Two Democratic representatives are on pace to overspend their 2019 office budgets, according to a new LegiStorm breakdown of member expenses.
Rep. David Scott (Ga.) tops the ranks with 50.45 spent in the first half of the year. The average representative spent 40.95 percent of her or his budget during that same time period. Scott has already spent nearly a tenth of his total annual budget on printing and franking alone — a common strategy to reach constituents. The average representative has spent less than one percent of her or his office budget on constituent outreach.
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) follows Scott with 50.04 percent of her budget gone, thanks mainly to her office's high travel expenses. Official expense books do not detail where Wilson's office traveled to rack up nearly $46,000 in taxpayer travel expenses in six months. But the spending includes roughly $23,000 on commercial transportation, $6,000 on car rentals and $2,000 on taxis, parking and tolls.
Although Democrats and Republicans have spent nearly identical portions of their budgets on average, Democrats hold the top seven spending spots. In addition to Scott and Wilson, Democratic Reps. Robin Kelly (Ill.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Darren Soto (Fla.) and Adam Schiff (Calif.) are the remaining top spenders.
