The Washington area’s House delegation spent $2.2 million on staff, mailings, travel and other expenses in the third quarter of 2009, according to congressional expense data released online Monday.
The thousands of pages of spending data has long been widely available in hard copy, but for the first time was posted on the Web at disbursements.house.gov, per a promise made in June by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The office of D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton topped the list of spending between July and September at $384,048. Not far behind was Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., at $353,540 and Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., at $343,050. The vast majority of that spending went to staff salaries.
Pelosi on Monday said the move to put expense data online will “expand accountability to taxpayers and the press.”
Dan Scandling, chief of staff for Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., said the posting has had no effect on his office’s disclosure practices.
“We have changed nothing in how we report our spending,” Scandling said.
Wolf’s office spent $283,726. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., spent $276,604, and Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., spent $274,433. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., reported $288,027 in spending, although the freshman Democrat topped his local colleagues in expenditures on mass mailings.
Connolly sent out 286,470 newsletters and other communications during the three months at a cost of $64,522, roughly three times the cost per household of neighboring districts.
George Burke, a spokesman for Connolly, said the congressional office put out more mailings to introduce Connolly to his constituents. Two mailers, both glossy, four-page newsletters discussing constituent service, account for much of that cost.
“We still have people calling here occasionally asking for Tom Davis,” Burke said, referring to Connolly’s predecessor in the 11th District.
U.S. law requires members of Congress to report the size and cost of their mass mailings.
