The latest financial disclosures from the House of Representatives show that Democratic members have outspent their republican colleagues – with your tax dollars – by two to one, in one strange category. Rental cars.
The Chief Administrative Officer of the House reported that this perk for lawmakers was heavily utilized (some may say “abused”) by House Democrats to the tune of $65,669 when compared to Republican’s small sum of $29,994. 19 Republicans expensed their leases during the third quarter while 34 Democrats availed themselves of the perk.
According to the data, compared to the year before this one, Democrats went on to spend by 2 to 1 ratio in the last two quarters than the Republicans, however, the gap was much smaller in the two quarters before these. Regardless, Democrats still spent massively more than Republicans, despite having 45 additional members in the House.
“Members are permitted to use their member’s representational allowance for any purpose that’s allowed under the House rules, which include leasing cars,” said Tom Schatz, the president of Citizens Against Government Waste. “However, there are many members that don’t spend all of their [allowance] money and give some of it back to the treasury. That would be very difficult to do for House Democrats based on the amount of money they’re spending on car leases.” Concluding Schatz said, “Certainly, there shouldn’t be twice as much spent by one party as opposed to the other, especially when there are 45 fewer members of that party.”
