Flying High: Senators Rack Up Big Travel Bills

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a conservative Republican, is not exactly conservative when it comes to travel expenses.

Politico reports that Cornyn has the highest travel bill in the Senate for the first half of 2009, topping $152,000—the highest of all one hundred senators. (Cornyn explained that Texas is "a big state.")

Oklahoma's Jim Inhofe is relatively frugal by Cornyn standards, listing his travel expenses at $62,696.42.

But Inhofe is hardly a miser when compared to his colleague Tom Coburn. Coburn comes in at $34,067.14, which would seem to be a relatively good deal for taxpayers.

The full senate expenditure list can be found here.