Here come the news stories on congressional travels -

[cyberpj]

This one seems written to justify trips for Biden to the locals in Delaware:

Del. delegation are frequent fliers
Afghanistan or Aspen, the trips are important, lawmakers say
By JENNIFER BROOKS / News Journal Washington Bureau
04/21/2005

WASHINGTON -- In January 2002, not long after the fall of the Taliban, Sen. Joe Biden stood stark naked in the middle of the bombed-out U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

The then-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was waiting in a long line of stripped-down Marines, lugging a bucket of hot water and waiting his turn for the building's one working shower.

"It was no great hardship," said the Delaware Democrat, who had come to see how American troops were faring in Afghanistan. Biden slept on a military cot, ate military rations and, more uncomfortably, got his picture taken - in the buff - by an overly enthusiastic Marine out to show his mom that a United States senator really was in the middle of the war zone.

"I'm just glad never turned up on the Internet," Biden said.

Congressional junkets aren't always a day at the beach, as Biden proved. And while taxpayers foot the bill for most official congressional trips, Delaware's well-traveled delegation believe the trips they take around the country and world are essential parts of their job.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2005/04/21deldelegationar.html