Ma Huan And Tan Mengqi Decipher US Official Travel Standards

< p > in accordance with the federal travel regulations (FederalTravelRegulation) of the General Administration of the federal government of the United States, the general level of ministerial officials, if there is no special reason, should use economy class when flying, only in several cases can business class be used: for example, the foreign aircraft with physical discomfort, threats to safety and poor hygienic conditions can fly for more than 14 hours, and when they arrive, they need to perform their duties immediately, and business class has a special discount, which is cheaper than that of the economy class.

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< p > in addition, various departments in the United States also have different provisions on mileage points for travel on official business. For example, the Ministry of agriculture allows employees to use a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/index_c.asp" > public funds less than /a. The mileage points obtained from travel are used for private purposes. The Ministry of Commerce and the State Council only allow points to be used for official travel, of which the Ministry of Commerce allows integral upgrading, while the Ministry of defense does not allow any form of integral use.

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< p > except for aircraft, there are similar regulations on trains. Unless the sanitary conditions or safety are threatened, general officials will not be encouraged to travel first class.

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< p > not only that, according to GSA regulations, the federal agencies of the United States use non ordinary cabin trips to be recorded as required, and they are handed over to the General Administration of the federal government once a year.

Every citizen can also find these information publicly.

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< p > taking 2009 as an example, the federal departments of the United States used 1671 times of the first class cabin. The most cited reason is that the other spaces are not hygienic, basically from the State Council, a total of 497 times.

Followed by safety reasons, a total of 357 times.

In addition, 15 departments reported that they did not use oversized class during the year.

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In order to facilitate staff travel, departments will sign a long-term preferential contract with airlines or rental car companies in an effort to minimize government spending in advance, P.

The US Treasury and the State Council require their employees to choose airlines that have contracts with the government, otherwise they will not be reimbursed; the commerce department will ask employees to choose places with preferential refueling on long trips, while the USDA will provide employees with the location of free parking places on business trips to reduce the reimbursement of parking fees.

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< p > although GSA has refined various provisions on the specific requirements of travel, it is still unavoidable that there are departments to exploit loopholes.

In 2007, the federal government issued a report on the abuse of non common cabin travel, which criticized the government departments in detail.

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< p > in this report, more than fifty thousand times of business travel or first class travel (96% of which are business class) in one year, 2/3 is insufficient or irregular.

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< p > in addition, some departments often use "official reasons" to approve business travel for official travel in less than 10 hours in Western Europe, and some departments automatically approve business class as long as travel time exceeds 14 hours.

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< p > < strong > us a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/index_c.asp" > business trip < /a > regulation is more strict < /strong > /p >

< p > on business trips, American officials are divided into two domestic and international standards, which are generally approved by GSA.

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< p > this standard is extremely detailed. It will stipulate the specific city standard of a certain country and be adjusted annually according to the price index.

In China alone, there are 29 kinds of accommodation standards, and the difference is very big in cities.

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< p > Beijing on business, the standard of accommodation is as high as 257 dollars, the daily miscellaneous fee is 23 dollars; if you travel in Chongqing, the accommodation standard is only 99 dollars, and the miscellaneous expenses are 19 dollars.

In terms of telephone charges, the average subsidy rate per household is 5 dollars per day.

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"P" on a business trip to the United States, civil servants must comply with more stringent regulations.

The toothpick Act (toothpickrule) is a slightly exaggerated one.

According to the provisions of the act, lobbyists in enterprises or industries should not entertain officials, but only invite them to join the reception.

All the food in the cocktail party can only be eaten with toothpicks, not to enjoy meals.

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< p > although the provisions of GSA will cover almost every detail of civil servants' official consumption, there are still cases of over consumption.

In April 2, 2012, according to the Washington Post, GSA Secretary Martha Johnson submitted his resignation to the White House that day.

The reason for her resignation is just over consumption.

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< p > it is reported that in October 2010, Martha Johnson chose to train his staff in a luxury hotel in Las Vegas. The training activity involved 300 employees and the total cost was $835 thousand.

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Joseph Lieberman P commented: "this is really an angry and foolish act. They dare to waste our taxpayers' money."

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< p > "President Obama was shocked and angry about the abuse and waste of GSA related officials from taxpayers. He demanded that the matter be thoroughly investigated."

White House chief of staff Jack Lou said.

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< p > < strong > controversial a href= "http://www.91se91.com/news/index_c.asp" > privileged class < /a > /strong > /p >

< p > in the aspect of ordinary civil servants, the federal government of the United States has strict rules and restrictions, and can not use public funds without authorization and make use of government privileges.

Among US officials, there are also some privileged officials, such as the current defense minister, Panetta.

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Leon Panetta, 73, is still living with his wife in a family farm near Monterey after entering politics. Two people have three sons and five grandchildren.

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After the inauguration of defense minister in July last year, the Secretary of state, who was attached to the farm life, flew back to California from the capital of Washington on the east coast for 27 times to enjoy family life in the old home of California. For this reason, the US The Pentagon paid 860 thousand dollars.

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< p > it is learnt that in order to keep in touch with President Obama and other high-ranking officials at any time, the The Pentagon specially arranged for him to travel to the west coast of the United States by special military aircraft equipped with advanced communications equipment.

The cost of the flight is about $3200 an hour, and Panetta calculates at least $32 thousand for every trip home.

He had been doing this as long as Panetta was the director of the CIA, and kept in touch with military commanders and government officials as he returned home safely.

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According to the regulations, in addition to the president of the United States, vice president and speaker of the house of Representatives, an American minister like Panetta, or a minister equivalent to a ministerial level, can take a special plane at a specific time. However, it must be strictly implemented in accordance with the provisions of the federal general travel regulations of the General Administration of the Commonwealth of the people's Republic of China (P).

Although Panetta has the right to use private military aircraft for private travel, his practice has obviously aroused great controversy.

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Stephen Aris, vice chairman of Taxpayers for Common Sense, the US supervision organization, said that in the current American economic difficulties, Panetta's approach seemed inappropriate. P

"The most important thing at the moment is to ensure that taxpayers' money is spent on work. I think Panetta should understand this very well."

Aris said.

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P, who has also defended Panetta, a government official said that because the United States had been subjected to uninterrupted terrorist threats, the Secretary of defense was under great pressure and he had the right to enjoy such services.

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< p > "in fact, no matter where Panetta is, he never stops working. So is his weekend. Some of his good ideas come out of other parts of Washington.

This "charging" will help him better lead the Department of defense and provide greater support to the US Army.

The official, who did not want to be named, said.

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