WASHINGTON - Italy and Kuwait were the most popular overseas stops for U.S. House members traveling on official business in 2003. Each country received 54 visits from representatives in a year that saw nearly half the chamber undertake taxpayer-funded trips to foreign destinations.

Germany ranked third with 53 visits from House members, followed by the United Kingdom (50), Iraq (45), Jordan (32), Cape Verde (28), Spain (27), Turkey (26) and France and Russia (25 each).

Western Europe received more visits last year than any other region, accounting for 34 percent of House members' destinations, followed by the Middle East (20%), Africa (8%), the former Soviet Union (7%), Central America (5%) and Eastern Asia (4%). The Middle East, exclusive of Israel, accounted for 18 percent of destinations.

NATO ally Italy, a world leader in tourism, historically has been a popular stopover for lawmakers on long flights between the United States and points east. Italy has received the most visits by House members in the last five years (272), followed by Germany (189), France (186), the United Kingdom (154) and Russia (126).

Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan began receiving contingents of lawmakers after the fall of Baghdad in April 2003.

This story is based on data that House units are required by law to publish in the Congressional Record. It does not cover Senate travel or the numerous House trips financed by private groups or foreign governments.

In 2003, 213 House members took 409 taxpayer-funded trips over 2,613 days to 910 foreign destinations, or countries.

Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., was the House leader with nine trips over 44 days to 23 countries. He is chairman of an appropriations subcommittee that oversees foreign operations such as the reconstruction of Iraq.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., vice chairman of the Armed Services Committee, ranked second with seven trips over 34 days to 17 countries. On one trip he led the first congressional delegation to North Korea.

Others in the top ten were, in descending order, Republican Christopher Shays of Connecticut; Democrat Alcee Hastings of Florida; Republican Mark Souder of Indiana; Democrat Silvestre Reyes of Texas and Republicans Doug Bereuter of Nebraska, Darrell Issa of California, Kay Granger of Texas and David Dreier of California.

Kolbe, Weldon, Shays, Hastings, Reyes, Bereuter and Granger all traveled as members of House units that oversee U.S. policies in areas such as defense, anti-terrorism, diplomacy and foreign aid.

Souder and Issa sit on committees with minimal jurisdiction overseas. Their offices declined repeated requests for trip details.

Dreier is chairman of the Rules Committee, a powerful but strictly intramural panel whose role is to set terms for debate on the House floor. Although the committee has no jurisdiction overseas, an aide said the knowledge Dreier gleans from seeing the world and meeting foreign leaders "helps greatly in deciding on amendments" in areas such as national security, foreign affairs and trade.

Congressional travel is widely seen as essential to the legislative branch's oversight role. Yet it draws criticism because it is not openly accounted for. "It shouldn't take a Ph.D. in accounting to figure out what a member of Congress spends on international travel," said former Rep. Bill Frenzel, R-Minn., now a Brookings Institution scholar.

Although House and Senate travel is estimated to cost taxpayers between $60 million and $100 million annually, it has no line item in the federal budget and receives no direct fiscal oversight.

In the House, the annual audit of internal operations has never examined per diem expenses or any other area of members' travel, even while repeatedly declaring House books to be "clean."

Overseas travel "should be done in a more up-front, explicit way, so that American taxpayers can see where their money is going," said Chris Edwards, a budget specialist at the libertarian Cato Institute.

"Traveling internationally is an important part of this job and our constituents understand this and accept it -- if we do it in a transparent way," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., who posts detailed accounts of his trips on his congressional web site.

Here are details on last year's leading travelers:

1. Kolbe traveled three times each to Iraq and Jordan, twice to Kuwait and once each to Haiti, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Israel, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Syria and Germany.

2. Weldon took two trips each to Russia, France and Ukraine and also visited North Korea, South Korea, Austria, the United Kingdom, Serbia-Montenegro, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

3. Shays ranked third with six trips over 54 days to 18 countries, traveling mainly as chairman of the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations. He visited Iraq three times and Jordan, Kuwait and Sweden twice each. He also stopped in Israel, Qatar, the West Bank and Gaza, Norway, Russia, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.

