CongressionalBadBoys.com | home | Junkets Frequent Fliers From 2000 through 2005, Democrats and (mostly) Republicans accepted nearly $50 million in trips, often to resorts, from corporations seeking legislative flavors.  That is the conclusion of the most comprehensive report written on congressional travel, released by the Center for Public Integrity. The study found that House and Senate members and their aides spent 81,000 days (222 years) away from Washington, on at least 23,000 trips.  About 2,300 of those trips cost more than $5,000;  at least 500 cost $10,000 or more, and 16 trips cost $25,000 or more. There were 200 trips to Paris, 150 to Hawaii, and 140 to Italy.  Who were the big beneficiaries of the corporate spending?  All these members logged more than $350,000 in free trips for themselves, their spouses, and their aides. Joe Barton (R-Texas) Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) Tom DeLay (R-Texas) Gregory Meeks (D-NY) Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) Don Young (R-Alaska) Why so many Republicans?  Well, my friend, they's the ones with the power.  Sources:  Center for Public Integrity report;  Jeffrey Birnbaum, "Privately Funded Trips Add Up on Capitol Hill," Washington Post, June 6, 2006, A1