October 30, 2003

FROM: Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

            /s Joel Hefley, Chairman

            /s Alan B. Mollohan, Ranking Minority Member

SUBJECT: Reminders on the Travel Rules

This memorandum provides several reminders on the rules that apply to privately funded trips that Members and staff take in connection with their official duties – for example, fact-finding trips, and travel to a speaking engagement, a conference or a meeting related to congressional business.

A full explanation of the rules governing this type of travel is found in the Gifts and Travel booklet issued by the Committee.(1) Some specific points that you should bear in mind as you consider invitations to participate in privately sponsored trips are as follows.

You may be accompanied on a trip at the sponsor’s expense by your spouse or your child only – not by a friend, or any other relative. Occasionally an invitation to a trip will include an offer to pay the travel expenses of your spouse or another accompanying individual. Under a specific provision of the House gift rule, you may be accompanied on this kind of trip at the sponsor’s expense by your spouse or your child only.(2)

At times Members or staff who are unmarried, or whose spouse or child is not available for a particular trip, wish to be accompanied by another relative or some other individual, but this is not permissible under the rule. It is likewise impermissible under the rule to accept travel expenses for one’s spouse and child, as the rule is clear that expenses for only one or the other may be accepted.

The gift rule also includes a provision that allows the Committee to grant a waiver of the rule’s restrictions, but only “in an unusual case.”(3) Accordingly, the Committee will grant a waiver to allow an individual other than a spouse or child to participate in a trip at the sponsor’s expense only where genuinely unusual circumstances are present.

It should be stressed that the rules summarized above apply only to the payment of travel expenses of one or more accompanying individual by the trip sponsor. Provided that the sponsor does not object, and all additional travel expenses are paid with personal funds, you may be accompanied on a trip by an individual other than your spouse or child, or by your spouse and child (or children).

The Standards Committee is available to provide guidance on any trip in which you have been invited to participate. The gift rule imposes a number of restrictions and requirements on privately funded travel in connection with official duties.(4) Whenever you have any question on whether a trip on which you have been invited complies with the rules, you should not hesitate to fax a copy of the letter of invitation and trip agenda to the Committee for review (fax number 202-225-7392). Committee staff attorneys are available to provide you with informal guidance, and you may also seek a formal Committee advisory opinion on any trip.

It is especially important to seek Committee guidance where a trip would include participation in entertainment or recreational activity – such as golf, or attending a sporting event or a show – or where the trip agenda includes a significant amount of free time. Under the gift rule, acceptance of travel expenses is permissible only if the primary purpose of the trip, as determined in a reasonable manner, is to engage in officially connected activity (for example, fact-finding on a matter related to one’s congressional duties). In addition, the rule limits the acceptance of expenses to “necessary” travel expenses, i.e., the expenses that are reasonably necessary for the officially connected activities on a trip to be accomplished. Moreover, during the course of a trip, entertainment or recreational activities may be accepted from a private source only if their total value is less than $50, and the overall gift limit of less than $100 in any calendar year is complied with.(5)

Committee staff reviews the Member and staff travel disclosure forms that are required to be filed with the Clerk’s office after each trip. Where the review of a trip establishes that expenses were improperly accepted, the Committee may require that they be repaid with personal funds. Such a result can be avoided by consulting with the Committee before you take a trip.

Any questions on the rules on privately funded travel in connection with official duties should be directed to the Committee’s Office of Advice and Education at (202) 225-7103.

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(1) Copies of the booklet are available from the Committee office, and its text is also available on the Committee’s Web site, www.house.gov/ethics.