The U.S. House ethics committee has ended a probe into the handling of per diem travel reimbursements for six congressmen, including North Carolina’s G.K. Butterfield, a Democrat representing the 1st Congressional District.
The News & Observer reports:
The committee undertook its investigation after referrals last summer from the independent Office of Congressional Ethics.
That office based its investigation on a Wall Street Journal article from March 2010 about House members who did not return unused portions of their travel per diems.
In Butterfield’s case, the ethics office said in a 20-page report that the congressman received excess per diem in four trips between June 2008 and August 2009 even as he received 40 “hosted” meals.
SNIP
But the ethics committee staff said it did not find evidence to support that report. The staff also said its evidence showed only that Butterfield attended 12 “hosted” meals, as the report described them.
Interviews in the committee’s 800-page report show that House members are given only general guidance about how to use the per diems and are “highly encouraged” to return unused per diems to the U.S. Treasury. Receipts are not required.
Rank and file members of Congress make $174,000 per year. I guess these pocked per diems are a Christmas bonus.
