Lawmakers on Recess Take Wing for Distant Shores

August 11, 2009
By BRODY MULLINS and T.W. FARNAM

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Nick Rahall (D., W.Va.) is island-hopping this week in the Pacific. Rep. Keith Ellison (D., Minn.) is tweeting from Kenya. Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) is preparing for a three-week trip to Europe with his wife.

These are among more than a dozen taxpayer-funded trips by lawmakers during Congress's monthlong summer recess. Financial reports on lawmaker travel expenses aren't due for 30 days. Even then, details on hotels and meals don't have to be disclosed.

Mr. Rahall is leading about a half-dozen lawmakers on a 10-day trip to the Pacific. They are reviewing how immigration laws are applied in the Northern Marianas, a U.S. territory, according to a statement from the House Natural Resources Committee, which has jurisdiction over U.S. territories. Mr. Rahall is the committee chairman.

The delegation flew on military planes and brought along several congressional aides, according to the Saipan Tribune, a daily newspaper in the Northern Mariana Islands. The Islands' delegate to Congress, Gregorio Sablan, treated lawmakers to a barbecue, the paper said.

The congressional delegation stayed at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, according to hotel staff.
The lawmakers plan to visit American Samoa, Hawaii, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.

Mr. Rahall couldn't be reached for comment.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D., Calif.), is leading a separate trip to South Korea to meet officials there, according to his spokeswoman.

Mr. Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat, is sending Twitter messages from his Blackberry during a 10-day trip to Africa. Mr. Ellison, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, visited the western Darfur region of Sudan and the southern city of Juba, before moving on to Nairobi, Kenya, he reported to his 3,213 Twitter followers.

"Caught the sniffles in Kenya. What a drag," he tweeted on Monday. "Anyway, we had a great morning learning about solutions to gender-based violence in Kenya."

Rep. Bobby Rush (D., Ill.) will depart this week with six lawmakers to strengthen business ties with Africa, according to his press release.

Sen. Jim Webb (D., Va.) landed Monday in Thailand for a five-country, two-week trip through Southeast Asia, a spokeswoman said. Mr. Webb is the chairman of a subpanel on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that overseas East Asia and the Pacific. He is seeking firsthand knowledge of the region, a spokeswoman said.

After leaving Thailand, Mr. Webb will travel to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar, his office said. Mr. Webb's visit to Myanmar will be the first trip by a U.S. senator to the country in a decade, according to his office.

Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the top House Republican, and five other lawmakers were in Mongolia on Monday, part of a two-week trip around the world, according to a press release from the Mongolian president.

Write to Brody Mullins at brody.mullins@wsj.com and T.W. Farnam at timothy.farnam@wsj.com