'Very valuable': Lawmakers defend odd all-expenses paid trips to Italian villa

A nonpartisan think tank has been sending a couple dozen members of Congress to a luxury Italian villa for free since 2023, reported NOTUS on Monday.

And the members staunchly defended this arrangement.

"The nonprofit Aspen Institute is sending lawmakers — and their spouses — to a Lake Como villa owned by the Rockefeller Foundation, where the members learn about food insecurity, climate change and artificial intelligence," said the report. "Members say these trips encourage collaboration, build relationships and are genuinely educational. 'It’s one of the few opportunities we have to actually work with our colleagues across the aisle on topics of great interest and importance,' Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland told NOTUS of his recent trip there with a bipartisan group of members. 'America needs to be dominant in the energy sector, and we discussed many different aspects of it.'" He added, “It was very valuable.”

Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX) described the experience as being put on a "small houseboat" that crossed the lake to an exclusive property, where they and their spouses got to enjoy the local amenities. “She got to go into the little town there, and try not only their cooking class but also got to try their gelato, if you know what that is,” he said.

Members, as well as Aspen Institute officials, defended the trips by saying that they were not paid for by taxpayers — and that it's a genuine bipartisan chance to learn about key issues.

“There are no taxpayer funds involved in what we do, and there are no lobbyists involved,” said retired Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA), who heads up Aspen's congressional affairs office. Rather, he insisted, it's just about bringing lawmakers across the aisle in “this bitterly partisan and tribal political environment.”

"For members traveling with their spouses or another companion, the average cost for recent trips has ranged between $10,000-$15,000, with the costs for some members going as high as $20,000," the report continued. "The trip expenses include business-class airfare, meals, and lodging in the villa, according to the invitation included with the ethics disclosures. These trips have made the town of Bellagio, which the villa overlooks, one of the most-visited foreign places by lawmakers on privately covered trips this year."

Despite their insistence that all of these trips are aboveboard, at least some of the topics covered in these trips are hot-button issues currently being legislated. For example, the GOP's controversial tax cut bill includes an obscure provision banning any state from regulating AI for 10 years, although some Republicans have expressed a desire to remove that language.