Representatives continue to spend the smallest proportions of their budgets in years. That's good news for taxpayers — but not necessarily for Congress.
The average representative spent 60 percent of their official office budget by the third quarter's end, according to LegiStorm data. That number has trended downward since at least 2016, when members spent 66 percent of their allowances in the same time period.
If members continue at their current pace, the average office will end this year with 20 percent of their annual budgets unspent. That's an average of more than $300,000 per office.
There's a tradeoff to ending the year with a large budget surplus. Any unspent money at year's end is returned to the U.S. Treasury. But as much of Congress complains that it's hemorrhaging staff, those are funds that could have gone toward higher staffer pay in an effort to attract and retain talent.
For the first time in at least six years, no members were on track to overspent their annual office budgets at the end of the third quarter. The highest spender so far this year is Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), whose office used more than 72 percent of its funds in nine months. Reps. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.), Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) also each spent more than 71 percent of their budgets.
If a member office overspends its budget for the year, that member is personally responsible for repaying the debt — a scenario that hasn't happened in at least a decade.
