OPINION:
Taxpayers shelled out $5.8 million in 2023 to 328 members of the House of Representatives for expenses the lawmakers claimed as bona fide and legit and completely related to their legislative duties, according to a Washington Post analysis.
They didn’t have to show any receipts.
They’re from the government — they’re here to help. So they can be trusted. Right?
The gap between the political class and the peon class — the taxpaying class — grows ridiculously wider. As the barriers to politicians’ offices on Capitol Hill go up, the borders allowing illegal to pour into peon communities remains open. Today’s elected leaders know little of the notion of humble service and they care nothing for the concept of “of, by and for the people” form of governance. They pass laws and rules onto the people they then exempt themselves from abiding; conversely, they pass laws and rules for themselves the people could never take as their own in the private sector. Such was Obamacare — when Congress carved out a special allowance for House and Senate members and staffers to avoid the health exchanges pushed onto the peon class and in so doing keep their $12,000 tax-funded contributions to their premiums.
And such is this latest reimbursement allowance — a hush-hush “alternative expense and vouchering reimbursement process that does not require the submission of receipts,” as the chief administrative officer summarized it in July of 2023, Politico reported. Why the absence of receipts?
Why, “to reduce burdens and address the potential security risks,” the chief administrative officer explained in this same summary.
Open pockets, meet lawmakers.
What a crock of an excuse. Legislators found it too much trouble to track and trace and account to taxpayers for their office expenses — their meals and lodging and so forth — so they turned around and passed a rule exempting themselves from the process. Then they chalked it up to national security.
Thing is, lawmakers aren’t spending their money.
They’re not digging into their own wallets and purses and pulling out their own hard-earned currencies to pay for their own noontime luncheons or cocktail hour drinks-with-friends. They’re doing that on John Q. Taxpayer’s dime.
To say that turning in receipts is too much of a time-waster is to slap the face of the taxpayer. Politicians, after all, work for the people. They should regard the lunches they eat and the SUVs that taxi them and the security forces who protect them and the planes that fly them and the hairdressers who clip them and the medical professionals who treat them and the gyms that work them out and the postage on their envelopes that delivers their messages and narratives and correspondences to their constituencies — they should consider all these on-the-job and at-work conveniences and benefits and perks in most humble manners, as undeserving and with a grateful heart and mind to serve. They should shudder at the thought of abusing their positions. They should recoil at the idea of taking advantage of the taxpayers.
But they don’t.
Today’s politicians take to the point of expecting, to the point of demanding, to the point of considering themselves a class above and beyond that of the ordinary citizen. It’s not a partisan issue. Republicans as well as Democrats do it.
Reps. Jack Bergman, Matt Gaetz and Jim Baird, all Republicans, claimed upwards of $41,000 for reimbursable expenses related to lodging, meals and incidentals; Bergman, with the highest amount, claimed $44,079.
Reps. Ilhan Omar, Troy Carter and Brendan Boyle, all Democrats, claimed — respectively — $42,092, $39,245 and $37,024.
Maybe the reimbursements are valid. Maybe they’re all tied to the conducting of important and crucial congressional business that citizens would gladly support, including financially.
But without receipts, it’s tough to know.
Not too many private sector employers allow their employees to claim work-related expenses and receive reimbursements for those expenses without providing proof of their validity — without going through the burden of securing, saving and submitting receipts and explanations and expense sheets.
Members of the political class should have to undergo the same. Anything less cracks the door to abuse of tax dollars, while widening the already alarmingly large divide between the political class and the citizenry. If America is to be a country where taxpayers call the shots and politicians serve in humble appreciation of the power of the people, then politicians must be held to the same standards as the people. It’s not a burden. It’s called accountability and respect.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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