Now THAT'S Ethical!

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not only challenging Defense Department policy regarding reimbursements to the US Treasury for family members accompanying a lawmaker on government business-related travel but is also challenging the very essence of “sweeping” ethics reforms she believes the Democrats spear-headed in their new congressional majority.

There was action taken earlier this year regarding gifts to lawmakers and their staff from lobbyists, an idea that was long overdue, but there now appears to be an issue regarding “protocol” when a lawmaker travels on official business. Apparently a lawmaker’s spouse is expected to travel with the lawmaker while on official business. In the absence of a spouse, an adult child of that lawmaker is apparently expected to fill the void for the sake of proper protocol. Additionally, Ms. Pelosi apparently is having difficulty understanding the difference between “policy” (which is official, written, and unambiguous) and “practice” (which is unofficial, unwritten, and rightfully under scrutiny for the sake of ethics reform).

“It has been longstanding policy that, in the absence of a congressional spouse, the adult child of a member of Congress may accompany the member on official U.S. government travel abroad for protocol reasons and without reimbursing the U.S. Treasury,” Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said according to “The Hill”.

Pentagon officials say the policy is that the Treasury must be reimbursed at commercial rates for children who accompany members on such trips, often called codels. It would seem, then, that since there is a name for the practice of children accompanying their lawmaking parents, it must therefore be the POLICY of the US government that children of members of Congress do not travel for free. Besides, the children of the lawmakers (nor spouses, for that matter) were not elected to office and do not serve in any official capacity, protocol considerations notwithstanding. It makes perfect sense, then, that taxpayers not be required to fund these junkets. If they want to take a road trip with mom or dad, fine. Just do not expect it to be a freebie; pay for it like the rest of us.

Here’s the thing. This elitist, privileged-class attitude among members of Congress is pervasive throughout the entire body, Democrat or Republican. There is a reason why otherwise ordinary citizens are willing to spend millions of dollars trying to convince us that our sorry lives will never be quite right unless we elect them to office. There is no longer any such thing as a member of Congress who is “of the people”, and their continued efforts to enhance their own privilege above that which is afforded the rest of us is a constant reminder of how absolutely power does, indeed, corrupt.