Republican Congressman Tom Davis and his staff took more than $163,000 in trips paid for by private parties from 2001-05 — surpassing the amount of such travel by any other area representative. Retiring Maryland Sen. Paul Sarbanes, a Democrat, and Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican, were second and third with roughly $148,000 and $132,000 in privately funded trips, respectively.
The data encompasses all of the privately funded trips reported by Congress members and their staff from January 2001 through June 2005. The information, including links to the original documents, was provided to The Examiner by the Center for Public Integrity, which is compiling a database of all reports for that period. Controversy over such travel has been particularly sharp this year because of the connection between former House majority leader Tom DeLay, who has since resigned from Congress, and a trip to Scotland travel paid for by lobbyist Jack Abramoff who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption-related charges.
