Illinois state legislators get reimbursed for the miles they travel between their home districts and Springfield when they are in session. They receive 39 cents per mile and $111 per diem for food and lodging. According to the Daily Herald, “Combined, those costs totaled $1,709,703 last year.” Is that amount reasonable?
Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute, obviously does not think so because she said, “Most people pay their own way when it comes to putting gas in their cars to get to work or covering the cost of a sandwich at lunchtime.”
WRONG!!
Yes, people pay their own transportation costs to go to work, and legislators do that when going to their District Office, but when they have to travel they should be reimbursed as any employee would when they are out of the office on business. In fact, the Internal Revenue Service has calculated the 2011 standard at 55.5 cents per mile for business purposes. The State of Illinois is only reimbursing at 39 cents.
The government rate for a hotel room in Springfield is $70, but with taxes it comes closer to $80. That leaves a lawmaker with only $31/day (out of the $111 per diem) to feed themselves in restaurants. Unless someone is eating from the value menu at McDonald’s, they are hard pressed not to spend their own money.
In a DailyHerald story, Rasmussen also contended that “legislators are using expense reimbursements as a crutch to not be more frugal with taxpayers’ dollars. She suggests legislators could take trains to and from Springfield or carpool, which many admit they don’t do.” Are the legislators in third grade and need to carpool?
There are 59 Illinois State Senators and 118 State Representatives. I think the taxpayers of Illinois pay a very small price to house and feed 177 public servants.
For the Illinois Policy Institute to waste their time analyzing the expenditures is much ado about nothing.
NIce read.....I agree that the per diem and the .39 a mile are fair - if not below fair....
ReplyDeleteBecaue of my nature (perhaps I give the benefit of the doubt too much) I have to trust that our elected officials are responsible when filing their expenses. BUT for millions of tax payers who are extremely jaded of the political process and of those in office for that matter, the question (perhaps the elephant in the room) is how are these expense reports audited? In the coporate world, expenses are put through layers of approvals prior to being paid out....who is approving these expenses prior to them being paid out? Who is questioning the submitted expenses?
It is one thing to say that .39 a mile is well below corporate america BUT how many miles might we be paying for that are not really being traveled? Zero, I hope but "hope" sometimes is like fishing without a hook. Just saying!
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