Congress's Travel Tab Swells - WSJ.com

WASHINGTON -- Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

Letter: Don't buy into global warming hoax

The EPA is attempting to stifle public opinion by dropping public comment from 120 days to 60 days. Drastic legislation like this needs more time not less, so everyone affected could respond. Why our government has bought into this global warming hoax, I do not understand. There is no definite decision that there really is global warming. There are just as many against as there are for global warming. It seems every time the government wants something, it is always a crisis; if they want to see a real crisis, all they have to do is see the one they have created.

Another liberal tax scheme, that is totally politicized, is the Cap & Trade bill, that will cost American families an estimated $3,000 more in taxes and further hurt our economy, something we do not need. Keep in touch with our elected leaders. Let them know what you want, before everything vanishes.

Richard Miller