No one is saying trips taken by Utah's two U.S. senators and three House members were improper or in violation of congressional rules. And several of the trips in the new survey have been reported previously in the Deseret Morning News and other media.

Sen. Orrin Hatch's travel bill wasn't as costly as Bennett's, mainly because Hatch didn't take as many lengthy, expensive foreign trips. But Hatch, R-Utah, took more trips overall.

Hatch ranks 151st in the cost of his travel paid for by private firms or foreign governments, accepting $37,879 in trips since 2000, the report says.

But Hatch is near the top, 13th overall, in the number of privately funded trips he's taken: 38.

Since the start of 2000 he's been to San Francisco five times, to New York City seven times and even came back to Salt Lake City three times on a private jet for speaking engagements. Like all members of Congress, Hatch has a taxpayer-funded budget to travel to and from his home state, so he visited here more than three times in five years.

Hatch only took one trip out of the country, a two-day visit to Davos, Switzerland, in 2001, costing $1,380, to give a speech for the World Economic Forum, the report says.

In February of this year, Hatch took a one-day trip to San Diego, costing $553, paid for by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hatch spokeswoman Heather Barney said the senator was invited by church leaders to speak at a commemoration of the Mormon Battalion.

The study only includes privately funded trips. For example, Hatch went to Iowa and other early-primary states in his presidential campaign of 2000. But those trips would have been paid for out of his presidential campaign account, not listed in the new study.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has been to Germany twice on the dime of an association of former congressmen. In April 2003, both Bishop and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, spent five days in Berlin and Heidelberg learning about the German legislative system. Bishop went back to Germany in March of this year for another visit. The second German trip, which was for six days, cost $4,960.

All told, Bishop has taken three privately funded trips costing $9,948.

Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, took five privately funded trips totally $5,859, the study says. The most expensive, $2,684, paid for by Western Watch Foundation, was a trip to Las Vegas in June 2002 to address a public lands conference.

Matheson took two trips costing $6,398 (including the German trip, which cost $3,564). The Democratic Leadership Conference paid for a three-day trip to Key Largo, Fla., in May 2001, costing $2,834.

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Congressional travel costs

                                                                                                                    Trips taken     Cost
                                                                                                                    Sen. Bob Bennett (R)  13 trips     $43,348
                                                                                                                    Sen. Orrin Hatch (R)  38 trips     $37,879
                                                                                                                    Rep. Rob Bishop (R)    3 trips      $9,489
                                                                                                                    Rep. Jim Matheson (D)  2 trips      $6,398
                                                                                                                    Rep. Chris Cannon (R)  5 trips      $5,859
                                                                                                                    

Source: PoliticalMoneyLine.com

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com