I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2519
To provide a per diem allowance for Members of Congress for the costs
of lodging, meals, and incidental expenses incurred because of travel
to and from the Washington Metropolitan Area in order to cast votes
in Congress, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH31, 2025
Mr. R
OGERSof Alabama introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on House Administration
A BILL
To provide a per diem allowance for Members of Congress
for the costs of lodging, meals, and incidental expenses
incurred because of travel to and from the Washington
Metropolitan Area in order to cast votes in Congress,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. PER DIEM ALLOWANCES FOR MEMBERS INCUR-1
RING COSTS IN TRAVEL TO AND FROM WASH-2
INGTON METROPOLITAN AREA IN ORDER TO 3
CAST VOTES IN CONGRESS. 4
(a) E
NTITLEMENT TO PERDIEMALLOWANCES.—A 5
Member of Congress who travels on official and represen-6
tational business to and from the Member’s designated 7
residence to the Washington Metropolitan Area in order 8
to cast votes in Congress is entitled to— 9
(1) a per diem allowance for lodging in the 10
Washington Metropolitan Area in accordance with 11
subsection (b)(1); and 12
(2) a per diem allowance for meals and inci-13
dental expenses in the Washington Metropolitan 14
Area in accordance with subsection (b)(2). 15
(b) E
XCEPTIONS.— 16
(1) M
EMBERS RESIDING IN WASHINGTON MET -17
ROPOLITAN AREA.—A Member of Congress is not 18
entitled to a per diem allowance under this section 19
if the Member’s designated residence is within the 20
Washington Metropolitan Area. 21
(2) E
XPENSES PAID UNDER OTHER ALLOW -22
ANCES.—A Member of Congress is not entitled to a 23
per diem allowance under this section with respect 24
to lodging, meals, and incidental expenses for which 25
payment is made— 26
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(A) in the case of a Member of the House 1
of Representatives, under the Members’ Rep-2
resentational Allowance; and 3
(B) in the case of a Senator, under the 4
Senators’ Official Personnel and Office Expense 5
Account. 6
(c) P
ERDIEMALLOWANCESDESCRIBED.— 7
(1) L
ODGING.—A Member of Congress may re-8
ceive a per diem allowance for lodging with respect 9
to a day if— 10
(A) the House of Congress in which the 11
Member serves holds votes on that day; and 12
(B) the Member records a vote in person 13
in the chamber of that House of Congress on 14
each vote held on that day. 15
(2) M
EALS AND INCIDENTAL EXPENSES .—A 16
Member of Congress may receive a per diem allow-17
ance for meals and incidental expenses with respect 18
to the following days: 19
(A) A day for which the Member receives 20
a per diem allowance for lodging under para-21
graph (1). 22
(B) The day before a day described in sub-23
paragraph (A), but only if the Member travels 24
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to the Washington Metropolitan Area on the 1
day described in subparagraph (A). 2
(C) The day after a day described in sub-3
paragraph (A), but only if the Member travels 4
from the Washington Metropolitan Area on the 5
day described in subparagraph (A). 6
(3) U
SE OF GSA RATES.—The amount of the 7
per diem allowance to which a Member of Congress 8
is entitled under this section shall be the amount to 9
which the Member would be entitled under regula-10
tions prescribed by the Administrator of General 11
Services if the Member were an employee entitled to 12
a per diem allowance under subchapter I of chapter 13
57 of title 5, United States Code. 14
(d) R
EGULATIONS.— 15
(1) I
N GENERAL.—This section shall be carried 16
out in accordance with regulations promulgated by— 17
(A) the Committee on House Administra-18
tion of the House of Representatives, with re-19
spect to the per diem allowances for Members 20
of the House of Representatives and the Dele-21
gates and Resident Commissioner to the Con-22
gress; and 23
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(B) the Committee on Rules and Adminis-1
tration of the Senate, with respect to the per 2
diem allowances for Senators. 3
(2) E
NSURING ALLOWANCES ARE NOT TREATED 4
AS EARNED INCOME FOR TAX PURPOSES .—In pro-5
mulgating regulations to carry out this section, the 6
Committee on House Administration and the Com-7
mittee on Rules and Administration shall follow to 8
the greatest extent practicable the regulations each 9
such Committee promulgates with respect to pay-10
ments for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses in-11
curred by Members of Congress under the Members’ 12
Representational Allowance or the Senators’ Official 13
Personnel and Office Expense Account, respectively, 14
including the provisions of such regulations which 15
ensure that the payment of such an allowance is not 16
treated as income earned by the Member for pur-17
poses of paying Federal, State, or local taxes. 18
(3) E
FFECT ON EXISTING REGULATIONS .—The 19
regulations promulgated under paragraph (1) shall 20
supersede any regulations of the Committee on 21
House Administration or the Committee on Rules 22
and Administration governing the reimbursement of 23
travel expenses incurred by a Member of Congress 24
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which are in effect at the time the regulations are 1
promulgated. 2
(e) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) The ‘‘designated residence’’ of a Member of 4
Congress is— 5
(A) in the case of a Member of the House 6
of Representatives, a residence in the congres-7
sional district the Member represents (or, in the 8
case of a Member who does not reside in the 9
congressional district the Member represents, a 10
residence in the State in which the congres-11
sional district is located), as designated by the 12
Member in a statement the Member provides to 13
the Committee on House Administration; and 14
(B) in the case of a Senator, a residence 15
in the State the Senator represents, as des-16
ignated by the Senator in a statement the Sen-17
ate provides to the Committee on Rules and 18
Administration. 19
(2) The term ‘‘Member of the House of Rep-20
resentatives’’ includes a Delegate or Resident Com-21
missioner to the Congress. 22
(2) The term ‘‘Washington Metropolitan Area’’ 23
means the District of Columbia; the cities of Alexan-24
dria, Falls Church and Fairfax, and the counties of 25
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Arlington and Fairfax, in Virginia; and the counties 1
of Montgomery and Prince George’s in Maryland. 2
(f) T
REATMENT OF DELEGATES.—In this section, 3
the term ‘‘Member of the House of Representatives’’ in-4
cludes a Delegate or Resident Commissioner to the Con-5
gress. 6
(g) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall apply with 7
respect to the One Hundred Nineteenth Congress and 8
each succeeding Congress. 9
Æ
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