Seawytch
Information isnt Advocacy
Boehners Monthly $2,000 Tab
Is it for tanner? Cigarettes? Nah...probably just the monthly booze expense...
When John Boehner rose from Minority Leader to Speaker in January, he not only expanded his staff and his paycheck, he more than doubled the expense-account check he cashes each month.
As Minority Leader, the Ohio Republican had received a direct payment of $833 each month from taxpayers to cover official expenses for leaders, the same monthly total then-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer received.
But Boehner now receives a monthly $2,083.33 direct payment for expenses, according to the most recent expenditure reports from the Clerk of the House. Because the total of the expense payment is the same each month, it is apparently not reimbursement for individual itemized expenses.
Boehners office offered no details about how his monthly check is spent. Spokesman Michael Steel would only say, This money is used in appropriate ways for expenses related to his official duties.
Beginning in January, Hoyer, now the Minority Whip, saw his monthly expense check drop to $527, and the Maryland Democrat in March stopped accepting it entirely.
A spokeswoman in Hoyers office confirmed he has not taken the expense payment since February because he decided the appropriate thing to do was to stop receiving it.
While Congress has set aside $235,000 a year to cover the expenses of House and Senate leaders, Boehner now appears to be the only Member of the House accepting this money in direct payments each month.
Is it for tanner? Cigarettes? Nah...probably just the monthly booze expense...