The C Street Family’s Frequent Fliers Club

A breakdown of the $120,000 the Family has spent sending members of Congress all over the world.

<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/C-40B_USAF_VIP_Transport.jpg">Wikimedia</a>

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

[READ ALSO “JUNKETS FOR JESUS”: How your congressman traveled the world to preach to dictators on the taxpayers’ dime.]

Some members of Congress make a point of working visits to Family friends into their official travel—Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), and others have conducted Family business on taxpayer-funded trips. Others have relied on the Family’s generosity in underwriting their travel. Based on congressional records, here’s a breakdown of the nearly $120,000 the organization has spent just in the past decade to take members anywhere from Aruba and Hawaii to Jordan, Japan, and Greece.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)

 Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)

$48,582

for trips to Jordan, Israel, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Croatia, and Greece.

Much of Aderholt’s globe-hopping involved the Balkan version of the National Prayer Breakfast. Stan Holmes, a Family official who arranges much of the congressional travel, told Roll Call that the trips are “built around the spiritual realm.”

Reps. John Carter (R-Texas) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.)

Reps. John Carter (R-Texas) and Joe Pitts (R-Pa.)

$7,490

each for trip to Belarus.

 

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

$7,523

for trips to British Virgin Islands as “guest speaker for prayer breakfast” and to Lebanon to “build bonds.”

 

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.)

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.)

$11,513

for trips to Aruba (with wife Susan), British Virgin Islands, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.

 

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.)

$16,808

for trips to Jordan, Israel, and Japan for “fact-finding” and “policy dialogue/programs with Japanese officials.”

 

Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio, left Congress 2002)

Rep. Tony Hall (D-Ohio, left Congress 2002)

$3,454

for trip to Hawaii for “National Prayer Breakfast Activities.”

 

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.)

$7,888

for trip to Jordan and Israel to “build bridges of friendship.”

 

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.)

$15,268

for trips to Hawaii, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, and Lebanon, all for “meeting with government officials and other National Prayer Breakfast activities.”

Aderholt, Carter, Pitts, Coburn, Doyle, Ensign, Hall, Hoekstra, Wolf photos courtesy of Wikimedia.

Budgets and trip information from LegiStorm.com.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate