DOD braces for a fight with Pelosi

by Mike Soraghan, The Hill: Pentagon officials are bracing for a fight with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) over her desire to allow lawmakers’ adult children to tag along on taxpayer-funded travel for free. Pelosi wants them to be able to fill the role of lawmakers’ spouses when the latter are unable to make a trip because of health issues or work commitments.

“It has been longstanding policy that, in the absence of a congressional spouse, the adult child of a member of Congress may accompany the member on official U.S. government travel abroad for protocol reasons and without reimbursing the U.S. Treasury,” Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said. “Speaker Pelosi believes that a modern policy must reflect the professional responsibilities or health realities that might prevent a spouse from participating, and instead permit an adult child to fulfill the protocol needs of the official trip.”Pentagon officials say the policy is that the Treasury must be reimbursed at commercial rates for children who accompany members on such trips, . . . .

“We were told that the Speaker would expect that members’ children (of married and unmarried [members of Congress]) would not have to reimburse the Treasury,” Wilkie wrote. “We expect future challenges from the House leadership on this policy.” . . . But taxpayer watchdog groups and ethics advocates said they were surprised Pelosi would seek more perks for members . . . [Read More] Note: This follows the Speaker’s demand for “Air Force 3,” a plane which could carry at least 50 people (including California colleagues) non-stop to San Francisco.

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