The American Israel Education Foundation has spent a record amount to send members of Congress and their staff to Israel in 2011, even before all the numbers are in.
AIEF has spent nearly $1.5 million on congressional travel already in 2011, primarily on a series of trips by members of Congress to Israel over the August recess.
The organizations have been sending members of Congress to Israel during the August recess every other year for about 20 years. This year, the trip was broken into three separate groups. A group of about 30 Democrats traveled to Israel the second week of August, followed by two different groups of Republicans in the following weeks. The total cost to AIEF for the August trips alone has already reached more than $1 million, and about two dozen people have yet to file disclosures detailing the costs for their travel.
Only once before has any organization broken into seven-figure spending on trips for members of Congress and their staff in an entire year. In 2009, AIEF spent nearly $1.2 million on congressional travel, with more than half of that total going toward the the August trips.
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