The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that spending on taxpayer-financed trips abroad by members of Congress has increased almost tenfold since 1995 and has nearly tripled since 2001. Just last year, lawmakers spent about $13 million on overseas travel—a 50 percent jump since the Democratic Party took over Congress two years ago. In addition to trips to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers have also visited destinations such as the Galápagos Islands, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The WSJ also points out:

Lawmakers frequently bring along spouses on congressional trips. If they take commercial flights, they have to buy tickets for spouses. If they fly on government planes — as they usually do — their spouses can fly free. . . .

Documents obtained by the Journal show that the cost of flying a small group of lawmakers to the Middle East is about $150,000. Larger trips on the Air Force’s version of the Boeing 757 cost about $12,000 an hour. Two federal agencies pay for most of the travel — the Defense Department and the State Department.