How is each member’s budget determined?
In the House, each member receives an annual budget known as the Member Representational Allowance, or MRA. The specific MRA is for each member is based on several factors, including how far their district is from Washington, D.C., the number of non-business mailing addresses in the district and the cost of office space in the district.
Similarly, in the Senate, each member’s budgets take into account state population and the state’s distance from Washington D.C. Senate budgets vary more widely than House budgets.
Beginning in Fiscal Year 2019, the House allocated additional funds specifically for intern expenses. Each member office has an intern allowance of $20,000. These funds are separate from the MRA budget.
Why doesn’t LegiStorm have summaries of expenses from the Senate?
LegiStorm provides searchable expenses from the House and Senate. However, currently LegiStorm only provides summaries of expenses compared to budgeted totals for the House. We hope to do the same for the Senate when we find time for that project.
What happens if a member exceeds his or her budget?
If a member exceeded his or her member representational allowance budget, the member would be personally responsible for repaying the government for the amount of money that he or she had gone over.
What happens if a member has money left over in his or her budget at the end of the year?
Any leftover money is returned to the Treasury.
Why do members sometimes report their expenses late?
Sometimes invoices can come in well after the expenses were incurred. Other times, sloppy record keeping by the congressional office is to blame.
Who publishes the expenses, and how often?
The House publishes the Statement of Disbursements on a quarterly basis, while the Senate publishes their equivalent documents twice a year.
Why does LegiStorm only show House office-expense comparisons starting in 2010?
LegiStorm provides searchable expense data back to Oct. 1, 2000. LegiStorm digitized the information from the hard copy House Statement of Disbursements until these books were first officially published online in the middle of 2009. The availability of online versions made it easier (although not easy) to pull out the summary data. We start our comparisons in 2010, the first full year for which the records are online.
What mechanisms are in place to help members of the House from exceeding their budgets?
The House Office of the Chief Administrative Officer works with member offices throughout the year to help members keep their budgets on track and alerts offices that are at high risk for going over-budget.
What happens if a House member enters or leaves office mid-term?
In the House, when a member leaves office mid-term, the House Office of the Clerk takes over that member’s budget. The staff continues to receive the same rates of pay until they voluntarily leave their jobs or a new member is sworn in.
When a new representative starts mid-term, he or she does not receive the last member’s budget “leftovers.” Rather, the new member receives a prorated budget based on the old member’s previously calculated budget.
When a Senator leaves office mid-term, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate takes over the office’s budget and continues to pay the staff for up to 60 days.
What does a member do if they’re going to go over budget?
There are ways the member offices can legally manipulate their budget at the end of the year. For example, a chief of staff can temporarily take a pay cut for the end of a calendar year, only to be repaid early the next year (and out of the next year’s budget).
Or, if a vendor annually bills the office for a service, like a newspaper subscription, the office can make a deal with the vendor to re-date the invoice to the following year, allowing the office to pay the bill with the next year’s budget.
And, for certain expenses, such as utility bills, incurred in December and the following January, members have a choice of paying for the expenses from either year’s budget.
Are there limits on how much a member can spend on a certain category of expenses?
No, members may allocate their own budget (i.e., member representational allowance) however they like, as long as the expenditures otherwise meet basic ethics rules.
What expenses are not included in a member's own budget?
Member salaries are not reported as part of a member's own member representational allowance office expenses. Nor are employee benefits including. That includes costs like health insurance, pension payments and student-loan repayments. In the House, beginning in 2019, additional intern allowance funds are available for members. Expenses paid from the intern allowance budget are not included in the MRA budget for a member.
The official office budgets also don't include anything relating to a member's campaign organizations. Ethics rules prohibit official office subsidies of campaigns, and vice versa. Campaign spending is separately reported to the Federal Election Commission. LegiStorm does not currently make FEC data available.
What is franked mail?
Franked mail refers to mass mailing that members send to communicate with constituents. In the House, the Committee on House Administration presides over franking and must approve mass mailings before they are sent to ensure that they aren’t used for electioneering or personal purposes. Members may not send franked mail within 90 days of an election.
