Congressman Barney Frank
Representing Massachusetts' 4th District

Statement of Congressman Barney Frank
On Travel Paid for by Non-Governmental Sources
May 15, 2007

“Given the interest that is periodically expressed in travel by Members of Congress which is paid for by non-governmental groups, I thought it best to release the complete list of the trips I have taken since 2001, including both the destination and the sponsoring organization, as reported in my required annual Financial Disclosure Statements.  As the list makes clear, the overwhelming majority of these trips were taken for purposes of political advocacy.  I believe it is an important part of my job to push in the political sphere for the public policies for which I work officially.  There are several major subgroups within the advocacy category to which I give particular attention, and from which I receive a number of invitations.

“First, I believe it is very important for elected officials to do all that we can to encourage young people to be politically active. For this reason, I try very hard to accommodate any request I get to speak to colleges and universities. Second, as one of only a few openly gay or lesbian elected officials in America, I am frequently asked to speak to gay political groups. I was one of the organizers of the National Stonewall Democratic Federation, a gay Democratic organization, and I promised at the time of the founding to accommodate requests from that organization to speak whenever I could do that without impinging on my duties. Third, because I very much wanted to see the Democrats regain control of Congress, I put a high priority on accepting speaking invitations from various state and local Democratic party organizations throughout the country, especially in areas where the Democrats faced a difficult fight.  Now that the Democrats are back in the majority as a result of the most recent elections, I continue to receive requests to make appearances before such groups for the purpose of developing strategies for advancing Democratic values and expanding the Democratic majority.  And, fourth, I have been invited to speak to a number of liberal citizen advocacy organizations, and I am eager to accept these invitations whenever I can to encourage political activity for progressive causes by various citizens.  As indicated in the table that appears below, 78 percent of my non-governmentally sponsored travel since 2001 has fallen under these four categories.

“I have also been active through my work on the Financial Services Committee (where for four years I was the senior Democrat, and since the beginning of this year have been the Chairman) in international economic matters. I believe that one of the most important issues facing us is to see that globalization is carried out in a socially progressive manner. Thus I have taken several trips to international economic conferences, including those in Davos, Switzerland where I have been four times, though my participation in three of the Davos trips was funded by the U.S. Government, rather than a non-governmental entity.

“Finally, because of my role on the committee, I have spent a considerable amount of time working to familiarize myself with the details of the committee’s agenda.  Some of that work is accomplished when I speak with various citizen groups, which include consumer advocates, people concerned with housing, predatory lending, etc.  In other cases I accept invitations to meet with various entities in the financial services field.  For example, I have been to the New York Stock Exchange, the NASDAQ, and the Mercantile Exchanges in Chicago because they are important institutions which the committee regulates to some extent, and I believe it is important to have a good understanding of how they function, a goal which is advanced in part by visiting them.  I would add that, as a result of the increased responsibilities and time constraints that come with the committee chairmanship, I will be taking fewer trips than I have in the past.

“Attached is the list of destinations, sponsoring organizations, and trip durations for all of these trips dating to the beginning of 2001.”

Summary of Travel Funded by Non-Governmental Sources

(As reported in Rep. Frank’s annual Financial Disclosure Statements for 2001 – 2006, with supplementary information for 2007)

Category and number of trips       

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,        
Transgender Organizations -- 38

Advocacy and Community Groups -- 19

Colleges and Universities -- 16

Democratic Political Organizations -- 12

Financial Services Groups -- 9

Media Appearances -- 6

Non-Federal Democratic Candidates -- 3*

International Economic Forums -- 2                                             

Miscellaneous -- 4
(International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians/         
World Jewish Congress American Section;
National Constitution Center)

 

* Rep. Frank also traveled during this period on behalf of a number of Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress, as well as some federal political organizations, such as the Kerry for President campaign and components or affiliates of the Democratic National Committee.  These trips were paid for by the candidates’ campaigns or the organizations, respectively.  Such trips, which are reported in the candidates’ or organizations’ Federal Election Commission filings, are not part of the Financial Disclosure Statements that Members of Congress are required to file annually, and thus they generally do not appear in these documents.  However, a few are listed in the attachments because they were combined with other trips funded by outside groups.

To view a pdf version of a detailed record of all travel by Congressman Frank that was funded by outside sources since 2001 as reported in the annual Financial Disclosure Statements.

For additional data on trips in 2007, please click here.

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