(The Center Square) Spending on U.S. House of Representatives office accounts increased by more than 85% over the past three decades but nearly half of that occurred since 2020, an investigation by The Center Square found.
The Members’ Representational Allowance (MRA) provides each of the 435 U.S. representatives in Congress about $2 million a year to pay staff, travel, buy equipment and run their Washington, D.C., and district offices, giving members wide latitude on how to spend the money within House ethics and administration committee rules. Districts receive different amounts depending on cost of living and distance from Washington, D.C., but lawmakers aren’t required to spend all of it – and some do not.
Each member is required to disclose his or her spending, and The Center Square found significant spending on private jet travel, luxury car leasing, meals and catering, questionable mileage reimbursements and subscriptions to news outlets that were recommended for cuts in the executive branch under the Department of Government Efficiency. There was also at least $50 million spent on partisan and issue-specific caucuses.
On top of about $810 million in 2024 for individual lawmakers’ office accounts, the House appropriates billions more for other operations of the House, including perks like a childcare center and an office of attending physician so members didn’t have to deal with waiting for a primary care.
David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a non-partisan, nonprofit that looks out for the use of taxpayer money, said there needs to be a review of all the Congressional spending after The Center Square told him about some of the disbursements detailed in the House office accounts.
“Serving the public should be, you know, public service. [In the past] it was somebody sacrificing something to come to Congress,” Williams told The Center Square. “Now you’re just showered with perks, with benefits, travel, car allowances, now a housing allowance. So it’s turned from public service to really enriching yourself as a member of Congress.”
Senate spends with little transparency
In the Senate, lawmakers get a lot more money per office – between $4.2 million and about $6.5 million, according to a Congress.gov report. But senators are a lot less transparent about what they do with it.
Instead of spreadsheets detailing the spending, the Secretary of the Senate releases PDF files of each office in alphabetical order and with no ability to sort by the top expenses or target specific types of expenditures.
The Center Square called the Senate secretary’s office in an attempt to determine annual spending totals since 1996, but the woman who answered the phone repeatedly said the office only releases the PDF disbursement information. She eventually transferred The Center Square to a voicemail, but no one returned the call.
Congress exempts itself from the Freedom of Information Act so there is no other official mechanism to obtain additional spending information.
