Members of Congress aren’t the only federal employees on vacation in August. At least 116 Washington bureaucrats are junketing to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City this week, representing the National Institutes for Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Department of Defense, Census Bureau, and the Peace Corps.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., reports that U.S. taxpayers will get a bill for at least $473,025 for a government information booth at the conference, as well as to pay airfare, hotel and conference registration fees for the 116 attending bureaucrats.