It’s conventional D.C. wisdom that members of Congress raising their own salaries would be political malpractice because voters would see it as corrupt. So, to deal with the costs inherent in representing Americans, the House of Representatives created a reimbursement program. Fair enough. Less fair: Members don’t have to provide receipts. Unsurprisingly, their expenses are rising fast.
Voters might view members’ raising their own pay as comparatively honorable.
The base salary for members of Congress is $174,000 annually. It hasn’t been raised since 2009. One dollar today has the same buying power as 66 cents in 2009.
Lawmakers need to travel often to be in their districts and in Washington. That’s expensive and increasingly difficult to do on their salary alone.
To deal with financial reality while trying to mitigate political blowback, the House created a program in 2022 — without having to take a full floor vote to approve it — to reimburse members for meals and lodging.
The program would make the accounting team at any business throw a fit: House members don’t have to provide receipts for their expenses. It operates on the honor system. And there is no public disclosure of how the money is spent beyond saying whether expenses were for meals or lodging.
In total, 360 House members used the program last year to reimburse $6.7 million in expenses, or an average of about $18,600 per user. Spending rose 21 percent year over year. Rep. Jim Baird (R-Indiana) was the top spender in 2025, claiming $39,789 in expenses.
When Post reporters Alexei Koseff and Lydia Sidhom called the offices of the top 10 spenders, the reporters mostly received no replies. It’s easy to see why: This program looks shady, even if everything is aboveboard. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina), who is not running for reelection, is under investigation for defrauding the program, allegations she denies. Otherwise, it’s nearly impossible to tell whether members are genuinely incurring these costs or just creatively supplementing their incomes.
Receipt requirements and public disclosures weren’t included because of the administrative burden involved and the potential security concerns of making public where members of Congress stay when in Washington. A solution that would create no administrative burden or security concerns would be to simply raise member salaries to reflect the realities of the work they perform. And then get rid of the reimbursement program.
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