Congressional Perks: Lawmakers billed taxpayers for limousine services

By Mark Stricherz
The Center Square

A number of U.S. representatives like to be driven in style, billing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for limo service from their office accounts, an investigation by The Center Square found.

Six U.S. representatives charged taxpayers nearly $30,000 to hire chauffeured limousines in the latest twelve months for which figures are available. Since January 2019, U.S. representatives spent more than $160,000 out of their office accounts with companies that had the word limo or limousine in their name, according to figures come from the U.S. House’s quarterly disbursement reports.

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, spent the most on limo services, according to the data. She charged taxpayers $25,950 for transportation from Limousine House LLC from July 1, 2024, to June 30, according to House disbursement reports. A spokesperson did not immediately return requests for comment.

Since 2019, Waters spent $111,000 on limo services. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Colorado Democrat who retired in 2023, came in second with nearly $20,000 in rides from limousine services. The records do not indicate the type of vehicle the lawmakers used for transportation, such as a Lincoln Town Car, Cadillac Escalade, or stretch limousine.

While Waters regularly hired the company, five other lawmakers charged taxpayers $3,963 to hire a driver of a limousine service once or twice.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, took the two most expensive trips.

Himes billed taxpayers $1,100 for the use of Elite Limousine Service on May 30. That came two days after he spent $850 to hire the same company. Cara Camacho, Himes’ chief of staff, did not return requests for comment.

Daniel Schuman, executive director of American Governance Institute, a non-profit, said the spending totals raise questions.

“Some of those trips are more expensive than airfare,” Schuman said in an interview. “It’s hard to imagine how that makes sense even in an expensive place like D.C. Are they ferrying staff around to an event?”

Water’s service, Limousine House LLC, which House records show she has paid since August 2021, has little readily available information. The company has no identifiable official website, no established online presence, and does not appear in corporate registries in California, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. Its principal address is a residential apartment unit in Alexandria, Va. In 2014, the company was granted passenger carrier authority by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission. Three years later, WMATC suspended the company’s operating certificate and began revoking it because Limousine House LLC failed to maintain required filings and fees. In September 2024, the company was deemed inactive or defunct for lack of payment, according to records from the Virginia State Corporation Commission, an independent state agency.

Limo company officials could not be reached for comment. A reporter knocked on the door and rang the doorbell twice on Monday afternoon at the condominium owned by Omar Bouzid, the former company’s director, in Springfield, Va., but no one answered.

Growing budgets

The 440 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and delegates receive roughly $2 million a year for travel, staff, equipment, and the operations of their offices in Washington, D.C., and their home districts through the Members’ Representational Allowance. Lawmakers are required to disclose their use of taxpayer dollars.

As The Center Square reported, spending on lawmakers’ office accounts jumped to $810 million in 2024 from $360.5 million in 1996.

Many lawmakers press junior staff members into service as their drivers in and around the Capitol, Schuman said.

“It’s an unpoliced area, so members can largely do what they want,” he added.

Rank-and-file members earn $174,000 a year. Their annual salary has been frozen for 17 years, resulting in a 31% drop in income when adjusted for inflation.

One-day trips

Lawmakers’ transportation spending varied.

U.S. Rep. Timothy M. Kennedy, a New York Democrat, billed taxpayers for the use of a limousine rather than a limousine service. Kennedy spent $220 for an unspecified limousine on Thursday, August 22, and $848 on Friday, September 6. Congress was out of session both days.

Kennedy spokeswoman Jala Hooks did not immediately return an email for comment.

Rep. Kevin Mullin, a California Democrat, billed taxpayers for $209 for Premiere Limousine on March 12, 2025. Communications Director Samantha Weigel did not respond to an email request for comment.

Two Florida lawmakers charged taxpayers for out-of-state limousine services.

U.S. Rep. Scott Franklin, a Republican, spent $442 for the use of New Orleans-based Fleur De Lis Limousine LLC on August 10. Franklin’s chief of staff, Melissa Kelly, said he used a recommended car service, a limousine company, because Uber services were not available late at night.

“It wasn’t a limo, it was a Honda Odyssey van,” Kelly said in an interview. “He had just gotten back at 2 a.m. from a Codel (Congressional delegation trip), and at that hour from the Tampa airport, you can’t get an Uber back to his home in Lakeland. It definitely cost a lot, but it was a one-off thing.”

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat, spent $294 for Echo Limousine, a Chicago-based company, on August 18, 2024. Her chief of staff, Naomi Pierre-Louis, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In late January, the House Ethics Committee released a 59-page report that concluded “there is substantial reason to believe” that Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick violated criminal laws by laundering money from a $5 million overpayment the federal government gave to her family business in 2021 to her congressional campaign. She denies the charges.