Senator Barack Obama flew at least nine times on corporate jets last year, traveling to fund-raisers in New York and San Francisco, home to Chicago and to Rosa Parks’s funeral in Detroit. Each time, he reimbursed the plane’s owners at first-class rates, as Senate rules require.
But Mr. Obama, freshman Democrat from Illinois, felt queasy about this perk of Senate life, so he said he gave it up.
“It’s not only a perk,” Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said, “but a serious abuse that should be stopped.”
Mr. Feingold said he always flew on commercial planes.
Details on Wisconsin’s corporate travel list is Wisconsin’s own Jim Sensenbrenner. Others flying via corporate jet include:
- David Obey #73: $73,299
- Paul Ryan: #136 $48,295
- Tammy Baldwin #137 $48,173
- Ron Kind: #249 $27,906