Don't insulate Members of Congress and staff from constituents and other nations, including privately-funded excursions. They often serve a valuable purpose, and we all benefit.
There is another very important benefit of the "junkets." My mentor in politics, the late Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt, lamented the loss of trips with colleagues from across the aisle. He believed that those trips, many of them hours long, made for a more civil Congress. His point being that the trips were one of the few, if not only, times members of Congress from both political parties and all political beliefs actually spent personal time with each other for long periods of time with no or very few staff. Basically, the fundamental understanding that personal interaction creates trust and makes it more difficult to treat each other way reps and senators do today.
Great point and I wish I'd made it. I have heard so many stories and witnessed others as Senators and families built invaluable relationships via travel. One of the more consequential relationships built through congressional traval was the late Sen. Richard Lugar and then-Senator Barack Obama. In my own case, my best relationships with senators came from 1) their political campaigns and 2) official travel with them.
There is another very important benefit of the "junkets." My mentor in politics, the late Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt, lamented the loss of trips with colleagues from across the aisle. He believed that those trips, many of them hours long, made for a more civil Congress. His point being that the trips were one of the few, if not only, times members of Congress from both political parties and all political beliefs actually spent personal time with each other for long periods of time with no or very few staff. Basically, the fundamental understanding that personal interaction creates trust and makes it more difficult to treat each other way reps and senators do today.
Great point and I wish I'd made it. I have heard so many stories and witnessed others as Senators and families built invaluable relationships via travel. One of the more consequential relationships built through congressional traval was the late Sen. Richard Lugar and then-Senator Barack Obama. In my own case, my best relationships with senators came from 1) their political campaigns and 2) official travel with them.