FCC in Compliance With Federal Travel Rules, Pai Says

federal travel regulations. Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., and ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., asked for details May 1 amid concerns about “frivolous and wasteful spending on premium-class airline tickets for government employees.” The FCC posted both letters Thursday. “The FCC’s travel policies are documented in a travel manual as well as travel bulletins that are issued periodically for specific issues,” Pai said: “These documents are available to all FCC employees. In addition, the FCC’s Travel and Operations Group has its own set of internal policies and procedures for the functions it performs related to the FCC’s travel processes as part of the FCC’s financial operations team.” Pai also said that “all travel documents … must be approved by a designated approving official (who must be someone other than the traveler). The approving official’s name and title, the date of the approval, and an original signature must be recorded in order for the travel documents to be processed.” The FCC's spending on business-class flights included $12,650 for an Oct. 25 flight to Dubai and more than $14,700 for two 2018 flights to Buenos Aires, Pai said. The FCC authorized spending for all of those flights under federal statute that allows an agency to “authorize business class accommodations when the use of other than coach-class is necessary to accommodate a medical disability or other special need,” he wrote. “In each of the three instances … the authorization was given because of a medical disability of a career staff member.” Kennedy told us Thursday he still needs to review responses from the FCC and other agencies but said he understood extenuating circumstances necessitating an official's use of first-class and business-class seats on a flight, including “health reasons or if there are no other seats available” for flights to a location.