Himes Voices Concern About Petty Cash System

Greenwich Time, Monday, May 17, 2010

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 reimburse 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.

Himes said he received about $800 in spending money during the 36-hour trip, which also took him to Istanbul, Turkey, and Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Even on military transport planes and at various canteens, Himes said members of Congress are expected to pay for their meals, which is where the petty cash comes in. Himes said he also paid for a hotel near Ramstein.

"One assumes that it's for your meals and housing, but, again, I think the policy was unclear there," Himes said. "There were no limitations given out."

A Defense Department spokesman said Congress itself, not the Pentagon, sets travel policy.

"We basically go where they tell us to go," U.S. Navy Commander Darryn James said.

Messages seeking comment from the House Clerk, to whom James referred questions, and Pelosi's office were left Monday.

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.

"They're not inspiring a lot of confidence from taxpayers," Paige said.

Himes met with President Hamid Karzai, U.S. and British military generals and troops on the ground during his visit to Afghanistan, accompanying two fellow Democrats and two Republicans.

The trip, which Himes said was critical to his getting a feel for the challenges in Afghanistan, came less than three weeks after President Obama ordered 30,000 additional troops there.

Himes has said that group departed on a Friday night aboard a government-owned jet and refueled in Shannon, Ireland, before stopping in Istanbul, Turkey, where they spent Saturday meeting with U.S. embassy officials to discuss the war in Iraq, the Kurdish population there and the al-Qaida presence in Turkey.

From there, the congressional delegation flew to Kabul, said Himes, who did not have an estimate on the cost of the trip.

Once in Kabul, the group met for breakfast with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top military commander in Afghanistan, and returned to the airport to tour an Afghani air force training facility before having lunch with airmen and soldiers there.

The rest of Sunday's itinerary included a tour of a training camp for Afghani police and troops; a sit-down with Karzai, an intelligence briefing by CIA officers and dinner with Karzai's newly tapped ministers of finance and counternarcotics.

On Monday morning, the congressmen flew on a C-130 cargo plane to Kandahar in southern Afghanistan to meet with the British brigadier in charge of the region.

Himes returned to the U.S. via Germany, where he spent the night in a hotel.

Himes, who is up for re-election this November, said he kept receipts from the trip but was never asked for an accounting of his expenses.

"Every corporation out there says when you travel to St. Louis, you can take petty cash and spend (it) on expenses but have to justify them with receipts," Himes said.