Thumbs Down-According to a recent Wall Street Journal article(August 8-9, 2009),certain members of congress and some of their spouses felt the need to conduct some “valuable research" recently. During New Years 2008, ten members of Congress, along with their six of their spouses, took an eleven day trip to learn more about global warming and how federal funds are spent.
What did they do on this important trip, you may ask? Here is a snipet. They watched the New Year’s Eve fireworks at Christchurch, New Zealand, visited Discovery Hut in the South Pole(an outpost for early expeditions), and participated on a number of scuba dives in the Great Barrier Reef after discussing the Reef’s vulnerability to climate change. And you can’t forget to mention the last night of the trip….a stay at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, Hawaii.
Total cost to the taxpayers for the trip?....$103,000. This does not take into consideration the cost of airfare since the participants flew on air force planes which would have increased the trip to more than $500,000. I’m sure they did gain “some” valuable knowledge applicable to their Congressional positions…but $500,000? Better ways to spend $500,000? I can think of about 500,000.
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