:49pm ET Democratic Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill billed taxpayers approximately $1,220 for an airplane trip to a Democratic political event, her spokesperson confirmed CBS News.
Earlier this week, McCaskill wrote a check for more than $88,000 to the Treasury Department, after reports surfaced that she had, over the course of four years, billed to taxpayers $76,000 for 89 flights on a charter plane she co-owns with her husband and other investors.
A spokesperson for the congresswoman, who has throughout her Senate career made a point of pushing for increased government oversight into congressional expenditures of taxpayer dollars, insisted that the flights did not violate any laws or Senate rules. She added, however, that McCaskill was was happy to reimburse the funds for the sake of "the optics of the bigger picture."
The Associated Press notes that while members of Congress often use chartered flights to for business purposes, it is unusual for members to travel professionally in a plane in which they hold a personal stake.
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Poster Comment:
What's interesting about this is that it appears on CBS - not FOX.
It's probably just a case of them throwing a bone to those critics who say CBS is too liberal or that they favor democrats.
It means McCaskill is toast - she's been thrown under the proverbial bus.
What say you, go65?
