US lawmakers resume globe trotting

Kevin McCarthy, now the House speaker, brought his mother along on an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel.

NEW YORK: Members of Congress and their staffers rebounded from pandemic travel anxiety in 2022, accepting more than US$6.6mil (RM30mil) worth of airline tickets, hotel rooms and meals paid for by special interest groups.

The total of 1,785 trips that were paid for by outside organisations last year was up from 829 trips in 2021, and 321 in 2020, when travel was limited by coronavirus restrictions, according to a database of disclosures compiled by the nonpartisan data service LegiStorm LLC.