, the Pentagon and State Department, which provide meal and lodging money for such trips on a per diem basis, would want the money back.
To his bewilderment, Himes said he couldn't find any takers for the four $100 bills in his possession -- not because no one wanted them, but because there was no mechanism in place for accepting excess petty cash.
Himes brought the problem to the attention of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who last week announced new travel rules for members of Congress that require excess funds go to the U.S. Treasury, the same agency that the House freshman from Greenwich said he resorted to writing a personal check to as reimbursement for the government.
"Given the amount of effort it took for me to return $400 to the government, my guess is in the past there have been people who have said, `Well, I'll simply hang onto it,' which is not the right thing to do," Himes said.
In a May 13 letter to House leaders, Pelosi spelled out the new rules, which require members of Congress to fly economy-class unless the trip is over 14 hours and business-class can be justified; clear their itinerary with their respective committee chairman, file quarterly expense reports with the House Clerk and prohibits them from bringing spouses along on trips unless they are paid for out-of-pocket.
"Look, I applaud the speaker's initiative here, but I think it could go further," Himes said.
Fact-finding trips by lawmakers, or in Washington parlance CODELS for congressional delegation, have drawn scrutiny from a number of watchdog groups because of their cost to taxpayers.
"This is a good step," said Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for the D.C.-based Citizens Against Government Waste. "It's requiring them to return all the money they don't use and create some sort of transparency."
Paige said there is a long way to go toward achieving accountability, however.
"These trips are almost completely opaque and obscure to the average taxpayer," Paige said. "For example, how much does it cost to use military planes? Do they arrange these things so there's a stop for shopping in Paris?"
The fact that the government didn't have a mechanism in place for accepting excess petty cash, is pathetic, Paige said.
Thanks to Jim, that's changing too.
