I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 638 
To impose a moratorium on the use of appropriated funds for official travel 
outside of the United States by Members, officers, and employees of 
the House of Representatives until the Comptroller General issues a 
report on the costs of such travel and makes recommendations regarding 
appropriate restrictions and reporting requirements on such travel. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 10, 2011 
Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To impose a moratorium on the use of appropriated funds 
for official travel outside of the United States by Mem-
bers, officers, and employees of the House of Representa-
tives until the Comptroller General issues a report on 
the costs of such travel and makes recommendations 
regarding appropriate restrictions and reporting require-
ments on such travel. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Suspending Travel 
After Years of Pleasure trips on Unwitting Taxpayers Act 
of 2011’’ or the ‘‘STAY PUT Act of 2011’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Wall Street Journal reported on July 
2, 2009, that spending on Congressional foreign 
travel has increased nearly tenfold since 1995, with 
lawmakers spending almost $13 million on foreign 
trips in 2008. According to a December 17, 2009, 
follow-up report, the Wall Street Journal found that 
spending on Congressional foreign travel had in-
creased by 70 percent from 2005 to 2008. 
(2) The true cost of Congressional foreign trav-
el cannot be calculated because the cost to travel 
outside of the United States on a military aircraft 
does not have to be disclosed by the Department of 
Defense. 
(3) The Congressional foreign travel reporting 
requirements established by the Mutual Security Act 
of 1954 (22 U.S.C. 1754) do not require members 
of Congress to reveal the purpose or merit of their 
foreign travel to the taxpayers. 
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SEC. 3. MORATORIUM ON USE OF FUNDS FOR OFFICIAL 
FOREIGN TRAVEL BY MEMBERS OF HOUSE 
OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
(a) MORATORIUM.—Until the Comptroller General 
submits the report required under section 4(b), no appro-
priated funds, including official funds of the House of 
Representatives or funds available under any Federal law, 
rule, or regulation, may be used to pay for official travel 
outside of the United States by any Member, officer, or 
employee of the House of Representatives. 
(b) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN TRAVEL.—Subsection 
(a) shall not apply with respect to the following travel: 
(1) Travel to a military installation. 
(2) Travel to a theater of operations of the 
Armed Forces. 
(3) Travel by Members and employees of the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, if the travel is for of-
ficial Committee business. 
(4) Travel by Members and employees of the 
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, if the 
travel is for official Committee business. 
SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON EXPENDITURES FOR OFFI-
CIAL FOREIGN TRAVEL. 
(a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General shall conduct 
a study of the use of appropriated funds (including official 
funds of the House of Representatives, funds made avail-
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able for the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of 
State, and other funds available under any Federal law, 
rule, or regulation) for official travel outside of the United 
States by Members, officers, and employees of the House 
of Representatives, and shall include in the study the fol-
lowing: 
(1) For the period beginning with fiscal year 
1994 and ending with the most recent fiscal year for 
which relevant information is available, and for each 
fiscal year during such period, the amount of such 
funds spent on such travel, the number of trips 
taken, and a list of the most frequently visited des-
tinations, broken down by travel by Members, travel 
by employees, and travel for which payment was 
made using funds of committees of the House of 
Representatives. 
(2) The source of funds used to pay for such 
travel, and any limits on the amount which may be 
spent on such travel or on any component of such 
travel, such as airfare and accommodations. 
(3) The procedures by which the use of funds 
for such travel is approved, including reporting re-
quirements which apply either before or after the 
travel is undertaken, and whether those procedures 
sufficiently restrict the use of the funds for travel 
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which is not in the best interests of taxpayers and 
provide sufficiently detailed information regarding 
how the funds are used. 
(4) The types of military aircraft which are 
used to carry out such travel, the military personnel 
required to operate such aircraft, and the aggregate 
and hourly costs involved. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of State a 
report on the study conducted under subsection (a), and 
shall include in the report such recommendations as the 
Comptroller General considers appropriate for restrictions 
on, and reporting requirements applicable to, official trav-
el outside of the United States by Members, officers, and 
employees of the House of Representatives which will pro-
mote transparency and cost savings. 
Æ 
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