Lawmakers have expensed millions under the new receipt-free system

The lack of receipt requirements for the rebate program is a “tremendous loophole,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the good-government group Public Citizen. “It obviously makes it very difficult to tell if a payment is legitimate or appropriate,” he added.

The program has some strict rules: Members can’t get mortgage principal or interest reimbursed, can only be reimbursed for days they actually work or fly into Washington, DC, and can’t request more than their actual expenses. They also must adhere to daily spending limits set by the General Services Administration. Lawmakers are “strongly encouraged” to keep records of their expenses, but aren’t required to, according to guidance from the House Administration Committee.

The same rules apply to all MPs, but their reimbursement claims vary widely, and because the system doesn’t require receipts or detailed disclosure of MPs’ expenses, taxpayers have to take MPs at their word that they are following the rules.

Of the House’s 435 voting members, 319 — 153 Democrats and 166 Republicans — were reimbursed for some of their food and lodging expenses last year, as were three representatives from U.S. territories. The remaining 116 members did not receive any money from the reimbursement program, according to a Washington Post review of the first 11 months of data released by the House.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the biggest spender under the entire program, was reimbursed about $30,000 for lodging and more than $10,000 for meals in 2023. He was reimbursed more than $4,000 for lodging over two months and more than $3,000 over five months.

A spokesman for Mr. Gaetz said he had been reimbursed for lodging while the House of Representatives was in recess, but that Mr. Gaetz was in Washington on official business for a deposition related to his work with the Select Committee on Weaponization of the Federal Government.

“Rep. Gaetz has always complied with House rules regarding congressional expenses,” a spokesperson for Gaetz said in an emailed statement. “In 2023, Rep. Gaetz spent significant time working on his Weaponization Subcommittee work, which required him to be in Washington, DC, on days when there were no votes, and incurred additional expenses to conduct depositions.”

Other members of the Weaponization Committee spent significantly less than Gates.

Some Washington-area homeowners, including Reps. Patrick T. McHenry (North Carolina), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Mike McCaul (R-Texas), have chosen not to participate in the program at all. Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana), who owns a $1 million home in Virginia, received less than $1,500 a month in compensation.

But other homeowners in the Washington, D.C., area, including Rep. Nancy Mace (D-South Carolina) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), have asked for much higher compensation for some months of 2023 than Rep. Banks.

Mace, who co-owns the $1.649 million Capitol Hill townhouse she bought with then-fiancé Patrick Bryant in 2021, spent a total of $19,395 on the property in the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2023 — an average of more than $2,000 a month — and spent more than $3,000 on lodging in January, March and May.

Swalwell, who bought a $1.215 million home in Washington’s Eckington neighborhood, was reimbursed about $19,000 for lodging expenses over 11 months in 2023. He received $2,838 in lodging reimbursement in May of that year.

As homeowners, Mace and Swalwell cannot rely on taxpayers for mortgage payments and can only deduct taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities and other incidental expenses.

“It’s not ‘normal’ for a wife and three children to split their time between two expensive areas,” Swalwell’s spokeswoman, Cathy Ballou, said in a statement. “Congressmen’s expenses reflect the actual costs of operating in Washington and are approved by the House Clerk’s Office.”

Swalwell is behind on about $1,144 a month in taxes and insurance alone, plus maintenance costs for his home, according to figures provided by a spokesman for the businessman, who declined to provide details.

“The maintenance fee that Senator Swalwell is compensated for varies from month to month,” she added. “Everything he does is acceptable.”

Mr. Mace was told by people who work in his office’s finances that he couldn’t justify charging more than about $1,800 a month for expenses for the townhouse, said two people familiar with the matter. The people, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. One source showed The Post a document listing Mr. Mace’s monthly expenses for the townhouse and calculated the figure at $1,726.

Mace instructed staff to seek maximum compensation on days when the House was in session, regardless of actual expenses, two former staffers and another person familiar with the matter alleged to The Washington Post. Mace denies the allegations.

Mace denied any wrongdoing and declined to detail expenses. Mace’s office did not answer questions about maintenance and other expenses on the home he co-owns with his ex-fiance. Deeds show Mace owns 28 percent of the home, but he did not answer questions about what percentage of the bills he paid. Mace did not claim expenses for the fourth quarter of 2023, but did not explain why.

“We are following all the rules regarding reimbursements,” said Mace spokesman Gabriel Lipsky, who said the department found $300,000 in other savings last year that were unrelated to the reimbursement program.

Mace has been at odds for months with a group of former staffers, including former chief of staff Daniel Hanlon, who launched a primary campaign against him earlier this year. later resignedMr Mace’s main challenger in the hotly contested June 11 primary is South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Catherine Templeton, who has accused Mr Mace of changing sides “for the fame”.

Misuse of taxpayer funds through perks can violate both House rules and federal law, said Kedrick Payne, a former deputy chief counsel for Congressional Ethics who is now vice president of the Campaign Law Center, a nonpartisan government watchdog group. He said anyone who abuses the program could face corruption charges similar to those brought against former Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, who used government and campaign funds to decorate his Capitol Hill office in the style of the TV show “Downton Abbey.”

“The new travel reimbursement rules target very specific expenses and have strict dollar limits,” Payne said. “Members of Congress who violate these rules and submit false travel reimbursement claims may be subject to civil and criminal penalties. The Office of Congressional Ethics frequently investigates blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars by members of Congress. Voters have a right to know that their elected officials are not using public funds for personal expenses.”

While the lawmaker reimbursement system is popular, the perception of unfair profiteering could jeopardize the system. Congress is already one of the least trusted government branches, and a September 2023 Pew Research poll found that 81% of Americans believe lawmakers do a somewhat poor or very poor job of separating their congressional work from their personal financial interests.

The bipartisan House Select Committee on Congressional Modernization has proposed a Legislative Reimbursement Account Program in 2022 as an alternative to salary increases for lawmakers. Defenders of the program argue it would be comparable to benefits offered to lawmakers in the private and executive sectors and would promote diversity in representation.

Congress members earn $174,000 a year, roughly double the median U.S. household income, but typically have to support two families: one in the expensive Washington metropolitan area and one in their home districts, and many of them commute long distances at great expense.

Some good-government and anti-corruption groups argue that raising lawmakers’ salaries would make public service more attractive to a broader range of Americans and curb corruption. But lawmakers haven’t raised their own salaries since 2009 because voting for a raise is considered politically unacceptable. Some lawmakers have even taken to living in their offices to cover the costs.

“Hopefully lawmakers will get the raises they deserve and then everyone can move on,” said a staffer who works on congressional finances, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the program. “But they don’t have the guts to do it, so… [they gave] There is no record keeping and no receipts, which results in a backdoor method of giving raises to members that allows for misuse.”