The FCPA Professor Blog has an interesting post about who pays the bill for costs associated with lawmakers’ trips abroad.

A government official has over $7,000 of expenses paid for by an organization hoping to establish a personal connection with the official and seeking access to the official to educate him on a multibillion dollar program favored by the organization.

The same organization spends over $20,000 for baggage-handling tips, alcohol, snacks, refreshments, and other “trip supplies” for another government official.

Sounds like the organization has some FCPA issues, right?

Wrong.

Why?

If you have a few days and a case of Red Bull or two, you could review thousands of pages of documents related to military travel arrangements for Nancy Pelosi and former Speaker Hastert here.  Over two years, the group that analyzed the documents says over $2 million was spent on flights and over $100,000 was spent for in-flight expenses.