Nice work if you can get it.
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A couple of weeks ago Barry took Shelley to dinner - in NYC - they live in Washington - but you knew that. Kind of an expensive date, huh?
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Today the WSJ filed an interesting report concerning the extravagant travel budget enjoyed by Congressional representatives, and in some cases - their partners, keep in mind these are some of the same people who blasted auto executives for flying around in corporate jets.
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WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.
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The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.
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The cost of so-called Congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as "codels," has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.
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The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. - Story
You forgot to mention that Barry and Shelly took along the Air Force One crew, a few fighter jet escorts and a couple of dozen secret service personnel of appropriately diverse genders and races to keep them company.
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