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Foreign governments typically can't pay for lawmakers to fly overseas - it's against the law in most circumstances. But one member of Congress, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), recently discovered another way to visit a luxury resort in a Caribbean country apparently courtesy of the government there.

Clarke disclosed that she was visiting Antigua and Barbuda and paid by the New York-based PM Group, otherwise known as the Portfolio Marketing Group, to attend the renaming ceremony for the country's highest peak to be Mount Obama. But in the forms filled out as part of the new House requirements for privately financed travel, the PM Group disclosed a representative  of the Antigua and Barbuda government as a person to contact about the trip. Perhaps not surprisingly, the PM Group's web site shows Antigua and Barbuda to be a client.

So did the government of Antigua and Barbuda actually sponsor the trip?

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) is already the subject of two ethics committee investigations, and an amendment to his 2008 personal financial disclosure this month has raised more questions.

The amendment by Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has at least a dozen differences from the original, according to CQ Politics. Among them are a previously undisclosed account valued at least $250,000 with the Congressional Federal Credit Union, holdings in PepsiCo and land in Glassboro, N.J. (listed as "empty lots").

Two separate House ethics subcommittees are already looking at Rangel, who among other things has been accused of improperly maintaining multiple rent-controlled apartments in New York, failing to report rental income to the IRS and taking part in a trip to St. Maarten that may have been paid for by companies which employ lobbyists, a violation of House rules.

The scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues to reverberate as another former congressional aide was indicted by a federal grand jury on public corruption charges.

Horace Cooper, a frequent television commentator and former counsel to Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), was indicted on one count of conspiracy, one count of fraudulent concealment, two counts of false statements and one count of obstructing an official proceeding.

The indictment alleges that from 2001 to 2005, Cooper conspired with Abramoff, "to defraud the United States of his honest services and of its right oto have federal executive branch business conducted without improper influence," a Department of Justice press release indicates. He did so by taking official actions while being rewarded by Abramoff with thousands of dollars in meals, sports tickets and other favors for himself and his associates. The indictment indicates that Cooper took thousands of dollars of such gifts from Abramoff from 1998 to 2000 while he was a congressional staffer.

LegiStorm has added a minor feature to make browing congressional staffers' personal financial disclosures even easier.

You can now see a list of people who have filed by year, allowing users to filter only those who have filed so far in 2009, or those who filed last year. So far, 3,021 people have filed a financial disclosure or extension in 2009, compared to 3,426 people who filed in 2008.

LegiStorm will continue to add personal financial disclosures from members and staffers throughout the year as more filings are received.

Two prominent members of the Senate Ethics Committee have introduced legislation that would require members of Congress to fully disclose all residential mortgages on personal financial disclosures. Currently, mortgages on personal residences are exempt from reporting requirements.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the committee chair, and Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), the vice-chair, crafted the legislation requiring a "full and complete" disclosure of mortgages. This would include the date the mortgage was entered, the range of the amount, the interest rate, the term, and the name and address of the creditor.

The senators announcement last week came as ethics complaints were dismissed against Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). The complaints alleged the senators received improper discounts on mortgages from Countrywide.

The Pentagon may not have wanted them but members of the House Appropriations Committee managed to fund two additional private jets partially for their own use, while also managing to avoid disclosure of these jets as legislative earmarks.

Roll Call, which reported the funding, noted that the move came after lawmakers scolded the CEOs of auto companies for flying private jets to a congressional hearing, turning private planes into a symbol of Wall Street greed leading to the recession.

In all, the committee funded three Gulfstream jets for the Air Force's passenger air service, which transports VIPs such as members of Congress. The Air Force had asked for one of the planes. The extra two that were funded were specficially assigned for Washington, D.C. area units - the same ones responsible for transporting members of Congress.