Privately financed trips for members of Congress and their staff hit a 13-year high in 2019, thanks to record spending on travel to Israel.
Private sponsors dropped more than $7.7 million on 2254 trips in 2019. That's the highest since 2005, when spending reached $9.9 million before falling to just $3.6 million in the following two years, according to LegiStorm data.
More than $2.7 million of last year's total expenses came from just 169 trips to Israel - the most private money spent on congressional travel to a single foreign country since at least 2000, and a full $1 million more than the cost of all privately sponsored domestic travel in 2019.
The American Israel Education Foundation, a sister organization to the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group, made up most of that, spending $2.3 million on 129 trips. AIEF is consistently among the top congressional trip sponsors. It and other interest groups spend such large sums on international travel in the hopes of making and influencing congressional allies.
It's possible that members and staff will disclose more 2019 travel in the coming weeks. Trip-goers have 15 days to file upon their return, and late filings are not uncommon.
