WSJ: On Overseas Trips, Congress's Rules Are Often Ignored...Lewis's European Tour

[Rose Siding]

Lawmakers Accept Free Meals From Companies Seeking Contracts Back in the U.S.

...Instead of paying for the meals out of their government allowances, they were treated by a parade of defense contractors and lobbyists, most of which sent personnel to Europe to host the meals, according to foreign-service officials and the companies. The meals gave Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp. and others private access to legislators who control billions of dollars in government contracts....

One problem: The hitherto undisclosed free meals likely violated House rules and possibly federal law, experts on congressional ethics say. House rules, designed to prevent private interests from unduly influencing legislators' work, bar members -- with some exceptions -- from accepting such meals on congressional trips abroad.
...
In 2004, Rep. David Hobson, an Ohio Republican and chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, visited Normandy, France, with a group that dined courtesy of a defense company and a lobbying firm, according to the company and House staffers. The following year, on another trip to France, his party was hosted by a maker of nuclear reactors.

Rep. James T. Walsh, chairman of an Appropriations subcommittee that deals with military facilities, visited Germany in 2005 on a congressional trip. There, a big federal contractor paid for dinner for the New York Republican's group in Heidelberg, according to the company and House staffers.

.....much more.....

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116191099430905393.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

There have been no investigations or actions taken over these infractions. An Ethics Committee spokesman tells the WSJ that "it isn't responsible for day-to-day oversight".