I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4289 

To enhance the disclosure of information on official foreign travel of Members 

and employees of Congress, to impose additional restrictions on such 

travel, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2012 

Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To enhance the disclosure of information on official foreign 

travel of Members and employees of Congress, to impose 

additional restrictions on such travel, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Transparency and Ac5 countability in Congressional Travel Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ENHANCED DISCLOSURE OF MEMBER AND STAFF 

2 TRAVEL. 

3 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFICIAL FOR4 EIGN TRAVEL BY MEMBERS AND EMPLOYEES.— 

5 (1) STATEMENT REQUIRED PRIOR TO UNDER6 TAKING TRAVEL.—A Member or employee of Con7 gress may not undertake any official foreign travel 

8 unless, not later than 14 days prior to the date on 

9 which the travel begins, the Member or employee 

10 prepares and submits to the Clerk of the House of 

11 Representatives (in the case of a Member or em12 ployee of the House) or the Secretary of the Senate 

13 (in the case of a Senator or employee of the Senate) 

14 a statement containing the following information: 

15 (A) The name and position of the Member 

16 or employee involved, and (in the case of an em17 ployee) the employing office. 

18 (B) The office authorizing the travel. 

19 (C) A statement of worthiness regarding 

20 the purpose of the travel, including a descrip21 tion of how the travel relates to the Member’s 

22 or employee’s official duties. 

23 (D) A tentative itinerary for each day of 

24 the travel, including a list of the foreign nations 

25 and the locations within each such nation the 

26 Member or employee intends to visit and any 


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1 individuals with whom the Member or employee 

2 intends to meet. 

3 (E) The names of any other individuals 

4 who are accompanying the Member or employee 

5 during the travel, without regard to whether 

6 such individuals are Members or employees of 

7 the House. 

8 (F) The amount of per diem the Member 

9 or employee requested to be provided for the 

10 travel, and whether the amount is greater than 

11 the standard per diem provided under chapter 

12 57 of title 5, United States Code. 

13 (G) A statement as to whether the aircraft 

14 to be used for transportation for the travel is 

15 commercial, chartered, private, or military), and 

16 (in the case of commercial aircraft) whether the 

17 seating is coach, business class, or first class. 

18 (H) The Member’s or employee’s best esti19 mate of the costs of the travel, itemized by the 

20 costs of transportation, meals, and lodging. 

21 (I) If any portion of the cost of the travel 

22 will be paid using appropriated funds other 

23 than funds of the House of Representatives or 

24 Senate (including funds of the Department of 


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1 Defense or the Department of State), the name 

2 of the office which is the source of such funds. 

3 (2) STATEMENT REQUIRED AFTER COMPLETION

4 OF TRAVEL.—Not later than 14 days after com5 pleting any official foreign travel, the Member or 

6 employee who undertook the travel shall prepare and 

7 submit to the Clerk of the House of Representatives 

8 (in the case of a Member or employee of the House) 

9 or the Secretary of the Senate (in the case of a Sen10 ator or employee of the Senate) a statement con11 taining the following information: 

12 (A) The name and position of the Member 

13 or employee involved, and (in the case of an em14 ployee) the employing office. 

15 (B) The office authorizing the travel. 

16 (C) A statement detailing the value, wor17 thiness, and educational benefit to the Member 

18 or employee of the travel. 

19 (D) The actual itinerary for the travel, in20 cluding a comprehensive statement of travel 

21 times, foreign nations visited and the locations 

22 visited in each such nation, meetings, and other 

23 activities carried out during the travel. 

24 (E) The names of any other individuals 

25 who did accompany the Member or employee 


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1 during the travel, without regard to whether 

2 such individuals are Members or employees of 

3 the House. 

4 (F) How much (if any) per diem was pro5 vided for the travel and how much (if any) of 

6 such per diem was unspent. 

7 (G) A statement as to whether the aircraft 

8 used for transportation for the travel was com9 mercial, chartered, private, or military), and (in 

10 the case of commercial aircraft) whether the 

11 seating was coach, business class, or first class. 

12 (H) The actual cost of the travel, itemized 

13 by the costs of— 

14 (i) transportation (including the iden15 tification of the providers of the transpor16 tation); 

17 (ii) lodging (including the identifica18 tion of the providers of the lodging); and 

19 (iii) meals (including the identification 

20 of the providers of the meals). 

21 (I) If any portion of the cost of the travel 

22 was paid (or will be paid) using appropriated 

23 funds other than funds of the House of Rep24 resentatives or Senate (including funds of the 

25 Department of Defense or the Department of 


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1 State), the name of the office which is the 

2 source of such funds and the amount of the 

3 payment which is (or which will be) attributable 

4 to such office. 

5 (3) EXCEPTION FOR CLASSIFIED INFORMA6 TION.—A Member or employee may exclude from a 

7 statement prepared under this subsection any infor8 mation which is classified, so long as the Member in9 cludes documentation in support of the exclusion in 

10 the statement prepared under this subsection. 

11 (4) USE OF ELECTRONIC FILING.—To the 

12 greatest extent practicable, a Member or employee 

13 shall submit the statements required under this sec14 tion in both paper and electronic form. 

