Remember the outrage when the auto CEOs flew into Washington, DC because they took private jets? They were scolded by Congress in a dog and pony show on TV about their extravagant spending.

Once again, the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do mentality prevails in DC. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Congress plans to spend $550 million to buy 8 new jets, a substantial upgrade to the fleet used to ferry top government officials and members of Congress around. These planes will augment a fleet of about two dozen passenger jets maintained by the Air Force for lawmakers, administration officials, and military chiefs. The funding bill passed the House, but still has to be approved by the Senate. Apparently, Congress is completely oblivious to the hypocrisy. Read more.

Of course, no plane is too good for the fat cats in congress, right? A 727 costs about $10 million. Not good enough. How about a Gulfstream G450 that can jet 18 people around in great style for $39 million? Nope. Some of the planes are the G550, which also seats 18 people. List price for the G550 is $59 million. Of course, the government will pay $66 million each. I can't even conceive what upgrades you could add to a G550. This is a world-class plane that billionaires fly. It costs about $3,000 an hour to operate. (Let's see, a round-trip, first-class ticket from Washington to Shanghai, China goes for $6,789 on Delta. Using the G550, that same flight costs $54,000 (18 hours x $3,000). Nothing's too good for our distinguished congressmen.

And the good news: last year, House members spent about 3,000 days overseas on taxpayer-funded trips, up from about 550 days in 1995.
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