The American Israel Education Foundation has spent a record amount to send members of Congress and their staff to Israel in 2011, even before all the numbers are in.
AIEF has spent nearly $1.5 million on congressional travel already in 2011, primarily on a series of trips by members of Congress to Israel over the August recess.
The organizations have been sending members of Congress to Israel during the August recess every other year for about 20 years. This year, the trip was broken into three separate groups. A group of about 30 Democrats traveled to Israel the second week of August, followed by two different groups of Republicans in the following weeks. The total cost to AIEF for the August trips alone has already reached more than $1 million, and about two dozen people have yet to file disclosures detailing the costs for their travel.
Only once before has any organization broken into seven-figure spending on trips for members of Congress and their staff in an entire year. In 2009, AIEF spent nearly $1.2 million on congressional travel, with more than half of that total going toward the the August trips.
As Roll Call points out in a story today, although AIEF is technically a separate organization, it is virtually indistinguishable from AIPAC. As a pro-Israel lobbying group, AIPAC is prohibited from sponsoring most congressional trips. The organization uses a loophole in the ethics rules which does not restrict AIEF in the same manner.
In early August, the Washington Post reported 81 members would travel to Israel in August courtesy of AIEF, the largest group in the two decades AIPAC or its nonprofit arm have been sponsoring the trip.
Until all disclosures are in, the exact numbers of travelers will not be known, but lists filed by AIEF before the trips show that 89 members and 12 staffers were invited on the three jaunts. In many cases, AIEF also paid for an accompanying spouse or family member. Because these lists are from pre-trip disclosure forms, some members may not have taken the trip.
The full list of invited members of Congress:
Democratic delegation (August 7-15)
Rep. Bruce Braley (D-FL)
Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO)
Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL)
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)
Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI)
Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Rep. Jim Costa (D-CA)
Rep. Mark Critz (D-PA)
Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA)
Rep. Gene Green (D-TX)
Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA)
Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI)
Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL)
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA)
Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI)
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI)
Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY)
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO)
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL)
Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA)
Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH)
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
Republican Delegation (August 13-21)
Rep. Dan Benishek (R-MI)
Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA)
Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN)
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC)
Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC)
Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX)
Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN)
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN)
Rep. Cory Gardner (R-CO)
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ)
Rep. Tim Griffin (R-AZ)
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY)
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)
Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-NY)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)
Rep. Thomas Marino (R-PA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)
Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA)
Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA)
Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ)
Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY)
Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)
Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL)
Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ)
Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC)
Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL)
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN)
Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO)
Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI)
Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS)
Republican Delegation (August 20-28)
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)
Rep. Diane Black (R-TN)
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)
Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN)
Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY)
Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX)
Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA)
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)
Rep. Robert Hurt (R-VA)
Rep. George Kelly (R-PA)
Rep. James Lankford (R-OK)
Rep. Billy Long (R-MO)
Rep. David McKinley (R-WV)
Rep. Richard Nugent (R-FL)
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS)
Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN)
Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS)
Rep. Tom Price (R-GA)
Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-IL)
Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA)
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR)
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL)
Rep. Allen West (R-FL)
Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR)