In part, Shays inspected reconstruction efforts in Iraq; attended a conference in Norway on the dismantling of the former Soviet Union's submarine fleet; spoke to an international conference on issues facing the Middle East; inspected humanitarian programs in Kuwait and Iraq; met with Palestinian and Israeli officials; conferred with Hans Blix, the former U.N. weapons inspector, on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and participated in Geneva meetings on biological weapons.

4. Hastings ranked fourth with six trips over 49 days to at least ten countries. His trips were mostly for the Select Intelligence Committee and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a Vienna-based assembly of officials from 55 countries.

Hastings traveled twice each to Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands, once each to the United Kingdom, Spain and Australia, and to unspecified countries in Asia and Europe. Destinations for the intelligence committee are identified only by continent.

5. Souder ranked fifth with six trips over 27 days to ten countries. He sits on the Government Reform, Resources and Homeland Security committees. His destinations were Colombia (twice), Belgium, France, Germany, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic and Italy.

6. Reyes ranked sixth with five journeys over 44 days to at least 20 countries. A member of the Armed Services and Select Intelligence Committees, he traveled twice to Italy and once each to Iraq, North Korea, South Korea, France, Bahrain, Kuwait, Australia, Russia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan and to unspecified countries in Europe and Asia.

One of his trips was the first by a congressional delegation to North Korea. Another was the first visit to Iraq by lawmakers after coalition forces ousted Saddam Hussein. Other trips were for purposes such as learning how England, Ireland and Germany handle domestic terrorism and meeting with officials in Russia on dismantling the former Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal.

7. Bereuter ranked seventh with five trips over 41 days to at least eleven countries. He traveled mainly for the Select Intelligence and International Relations committees and also as president of the 40-country North Atlantic Alliance, the parliamentary arm of NATO.

Bereuter's destinations were France (twice) and Belgium, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Latvia, Norway, Australia and unspecified countries in Asia.

8. Issa ranked eighth with four trips over 26 days to ten countries. He took two trips each to Syria, Israel and Egypt and also stopped in Malaysia, Lebanon, Qatar and England. He sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

9. Granger, who serves on the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, ranked ninth with four trips over 28 days to eight countries. In addition to inspecting operations in Iraq, she traveled to Croatia, Italy, South Africa, Cape Verde, Russia, Jordan and Spain on issues such as counter-terrorism, AIDS and nuclear non-proliferation.

10. Dreier took four trips over 23 days to nine countries. He traveled to Canada for an Inter-Parliamentary Conference at which he focused, in part, on the export of film-industry jobs to Canada. He visited Italy, Nicaragua, Brazil and the Dominican Republic on trips sponsored by the International Relations Committee, of which he is not a member.

Dreier's other trip was a Rules Committee journey to Senegal, Mali, Tunisia and Malta on issues such as U.S. trade with Africa, war in Liberia and human trafficking. In Tunisia last July, Dreier and his delegation reveived an Arab perspective on the war in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

-30-
Copyright 2004, Thomas Voting Reports, Inc.

    Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.
    9 trips, 44 days, 23 countries

    Curt Weldon, R-Pa.
    7-34-17

    Christopher Shays, R-Conn.
    6-54-18

    Alcee Hastings, D-Fla.
    6-49-10+

    Mark Souder, R-Ind.
    6-27-10

    Silvestre Reyes
    5-44-20

    Doug Bereuter, R-Neb.
    5-41-11

    Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
    4-26-10

    Kay Granger, R-Texas
    4-28-8

    David Dreier, R-Calif.
    4-23-9

    Italy – 54 visits from members

    Kuwait – 54

    United Kingdom – 50

    Iraq - 45

    Jordan - 32

    Cape Verde - 28

    Spain - 27

    Turkey - 26

    France - 25

    Russia - 25