House finalizes new expenses plan, bringing Congress more in line with the American workforce
The reimbursement rules are the product of painstaking bipartisan talks — but it’s not clear how many lawmakers will participate in the voluntary system.
House members will soon be eligible for a workplace benefit that’s common in corporate life — reimbursement for expenses they rack up — according to new rules obtained by POLITICO.
The new framework is among the biggest changes to Congress’ financial operation in decades, and it would upend a long tradition of lawmakers covering an array of their own out-of-pocket costs directly associated with their jobs. That setup is a longtime albatross for members of both parties, who often lament it as burdensome and exclusionary.
But despite the months of negotiation, legal debate and financial modeling that helped House members shape their new system, it will come with new risks of its own when it gets released on Friday. Lawmakers will be allowed to claim reimbursement for meals and lodging on a voluntary basis, and leadership aides suggested that a significant number of members may opt out of reimbursement in order to prioritize other expenses.
All expense payments will be made public each quarter, an attempt to soften lawmakers’ long-running concerns about the perception that they can line their own pockets with taxpayer money.
A copy of the new policies viewed by POLITICO indicates that House members would take their expense payments from the same office accounts that fund their official travel and staff salaries, requiring them to weigh their spending against other pressing needs of their offices.
The final guidance rolls out an “alternative expense and vouchering reimbursement process that does not require the submission of receipts to reduce burdens and address the potential security risks,” wrote the House’s nonpartisan Chief Administrative Officer. The CAO wrote a draft proposal under Democratic control before releasing this week’s final rules with unanimous support under GOP control — a rare show of bipartisan approval for the reimbursement regulations.
The new reimbursement rules would create a so-called “dual duty station” system that recognizes lawmakers conduct their official business in two locations: the capital and their districts. Costs incurred since the start of the current Congress would be eligible, with reimbursement predicated on caps already set by the General Services Administration for other federal workers.
That includes a $79 daily cap for meals and incidentals in Washington and a lower cap for travel days partially spent on the Hill.
Lawmakers haven’t raised their own pay since the depths of the Great Recession and have voted each year to block cost-of-living increases for fear of political backlash. But plenty of Democrats and Republicans have long raised concerns about the expectation they maintain two residences on their $174,000 annual salaries: one in the district and one in Washington.
For that reason, one of the last and thorniest issues that lawmakers had to iron out before releasing the new reimbursement rules was how to address lodging in Washington, from members who rent small apartments to those who own pricey houses steps from the Capitol.
The culture surrounding congressional lodging differs, occasionally wildly, depending on the party and chamber.
Dozens of mostly GOP lawmakers have lived in their own offices, sleeping and showering in House office buildings. Some boast that refusing to make a home in Washington keeps them tied to their districts; others became office-sleepers out of financial hardship, like former House Administration Committee Chair Gregg Harper (R-Miss.).
Harper testified last year that he couldn’t afford high rents in the capital while also paying for care for a child with disabilities, prompting his move to the private sector.
“My view has always been that you shouldn’t have to be independently wealthy to serve in the United States House of Representatives,” Harper said in a recent interview.
On the other side of the aisle, first-term Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) went public about poor credit that he said hurt his ability to rent an apartment in Washington, even with the promise of a high congressional salary.
“Just applied to an apartment in DC where I told the guy that my credit was really bad. He said I’d be fine. Got denied, lost the apartment, and the application fee,” he wrote in a Dec. 8 tweet. “This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have money.”
Under the new system, lawmakers can get reimbursed for hotel stays as well as utilities and insurance for property rented or owned in the capital. Members who bought property will not be able to claim reimbursement for principal or interest on their mortgage, but rental costs will be eligible to claim. The daily rate is capped at between $172 and $258, depending on the month.
But things get more complicated from there. Lodging eligibility in the voluntary system will be closely tied to the House schedule, meaning that members who stay in Washington during recess days without official committee business won’t be able to expense those days — even if they’re working.
In addition, according to last week’s update to the Members’ Congressional Handbook, “members whose primary residence is within 50 miles of the Capitol may not be reimbursed for lodging expenses except in extraordinary circumstances.”
The lengthy talks that produced the new reimbursement rules sent staffers looking for model systems across the federal government, state legislatures and private sector. Concerns about brushing too closely to lawmaker compensation and running afoul of the 27th Amendment also came up, according to both Democratic and Republican aides interviewed for this story.
Nearly two months before the House Administration panel approved the regulations unanimously last week, Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and his Democratic counterpart Joe Morelle (N.Y.) huddled off the floor to effectively kickstart member reimbursement talks for the new Congress.
Jeffries and Morelle drew from their experience in the New York State Legislature, which has a longstanding reimbursement system, along with 44 other state legislatures.
Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) said the changes align members of Congress with common practice for other workplaces.
“My understanding is the executive branch, all businesses in the world, … when they travel more than 50 miles away from their home, their duty station, they are generally expected to expense virtually everything,” Timmons said.
“The bottom line is, this is about giving more choices and treating members of Congress like every other employee, not just of government, but throughout the nation,” agreed former Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), a past Administration panel chief who’s been involved in discussions on the issue for at least a decade.
Yet in some ways, lawmakers will remain on an island bureaucratically. They will “have to pay taxes on” their use of the expense funds, a senior House aide told POLITICO. “In some ways, they’re not even able to be brought into full alignment with how a lot of other individuals are treated, in terms of the expenses incurred in the performance of their jobs.”