Electoral victory earns the majority party many perks, and having travel paid for by others is one of them.
Both parties take privately funded trips, but LegiStorm found that in each full year since 2000, the majority party has had a considerable edge in both total trips taken and total value.
So far this year, however, the numbers show that Republicans are outpacing Democrats in trips, and doing so largely to get themselves better organized. Although Republicans are still outnumbered in both chambers, they've taken 386 trips to the Democrats' 312 trips so far in the first half of 2010. Democrats still have the edge in travel cost; the Dems' trips have cost private sponsors just over $1 million, while the GOP's trips have cost about $750,000.
The main reason for the Republicans' edge in trips taken is a two-day retreat for conservative chiefs of staff sponsored by the Congressional Institute in early May. At least 113 staffers attended the retreat, held in Cambridge, Md. Most travelers disclosed a trip value of less than $700, making it a relatively cheap jaunt.
We've made the data available to all users through a new feature to our privately financed trips section: you can now see the breakdown of all trips in our database by party.
We've listed the total number of trips and the total cost of the trips by party for each year since 2000, the earliest data available. The results show how majority control leads to more travel. Republicans out-traveled Democrats each year from 2001-2006, then Democrats moved ahead after they took control of both the House and Senate after the 2006 elections. (The total number of trips also dropped considerably in 2006 in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal.)
The new page detailing travel by party is one of several tools we have to look at the
trip data in different ways. Among our offerings are a graph
detailing total trips over time and breaking down the numbers month-by-month, as well as
statistics by year listing the most-traveled members, top destinations and more.
We're always looking for ways to improve LegiStorm and make it more relevant to users. If there's a feature you'd like to see, let us know in the comments or via our feedback form.
