Members of Congress are allocated north of $1.3 million to spend each year—committee chairs get slightly more. Only $169,3000 goes to their base salaries. The rest is divided up at their discretion, letting them each decide how much to spend on the basics: staff, travel and district office rent.
Between them, New York’s 29 representatives spent almost $25 million dollars on these three main expenses in 2007, leaving them with about $500,000 each to spend on other things. But there are major differences between how much each put toward each category— for staff, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn) is the leader, investing $875,710 over the course of the year, while Rep. Jim Walsh (R-Wayne) spent almost half as much, $497,627. For travel, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) is the leader, spending $48,948, while Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Manhattan/Brooklyn/Queens) spent just $9,383. For rent, Meeks was also the leader, spending $139,927 between his two district offices, while Rep. John Hall (D-Orange/Westchester/Dutchess) spent just $26,503 between his two.
How the fears of a recession might change things this year is something no one can yet predict. But together over last year, this is how much New York’s members of Congress spent.
Source: Statement of Disbursements of the House