Suspending Travel After Years of Pleasure Trips on Unwitting Taxpayers Act of 2011 or STAY PUT Act of 2011 - Prohibits the use of appropriated funds, including official funds of the House of Representatives or funds available under any federal law, rule, or regulation, to pay for official travel outside of the United States by any Member, officer, or employee of the House, until the Comptroller General studies and reports to the Speaker of the House and the Secretaries of Defense (DOD) and of State on the use of certain appropriated funds for such travel and recommendations for appropriate restrictions on, and reporting requirements applicable to, such travel which will promote transparency and cost savings.
Exempts from the prohibition and requirements of this Act any travel: (1) to a military installation or to a theater of operations of the Armed Forces; and (2) by Members and employees of the Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, if the travel is for official committee business.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 638 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 638
To impose a moratorium on the use of appropriated funds for official
travel outside of the United States by Members, officers, and employees
of the House of Representatives until the Comptroller General issues a
report on the costs of such travel and makes recommendations regarding
appropriate restrictions and reporting requirements on such travel.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 10, 2011
Mr. Johnson of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on House Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To impose a moratorium on the use of appropriated funds for official
travel outside of the United States by Members, officers, and employees
of the House of Representatives until the Comptroller General issues a
report on the costs of such travel and makes recommendations regarding
appropriate restrictions and reporting requirements on such travel.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Suspending Travel After Years of
Pleasure trips on Unwitting Taxpayers Act of 2011'' or the ``STAY PUT
Act of 2011''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Wall Street Journal reported on July 2, 2009, that
spending on Congressional foreign travel has increased nearly
tenfold since 1995, with lawmakers spending almost $13 million
on foreign trips in 2008. According to a December 17, 2009,
follow-up report, the Wall Street Journal found that spending
on Congressional foreign travel had increased by 70 percent
from 2005 to 2008.
(2) The true cost of Congressional foreign travel cannot be
calculated because the cost to travel outside of the United
States on a military aircraft does not have to be disclosed by
the Department of Defense.
(3) The Congressional foreign travel reporting requirements
established by the Mutual Security Act of 1954 (22 U.S.C. 1754)
do not require members of Congress to reveal the purpose or
merit of their foreign travel to the taxpayers.
SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON USE OF FUNDS FOR OFFICIAL FOREIGN TRAVEL BY
MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
(a) Moratorium.--Until the Comptroller General submits the report
required under section 4(b), no appropriated funds, including official
funds of the House of Representatives or funds available under any
Federal law, rule, or regulation, may be used to pay for official
travel outside of the United States by any Member, officer, or employee
of the House of Representatives.
(b) Exception for Certain Travel.--Subsection (a) shall not apply
with respect to the following travel:
(1) Travel to a military installation.
(2) Travel to a theater of operations of the Armed Forces.
(3) Travel by Members and employees of the Committee on
Foreign Affairs, if the travel is for official Committee
business.
(4) Travel by Members and employees of the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence, if the travel is for official
Committee business.
SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON EXPENDITURES FOR OFFICIAL FOREIGN TRAVEL.
(a) Study.--The Comptroller General shall conduct a study of the
use of appropriated funds (including official funds of the House of
Representatives, funds made available for the Secretary of Defense or
the Secretary of State, and other funds available under any Federal
law, rule, or regulation) for official travel outside of the United
States by Members, officers, and employees of the House of
Representatives, and shall include in the study the following:
(1) For the period beginning with fiscal year 1994 and
ending with the most recent fiscal year for which relevant
information is available, and for each fiscal year during such
period, the amount of such funds spent on such travel, the
number of trips taken, and a list of the most frequently
visited destinations, broken down by travel by Members, travel
by employees, and travel for which payment was made using funds
of committees of the House of Representatives.
(2) The source of funds used to pay for such travel, and
any limits on the amount which may be spent on such travel or
on any component of such travel, such as airfare and
accommodations.
(3) The procedures by which the use of funds for such
travel is approved, including reporting requirements which
apply either before or after the travel is undertaken, and
whether those procedures sufficiently restrict the use of the
funds for travel which is not in the best interests of
taxpayers and provide sufficiently detailed information
regarding how the funds are used.
(4) The types of military aircraft which are used to carry
out such travel, the military personnel required to operate
such aircraft, and the aggregate and hourly costs involved.
(b) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Defense, and
the Secretary of State a report on the study conducted under subsection
(a), and shall include in the report such recommendations as the
Comptroller General considers appropriate for restrictions on, and
reporting requirements applicable to, official travel outside of the
United States by Members, officers, and employees of the House of
Representatives which will promote transparency and cost savings.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
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