[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5198]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                              AIR HILLARY

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, in 1991, White House Chief of Staff John 
Sununu was harshly criticized by the news media for using official 
aircraft for personal use. There seemed at the time to be a consensus 
on the part of the news media that despite his position, taking 
military aircraft on personal trips was inappropriate. But, Mr. 
Speaker, 9 years later, we have a First Lady whose use of official 
aircraft to run for political office has already cost the taxpayers 
more than $182,000, and the election is still 7 months away.
  Chief of Staff Sununu was criticized for using government airplanes 
for personal use. Is not using government aircraft to run for a 
political office in a political campaign even more questionable?
  Every one of us in this body lives and works under strict ethics 
rules designed to prevent the misuse of official tax paid resources. Is 
it not wrong to charge 80 percent of your campaign travel costs to the 
taxpayer? The First Lady's campaign costs the taxpayer over $3,700 for 
every hour she is in the air.
  Mr. Speaker, I am amazed that this has gone on so long unquestioned 
by many in the media.

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