From Deseret News archives:

Hatch, Bennett frequent fliers

Their travel costs rank in the top 150 of 582 in Congress

Published: Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2004 10:33 a.m. MDT
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Do you get to travel much for your job — free trips to Prague, Berlin, New York City, Helsinki, Spain, maybe to Florida four times over the past 3 1/2 years?

No?

Clearly you are not a member of the U.S. Congress from Utah.

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Bob Bennett's travel

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National Public Radio's Marketplace program and American RadioWorks, an NPR subsidiary, has collected and collated the privately paid trips U.S. congressmen have taken since 1999. NPR points out that while congressional rules don't allow a lawmaker to accept any gift over $50, travel and its "reasonable" associated expenses, like meals, aren't restricted.

While U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both R-Utah, are not the leaders of the travel pack, the senators have chalked up some serious fly-miles, the NPR report shows.

Meanwhile, Reps. Chris Cannon and Rob Bishop, both R-Utah, and Jim Matheson, D-Utah, congressional neophytes compared with Hatch and Bennett, rank well down in the special-interest-funded trips they've taken.

And no Utah federal legislator cracked the top 100 in overall acceptance of free trips or in length of free trips, the report found. But Bennett isn't far out of the running — or flying.

Since 1999, Bennett, who seeks a third, six-year term this year, has gone on 11 privately funded trips at a total cost of $35,512.28. The report only looked at privately funded travel; the review does not include any official trips that Congress itself pays for.

Bennett ranks 130th out of the 582 congressmen who traveled during that time frame. There are 535 members of Congress, but the NPR review included former congressmen who served during the four-year study time.

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