WNC Blog - Barack Obama's two years in the Senate have taken him around the world, from Russia to Iraq to Kenya - an itinerary more costly to taxpayers than any other senator who took office with him.
The Illinois Democrat's travels in 2005 and 2006 cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $28,000 (EUR 21,000) as he studied nuclear proliferation, AIDS, Middle Eastern violence and more.
Eight other new senators took office in 2005, and about $19,200 (EUR 14,700) was the most anyone spent for government-paid travel, according to reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records.Obama's journeys are unusual for such a junior senator, but not for someone thinking of a presidential run. Obama has announced his candidacy for president in the 2008 election.
"Valuable or not, it's the thing they all do to show that they're knowledgeable about the world," said Stephen Hess, a George Washington University professor and former presidential aide.
Obama was one of two first-term members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 109th Congress. He spent $18,822 (EUR 14,388) in per diem and transportation costs in 2006 as he visited Middle East hotspots and toured Africa. The previous year he spent $8,313 (EUR 6,355) visiting the former Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.
The first-term senator with the next greatest spending on taxpayer-funded trips was Senator Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican whose visits included China, Russia and the Middle East at a cost of about $19,200 (EUR 14,677). Ranking third was Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican who spent $17,867 (EUR 13,658) to visit China and Kuwait, among other places. Neither is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
However, other first-term senators also took trips - both foreign and domestic - funded by private groups, which Obama does not accept. Ethics watchdog groups are critical of privately funded travel, arguing that it serves mostly to ingratiate lawmakers to their sponsors, who often are lobbying them on government policy. If Coburn's privately funded trips are included, his total travel amounts to nearly $29,000 (EUR 22,000) for the two years, more than any other first-term member.