15 (b) DETERMINATION AND DISCLOSURE OF COSTS IN16 CURRED BY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE OR SECRETARY OF

17 STATE.—In the case of official foreign travel of a Member 

18 or employee of Congress for which any of the costs are 

19 to be paid by funds of the Department of Defense or the 

20 Department of State, the Secretary of Defense or the Sec21 retary of State (as the case may be) shall, not later than 

22 10 days after completion of the travel involved, provide 

23 the Member or employee with a written statement con24 taining the following information: 


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1 (1) The cost incurred with respect to the Mem2 ber or employee, itemized by the cost of transpor3 tation, lodging, and meals. 

4 (2) A statement as to whether the aircraft used 

5 for transportation for the travel was commercial, 

6 chartered, private, or military), and (in the case of 

7 commercial aircraft) whether the seating was coach, 

8 business class, or first class. 

9 (3) Such other information as the Member or 

10 employee may request in order to enable the Member 

11 or employee to prepare and submit the statement re12 quired under subsection (a)(2). 

13 (c) INTERNET POSTING OF REPORTS.—Upon receiv14 ing a statement under subsection (a) with respect to offi15 cial foreign travel of a Member or employee of Congress, 

16 the Clerk of the House of Representatives or the Secretary 

17 of the Senate (as the case may be) shall post the statement 

18 on the Clerk’s or Secretary’s official public Internet site 

19 in a searchable, sortable, and downloadable manner. 

20 SEC. 3. OTHER RESTRICTIONS ON OFFICIAL FOREIGN 

21 TRAVEL OF MEMBERS AND STAFF. 

22 (a) PROHIBITING VACATION STOPOVERS DURING

23 TRAVEL.—A Member or employee of Congress may not 

24 undertake a vacation stopover for annual leave at any 

25 point during official foreign travel. 


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1 (b) RESTRICTIONS ON TRAVEL BY EMPLOYEES.— 

2 (1) TRAVEL BY EMPLOYEES OF MEMBERS.—An 

3 employee of Congress whose employing office is the 

4 office of a Member of Congress may not undertake 

5 any official foreign travel unless— 

6 (A) the authorizing office for the travel is 

7 the office of the Member; 

8 (B) the travel is undertaken by the em9 ployee to accompany the Member on the Mem10 ber’s own official foreign travel; and 

11 (C) no other employee of the office accom12 panies the Member on such travel. 

13 (2) TRAVEL BY EMPLOYEES OF COMMITTEES.— 

14 An employee of Congress whose employing office is 

15 the office of a committee of the House of Represent16 atives or Senate (including a joint committee) may 

17 not undertake any official foreign travel unless— 

18 (A) the authorizing office for the travel is 

19 the office of the committee; 

20 (B) the travel is undertaken by the em21 ployee to accompany a Member who serves on 

22 the committee on the Member’s own official for23 eign travel; and 

24 (C) the number of employees accom25 panying the Members of the committee on such 


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1 travel does not exceed the number of Members 

2 of the committee who are participating in such 

3 travel. 

4 (3) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN TRAVEL.—This 

5 subsection does not apply with respect to travel to 

6 a military installation or travel to a theater of oper7 ations of the Armed Forces. 

8 (c) REQUIRING EFFORTS TO REDUCE EXPENSES; 

9 RETURN OF UNSPENT PER DIEM.—Each Member and 

10 employee of Congress who undertakes official foreign trav11 el shall— 

12 (1) take such actions as may be necessary to re13 duce the costs incurred for such travel; and 

14 (2) return any per diem provided to the Mem15 ber or employee which remains unexpended as of the 

16 conclusion of the travel. 

17 (d) NO EFFECT ON OTHER AUTHORIZATION RE18 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this section shall be construed 

19 to affect any requirement under the Rules of the House 

20 of Representatives, the Standing Rules of the Senate, or 

21 any law that a Member, officer, or employee of Congress 

22 obtain authorization for official foreign travel prior to un23 dertaking such travel. 

24 (e) REGULATIONS.—This section shall be carried out 

25 in accordance with regulations promulgated— 


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1 (1) by the Committee on House Administration 

2 of the House of Representatives, with respect to 

3 Members and employees of the House of Representa4 tives; or 

5 (2) by the Committee on Rules and Administra6 tion of the Senate, with respect to Senators and em7 ployees of the Senate. 

8 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act, the following definitions apply: 

10 (1) The term ‘‘authorizing office’’ means, with 

11 respect to a Member or employee of Congress, the 

12 office which is authorized under law or the Rules of 

13 the House of Representatives or the Standing Rules 

14 of the Senate to approve the use of appropriated 

15 funds, including official funds of the Senate or 

16 House of Representatives, for official travel outside 

17 of the United States by the Member or employee. 

18 (2) The term ‘‘employee of Congress’’ means an 

19 individual whose salary is disbursed by the Chief Ad20 ministrative Officer of the House of Representatives 

21 or the Secretary of the Senate. 

22 (3) The term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ means a 

23 Senator or a Representative in, or Delegate or Resi24 dent Commissioner to, the Congress. 


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1 (4) The term ‘‘official foreign travel’’ means 

2 any travel outside of the United States for which the 

3 costs (including the costs of transportation, lodging, 

4 meals, and related expenses) may be covered by ap5 propriated funds, including official funds of the Sen6 ate or House of Representatives, under law or the 

7 Rules of the House of Representatives or the Stand8 ing Rules of the Senate, or by funds provided under 

9 section 502(b) of the Mutual Security Act of 1954 

10 (22 U.S.C. 1754(b)). 

11 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

12 This Act shall apply with respect to official foreign 

13 travel undertaken after the expiration of the 90-day period 

14 which begins on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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