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Faith Group Gets Paid for Training Hill Staff

This spring, four House Republicans used money from their Congressional office accounts to send five staff members to a training seminar run by a conservative Christian group in Indiana that is leading the charge in the state for an amendment to ban gay marriage.

The expense, totaling $2,500 for the group, is a perfectly legal use of taxpayer money, but it highlights the broad array of things Members of Congress can pay for out of their office accounts. The payments also underscore the tight web of relationships Members can build with favored causes without violating rules against using taxpayer money to fund political activity.

In April, four House Members from Indiana paid the Indiana Family Institute to enroll staffers in the group’s annual training course called the Hoosier Congressional Policy Leadership Series.

The Indiana Family Institute is the state affiliate of the Family Research Council, focusing its efforts on supporting traditional heterosexual marriage while opposing gay marriage and abortion. Last year, the group’s political action committee, Indiana Family Action, helped fund an ad attacking Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) for voting for the health care overhaul, which the ad called “the biggest expansion of abortion in decades.”

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  • http://www.orovalleychristianreader.com John J Flanagan

    If it is acceptable for liberal Democrats to spend public money on their own causes to promote their own constituents interests, ie. homosexual lobby, Planned Parenthood, etc. then it is just as fair to let conservative causes also receive public money.

  • GODSRevolution!

    $515 MILLION dollars EVERY single year goes to middle eastern countries to upkeep their mosques. I complained to my Senator. He said he put forth a bill to stop this outrageous activity but it was voted down. I figure if we can pay for mosques…we should be able to get a grant to put a elevator in our early 1900 church right here in America….
    Guess what…the answer is no.
    Just about EVERY single one of the Senate and more in the House…NEED to GET OUT in 2012. Things have got to change!!

  • Aceituna

    This is a problem. Either we allow both sides to fund activities such as these or we ban both sides which is only fair. It seems to me that private agencies should be allowed to raise funds to sponsor such congresspeople and senators to attend these things so that the government can bow out. It should be made public who is doing what so that the voter may have a better idea whom to support. If banned, it would be a way to lower out debt and deficite.