Amid COVID-19 spikes, private sponsors have continued to send members and staffers on trips, although few in number and mainly for Republicans.
In September, the Bipartisan Policy Center sent Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) and a staffer in Comer's Madisonville office to Joint Base Charleston in South Carolina. The pair, who report that they traveled by rental car, met with Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.). South Carolina experienced a spike in COVID cases around the same time.
The think tank also sponsored a September day trip to Maryland for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), who "met with civic and business leaders, along with health care experts in addiction issues and mental health in MD-06," according to a disclosure.
This brings the total number of trips since March to three. The Red River Valley Sugarbeet Education Foundation was the first private group to resume congressional trips, with early September travel for four staffers to North Dakota for agriculture-related meetings and tours.
In 2018, more than 1,100 members and staffers disclosed accepting private travel worth a combined $2.3 million in the six months before Election Day. This year, trips during the same time period have totaled less than $6,000 for only seven travelers. None were overseas.
Six of those seven have been Republicans. This number does not include Rep. Cunningham, a Democrat, who has not disclosed accepting travel reimbursements for his participation in Rep. Comer's South Carolina trip.
