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May 15, 2007
Statement of Congressman Barney Frank
On Travel Paid for by Non-governmental Sources
“Given the interest that is periodically expressed in travel by
Members of Congress which is paid for by non-governmental groups, I thought
it best to release the complete list of the trips I have taken since 2001,
including both the destination and the sponsoring organization, as reported
in my required annual Financial Disclosure Statements. As the list makes
clear, the overwhelming majority of these trips were taken for purposes of
political advocacy. I believe it is an important part of my job to push in
the political sphere for the public policies for which I work officially.
There are several major subgroups within the advocacy category to which I
give particular attention, and from which I receive a number of invitations.
“First, I believe it is very important for elected officials to do all that
we can to encourage young people to be politically active. For this reason,
I try very hard to accommodate any request I get to speak to colleges and
universities. Second, as one of only a few openly gay or lesbian elected
officials in America, I am frequently asked to speak to gay political
groups. I was one of the organizers of the National Stonewall Democratic
Federation, a gay Democratic organization, and I promised at the time of the
founding to accommodate requests from that organization to speak whenever I
could do that without impinging on my duties. Third, because I very much
wanted to see the Democrats regain control of Congress, I put a high
priority on accepting speaking invitations from various state and local
Democratic party organizations throughout the country, especially in areas
where the Democrats faced a difficult fight. Now that the Democrats are
back in the majority as a result of the most recent elections, I continue to
receive requests to make appearances before such groups for the purpose of
developing strategies for advancing Democratic values and expanding the
Democratic majority. And, fourth, I have been invited to speak to a number
of liberal citizen advocacy organizations, and I am eager to accept these
invitations whenever I can to encourage political activity for progressive
causes by various citizens. As indicated in the table that appears below,
78 percent of my non-governmentally sponsored travel since 2001 has fallen
under these four categories.
“I have also been active through my work on the Financial Services Committee
(where for four years I was the senior Democrat, and since the beginning of
this year have been the Chairman) in international economic matters. I
believe that one of the most important issues facing us is to see that
globalization is carried out in a socially progressive manner. Thus I have
taken several trips to international economic conferences, including those
in Davos, Switzerland where I have been four times, though my participation
in three of the Davos trips was funded by the U.S. Government, rather than a
non-governmental entity.
“Finally, because of my role on the committee, I have spent a considerable
amount of time working to familiarize myself with the details of the
committee’s agenda. Some of that work is accomplished when I speak with
various citizen groups, which include consumer advocates, people concerned
with housing, predatory lending, etc. In other cases I accept invitations
to meet with various entities in the financial services field. For example,
I have been to the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, and the Mercantile
Exchanges in Chicago because they are important institutions which the
committee regulates to some extent, and I believe it is important to have a
good understanding of how they function, a goal which is advanced in part by
visiting them. I would add that, as a result of the increased
responsibilities and time constraints that come with the committee
chairmanship, I will be taking fewer trips than I have in the past.
“Attached is the list of destinations, sponsoring organizations, and trip
durations for all of these trips dating to the beginning of 2001.”
U.S. Congressman Barney Frank
Summary of Travel Funded by Non-Governmental Sources
(As reported in Rep. Frank’s annual Financial
Disclosure Statements for 2001 – 2006, with supplementary information for
2007)
Category
Number of Trips
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
38
Transgender Organizations
Advocacy and Community Groups
19
Colleges and Universities
16
Democratic Political Organizations
12
Financial Services Groups
9
Media
Appearances
6
Non-Federal Democratic Candidates
3*
International Economic Forums
2
Miscellaneous
4
(International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians/
World Jewish Congress American Section;
National Constitution Center)
* Rep. Frank also traveled during this period on behalf
of a number of Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress, as well as some
federal political organizations, such as the Kerry for President campaign
and components or affiliates of the Democratic National Committee. These
trips were paid for by the candidates’ campaigns or the organizations,
respectively. Such trips, which are reported in the candidates’ or
organizations’ Federal Election Commission filings, are not part of the
Financial Disclosure Statements that Members of Congress are required to
file annually, and thus they generally do not appear in these documents.
However, a few are listed in the attachments because they were combined with
other trips funded by outside groups.
To view a pdf version of a detailed record of all
travel by Congressman Frank that was funded by outside sources since 2001 as
reported in the annual Financial Disclosure Statements.
For additional data on trips in 2007, please click
here.
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