Bennett's trips a bit pricey?

With the national political spotlight shining on congressional travel these days, a new report on United States senators' and representatives' privately funded trips shows Sen. Bob Bennett has taken some pricey sojourns: 13 trips over four years costing more than $43,348 total.

Bennett, R-Utah, has recently gone to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and Venice, Italy.

According to the new report, compiled by PoliticalMoneyLine.com, Bennett's travel ranks 128th among the more than 600 current and former U.S. congressmen who accepted privately funded trips since 2000. Nearly 2,000 entities spent more than $17 million on members of Congress for airfare, hotels and meals for trips that occurred in that time frame, the report shows.

The report says that congressmen often go on trips to be educated about specific issues. For instance, the Nuclear Energy Institute, which supports nuclear power, sends congressmen to cities that have nearby nuclear power plants or nuclear power conferences. It paid for trips to Paris; Barcelona, Spain; Rome; and Las Vegas.

Bennett's Cabo trip, costing $2,760, was paid for by the Utah Automobile Dealers Association. Bennett stayed two days in early November 2004 and gave the keynote address during association meetings, said his spokeswoman Mary Jane Collipriest.

He went to Venice in August last year and stayed five days at a cost of $5,076, to attend a conference paid for by the Aspen Institute, a high-powered think tank whose meetings former President Bill Clinton used to attend. It also paid for him to go to three other foreign countries.

Bennett has gone to Prague, Czech Republic; Helsinki, Finland; Punta Mita, Mexico; and Spain (no city listed). Bennett is the new president of the Transatlantic Policy Network, which paid for two of his recent trips at a cost of $4,537, and as such he will likely be traveling abroad even more, visiting foreign governments and officeholders.

Collipriest said Bennett agrees with advice given to him years ago by former President Richard Nixon: "To be a good senator you have to travel. You have to get your feet on the ground and meet people, even though the press will criticize you."

The study, which is made up of reports filed by members of Congress, comes after House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has been criticized in public for accepting a number of privately funded trips, a few of which may have been illegally funneled to the powerful GOP leader. DeLay, who has already been sanctioned for questionable ethical behavior by the House Ethics Committee, may face a new round of ethical inquiries.