The C Street Family’s Frequent Fliers Club

A breakdown of the $120,000 the Family has spent sending members of Congress all over the world.

<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/C-40B_USAF_VIP_Transport.jpg">Wikimedia</a>

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[READ ALSO “JUNKETS FOR JESUS”: How your congressman traveled the world to preach to dictators on the taxpayers’ dime.]

Some members of Congress make a point of working visits to Family friends into their official travel—Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), and others have conducted Family business on taxpayer-funded trips. Others have relied on the Family’s generosity in underwriting their travel. Based on congressional records, here’s a breakdown of the nearly $120,000 the organization has spent just in the past decade to take members anywhere from Aruba and Hawaii to Jordan, Japan, and Greece.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)

 Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)

$48,582

for trips to Jordan, Israel, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Croatia, and Greece.

Much of Aderholt’s globe-hopping involved the Balkan version of the National Prayer Breakfast. Stan Holmes, a Family official who arranges much of the congressional travel, told Roll Call that the trips are “built around the spiritual realm.”

Reps. John Carter (R-Texas) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.)

Reps. John Carter (R-Texas) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.)

$7,490

each for trip to Belarus.

 

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

$7,523

for trips to British Virgin Islands as “guest speaker for prayer breakfast” and to Lebanon to “build bonds.”

 

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.)

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.)

$11,513

for trips to Aruba (with wife Susan), British Virgin Islands, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.

 

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)

$16,808

for trips to Jordan, Israel, and Japan for “fact-finding” and “policy dialogue/programs with Japanese officials.”

 

Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio, left Congress 2002)

Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio, left Congress 2002)

$3,454

for trip to Hawaii for “National Prayer Breakfast Activities.”

 

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)

$7,888

for trip to Jordan and Israel to “build bridges of friendship.”

 

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)

$15,268

for trips to Hawaii, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, and Lebanon, all for “meeting with government officials and other National Prayer Breakfast activities.”

Aderholt, Carter, Pitts, Coburn, Doyle, Ensign, Hall, Hoekstra, Wolf photos courtesy of Wikimedia.

Budgets and trip information from LegiStorm.com.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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