It's not just Republicans. It's not just Democrats. A congressional culture has developed in which these people live in a separate reality:
Over a 5½-year period ending in 2005, members of Congress and their aides took at least 23,000 trips — valued at almost $50 million — financed by private sponsors, many of them corporations, trade associations and nonprofit groups with business on Capitol Hill.
While some of these trips might qualify as legitimate fact-finding missions, the purpose of others is less clear.
[. . .]
Congressional travelers gave speeches in Scotland, attended meetings in Australia and toured nuclear facilities in Spain. They pondered welfare reform in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the future of Social Security at a Colorado ski resort, according to the forms.
Some trips seem to have been little more than pricey vacations — often taken in the company of spouses or other relatives — wrapped around speeches or seminars.
"The purpose of others is less clear." Well, that's one way to put it.
