House lawmakers spent $6.7 million of taxpayer money on meals and lodging last year — a 21 percent increase over 2024 — under a reimbursement program that doesn’t require them to provide receipts, a Washington Post analysis found.
The program, launched three years ago, allows House members to supplement a $174,000 base salary that Congress has not raised in nearly two decades by expensing food and housing costs while in Washington on official business.
The specifics of their spending are not disclosed. Members do not have to provide documentation and need only certify that they have incurred the eligible expenses when seeking reimbursements.
The Senate created a similar program in 2025 to cover Washington living expenses, according to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, though it requires senators to submit receipts.
Many who use the House program extensively are reluctant to discuss it or their spending.
Rep. Jim Baird (R-Indiana), who expensed more for lodging and meals than any other House member in each of the past two years, including $39,789 in 2025, did not respond to multiple attempts to speak with him.
Neither did Rep. Abraham Hamadeh (R-Arizona), a first-term member who was the second-biggest spender last year with $39,131.
“I’m within the guidelines. I don’t know specifically,” Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois) told The Post about why he expensed more than most of his colleagues.
Jackson spent $37,078 last year, the third-most, including for the mortgage on a second home in Washington.
“All of my dates correspond to the dates and times that I was here,” he said.
Without more information, it’s hard to know what drove the surge in spending, said Kedric Payne, a former deputy chief counsel at the Office of Congressional Ethics. It could be rising housing costs, more members taking advantage of a critical benefit or abuses in the program.
“There should be an evaluation done by the House to see if this is an indication of the program working better or worse,” said Payne, who is now vice president, general counsel and senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan legal group that defends voting access. “Voters have the right to know that taxpayer dollars are being used in the right way.”
Rather than give members a raise, a potentially toxic move politically that would have required a public vote on the floor, the House created the expense program three years ago to help members with the growing cost of maintaining two households.
They can submit reimbursements for hotels, rent or other housing costs, as well as for meals and incidentals, excluding alcohol, for the days Congress is in session or they are attending to committee business in Washington. Members whose primary residence is within 50 miles of the Capitol generally cannot seek reimbursement for lodging.
To maintain members’ privacy about where they stay, and ease the program’s administrative burden, House officials decided not to require receipts.
That means the reimbursements operate on an honor system, though members cannot expense more than the daily rate that the federal government allows employees to spend on lodging, meals and incidentals while traveling in the Washington area.
For 2025, that rate fluctuated between $183 and $276 per day for lodging, depending on the month, and was $92 per day for meals and incidentals.
“We’re relying on the internal workings of party leaders in Congress to watch and enforce the rules. And, boy, I feel very uncomfortable doing that,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen.
Holman said that it’s legitimate for Congress to help members cover the cost of serving but that there should be more transparency about how they are using the money. He pointed to an ongoing ethics investigation into Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) over allegations that she overcharged the program as evidence of the potential for misuse. Mace has denied the accusations.
When Holman sent a letter to House administrators after the creation of the program to raise his concerns, he said, he never heard back.
“If you’re going to do this in the dark, people are going to be suspicious, and it doesn’t serve the program,” he said.
Last year, 360 members of the House filed reimbursement claims, including 26 who reported more than $30,000 in expenses and an additional 140 who reported more than $20,000. Their collective spending was $1.2 million higher than in 2024, when 355 members participated in the program.
The Post reached out to the 10 members who were reimbursed the most in 2025, asking for more information about their expenses and why they were higher than the rest of their colleagues. Most did not respond or declined to provide details, including former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) and Republican Reps. Neal Dunn (Florida), Mike Haridopolos (Florida), Ryan Mackenzie (Pennsylvania) and Pete Sessions (Texas).
Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska), who was ninth last year with $35,064 in reimbursements, attributed the cost to his long commute.
“Representing Alaska means traveling an extraordinary distance to get back and forth to Washington, and sometimes that requires arriving early or staying an extra day to complete official business,” Silver Prout, Begich’s spokesperson, said in a statement that touted “the best attendance record since 1961 for an Alaskan U.S. House Representative.”
Rep. Troy A. Carter (D-Louisiana) said he did not know what anybody else spends and could not compare their expenses.
“I will tell you, all our bases are based on the cost of living in Washington, D.C., to serve in Congress,” said Carter, who expensed $35,442 for lodging and meals last year, the seventh-most in the program.
About six dozen members did not participate in the program in 2025. Some expensed relatively small amounts, including a dozen who spent less than $1,000.
The most frugal spender was Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Maryland), who was reimbursed $62 for meals.
Ivey represents a district in the suburbs of Washington and is not eligible for lodging reimbursements. His office said the $62 covered meals he purchased while working in the Capitol, usually a bowl of chili from the cafeteria in the Longworth House Office Building for lunch.
Ivey laughed when asked about his expenses. “I wish I could tell you there’s some kind of philosophy behind it,” he said, but he may simply have never gotten around to having his receipts processed.
“I probably have one in my pocket right now,” Ivey said. “Now you’re going to get me in trouble with my wife.”
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