Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said a review has shown that he improperly billed taxpayers for hotel stays in Indianapolis for all but seven years of his time in Congress,
Politico reports. As a result, the Senator said, he is paying back more than $14,000 to the Treasury.
The Indiana Republican said Friday that a Senate disbursing office investigation, which he said he initiated, found he owed $14,684.85, which he repaid with a personal check. He told Politico that he was repaying three times the owed about just to be on the safe side.
“Your office has compiled a comprehensive list documenting cases in which I incurred per diem expenses during trips that included a stop in Indianapolis … during August recess periods and sine die adjournments,” Lugar said in a letter to Christopher Doby, financial clerk of the Senate. “Vouchers for per diem expenses incurred in the Indianapolis area during these periods should not have been submitted or paid, even though they all pertained to official business.”
Lugar’s move follows an admission last week that he erroneously billed taxpayers $4,500 for a handful of hotel stays; the error was found in a staff review of records dating back to 1991, he told Politico. The senator said he did not know that there were different rules on billing during extended congressional recesses, and attributed the errors to staff mistakes.
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