Thirteen representatives are on pace to overspend their 2020 budgets if they keep up their spending - one by nearly 60 percent.
Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R-Minn.) dropped 39.8 percent of his office's expense allowances in the first quarter, according to LegiStorm data. The average representative spent only 19.5 percent during that time. Hagedorn's expenses include 19.0 percent of his entire annual budget already spent on printing costs and franked mail to constituents, the highest of any representative. The average member has spent 0.8 percent of their budgets on mass mailings.
If Hagedorn continues his spending spree, he will end the year having spent 159.1 percent. In the event that a member overspends, he or she is personally responsible for re-paying that money. Any unspent office funds, meanwhile, are returned to the U.S. Treasury.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the next highest spender, used up 27.7 percent of his budget in Q1, including 6.8 percent on mailings.
Other top spenders included Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Anthony Brown (D-Md.), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Steve Watkins (R-Kan.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), all of whom spent more than 25 percent of their budgets.
The lowest spender was Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) at 11.7 percent. However, congressional offices usually report some expenses after the year is over, with Waters reporting more than 17 percent of her 2019 expenses in 2020.
