Federal agencies owe public more travel transparency
The travel costs for employees of the federal government add up to a hefty sum. In 2009, for example, taxpayers spent $2.8 billion on hotel rooms alone for federal employees.
Although the government should strive to manage its costs, this editorial in the Washington Times points to a broader issue -- namely, are the feds publishing the data required to determine if some of those costs are unreasonably high? The Times writes:
Of course, some government travel is necessary. The problem is that the system does nothing to prevent taxpayers from being ripped off to bankroll trips that double as vacation junkets.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, for example, frequently sent employees overseas on first- or business-class airplane tickets that cost taxpayers up to $10,000 each. It's unclear how much travel of this sort is unnecessary because the agency "does not maintain data on premium travel in a format that allows it to readily identify the population of premium travelers and note patterns and trends that may be indicative of abusive travel," according to a 2008 report by the SEC's inspector general.
Every federal agency should break out its travel costs in ways that make them more transparent. Doing so will allow taxpayers and lawmakers to monitor which employees traveled where -- and how economically they traveled.
Travel with a backpack
If they want to travel the cheapest way, they can be backpackers ! This is a really good way to spent less money from taxpayers :)
It's always hard to justify the huge amounts of money spent in travels, are the agencies forced to use first class or private jets? I don't think so!
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Problem is the JTR
The problem involving First Class or Business Class travel to overseas locations is the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR). My understanding is that one of the only times premium travel is authorized under the JTR is for flights/travel that exceeds 12 hours (or something similar, please check me someone). Accordingly, all domestic flights don't meet the criteria and so the only premium seats you'll generally find booked are when someone goes to Singapore or Bangkok or Tahiti (or whatever).
I assume, the provision is in there because of a comfort factor for travellers and I'll let others decide on its utility. But it DOES seem to be there for a reason and I imagine if the JTR was changed, we'd cut down a large percentage of First and Business Class Travel.
Question: Should the Ambassador to Thailand of the greatest country on earth fly in the coach cabin when shuttling between Bangkok and DC on official business?
Just a thought.