EGN NEWS DESK
The House Ethics Committee has begun reviewing Representative Nancy Mace’s use of a reimbursement program for lodging and different bills of Congress members working in Washington, in accordance with a committee member aware of the preliminary inquiry.
Following a criticism, lawmakers are being requested to look into whether or not Ms. Mace, Republican of South Carolina, overcharged this system 1000’s of {dollars} for bills associated to her Washington townhouse. According to the lawmaker aware of the preliminary inquiry, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate it, the total committee will take into account the small print of the criticism over the approaching days.
The committee has not taken a vote to authorize an investigation.
A change to House guidelines that went into impact final yr permits members to be repaid for prices of lodging and meals whereas they’re on official enterprise in Washington, as much as $34,000 a yr. Lawmakers should not required to submit receipts to be reimbursed, however they’re strongly inspired to maintain them for his or her data.
According to the most recent report by the Committee on House Administration, Ms. Mace was repaid greater than $23,000 in lodging prices in 2023. Documents reviewed by The New York Times confirmed that quantity included bills for insurance coverage, taxes and different month-to-month payments associated to her townhouse. Lawmakers who personal properties within the Washington space — as is the case for Ms. Mace — could not search reimbursement for mortgage funds.
Under this system, lawmakers could solely request reimbursement for his or her portion of housing prices incurred whereas in Washington. But in accordance with the deed of her residence and an individual aware of Ms. Mace’s private bills, she is a partial proprietor of the house together with her former fiancé, and wouldn’t be permitted to hunt compensation for the total prices related to the shared residence.
The discrepancies in her filings had been first reported by The Washington Post, which famous that Ms. Mace was amongst a lot of lawmakers whose complete reimbursements had been close to this system’s most.
Ms. Mace’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Added scrutiny of Ms. Mace’s spending stories comes amid tensions between the South Carolina Republican and a lot of former members of her employees who not too long ago resigned. Daniel Hanlon, who served as Ms. Mace’s chief of employees till December of final yr, launched a major marketing campaign to unseat his former boss from workplace. He dropped out of the race in March.
Ms. Mace now faces Catherine Templeton, a former candidate for governor who labored beneath Nikki Haley when she was governor. Ms. Templeton additionally has the backing of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who — since being ousted from House management by eight Republicans together with Ms. Mace — has devoted himself to unseating these detractors by supporting their major opponents. Tuesday’s major election would be the first check of his efforts.
The fund-raising group managed by Mr. McCarthy, Majority Committee PAC, made a $10,000 contribution to Ms. Templeton’s marketing campaign in April. Numerous teams with shut affiliations to the previous speaker have additionally contributed to the trouble to unseat Ms. Mace.
During weekend stops in Hilton Head and Beaufort, Ms. Mace didn’t seem to deal with the stories of misuse. Instead, in her last major push she spoke to voters about financial points and border safety, and highlighted the assist of former President Donald J. Trump, who endorsed her in March, calling her a “robust conservative voice.”
Annie Karni contributed reporting.
