[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 638 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 638

 To impose a moratorium on the use of appropriated funds for official 
travel outside of the United States by Members, officers, and employees 
of the House of Representatives until the Comptroller General issues a 
report on the costs of such travel and makes recommendations regarding 
  appropriate restrictions and reporting requirements on such travel.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2011

   Mr. Johnson of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was 
           referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To impose a moratorium on the use of appropriated funds for official 
travel outside of the United States by Members, officers, and employees 
of the House of Representatives until the Comptroller General issues a 
report on the costs of such travel and makes recommendations regarding 
  appropriate restrictions and reporting requirements on such travel.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Suspending Travel After Years of 
Pleasure trips on Unwitting Taxpayers Act of 2011'' or the ``STAY PUT 
Act of 2011''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Wall Street Journal reported on July 2, 2009, that 
        spending on Congressional foreign travel has increased nearly 
        tenfold since 1995, with lawmakers spending almost $13 million 
        on foreign trips in 2008. According to a December 17, 2009, 
        follow-up report, the Wall Street Journal found that spending 
        on Congressional foreign travel had increased by 70 percent 
        from 2005 to 2008.
            (2) The true cost of Congressional foreign travel cannot be 
        calculated because the cost to travel outside of the United 
        States on a military aircraft does not have to be disclosed by 
        the Department of Defense.
            (3) The Congressional foreign travel reporting requirements 
        established by the Mutual Security Act of 1954 (22 U.S.C. 1754) 
        do not require members of Congress to reveal the purpose or 
        merit of their foreign travel to the taxpayers.

SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON USE OF FUNDS FOR OFFICIAL FOREIGN TRAVEL BY 
              MEMBERS OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

    (a) Moratorium.--Until the Comptroller General submits the report 
required under section 4(b), no appropriated funds, including official 
funds of the House of Representatives or funds available under any 
Federal law, rule, or regulation, may be used to pay for official 
travel outside of the United States by any Member, officer, or employee 
of the House of Representatives.
    (b) Exception for Certain Travel.--Subsection (a) shall not apply 
with respect to the following travel:
            (1) Travel to a military installation.
            (2) Travel to a theater of operations of the Armed Forces.
            (3) Travel by Members and employees of the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs, if the travel is for official Committee 
        business.
            (4) Travel by Members and employees of the Permanent Select 
        Committee on Intelligence, if the travel is for official 
        Committee business.

SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON EXPENDITURES FOR OFFICIAL FOREIGN TRAVEL.

    (a) Study.--The Comptroller General shall conduct a study of the 
use of appropriated funds (including official funds of the House of 
Representatives, funds made available for the Secretary of Defense or 
the Secretary of State, and other funds available under any Federal 
law, rule, or regulation) for official travel outside of the United 
States by Members, officers, and employees of the House of 
Representatives, and shall include in the study the following:
            (1) For the period beginning with fiscal year 1994 and 
        ending with the most recent fiscal year for which relevant 
        information is available, and for each fiscal year during such 
        period, the amount of such funds spent on such travel, the 
        number of trips taken, and a list of the most frequently 
        visited destinations, broken down by travel by Members, travel 
        by employees, and travel for which payment was made using funds 
        of committees of the House of Representatives.
            (2) The source of funds used to pay for such travel, and 
        any limits on the amount which may be spent on such travel or 
        on any component of such travel, such as airfare and 
        accommodations.
            (3) The procedures by which the use of funds for such 
        travel is approved, including reporting requirements which 
        apply either before or after the travel is undertaken, and 
        whether those procedures sufficiently restrict the use of the 
        funds for travel which is not in the best interests of 
        taxpayers and provide sufficiently detailed information 
        regarding how the funds are used.
            (4) The types of military aircraft which are used to carry 
        out such travel, the military personnel required to operate 
        such aircraft, and the aggregate and hourly costs involved.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Defense, and 
the Secretary of State a report on the study conducted under subsection 
(a), and shall include in the report such recommendations as the 
Comptroller General considers appropriate for restrictions on, and 
reporting requirements applicable to, official travel outside of the 
United States by Members, officers, and employees of the House of 
Representatives which will promote transparency and cost savings.
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