Rep. Mia Love said she will pay back the Treasury for plane tickets she used for a weekend trip with her husband to Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) will pay back taxpayers for weekend plane tickets she bought to attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner earlier this year.
Love said she would repay the more than $1,000 in tickets after The Hill reported on Thursday that the Republican, considered a rising star within the party, purchased them on the taxpayer's dime.
The tickets, which totaled $1,160, were for a weekend trip from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C., for Love and her husband.
Members of Congress are not allowed to use their congressional allowance to pay for activities that are mainly social.
Richard Piatt, Love's spokesman, told The Hill in a statement that a staff member booked the flight, not the congresswoman herself. While the trip included official business, Piatt said, Love plans to write a check to the U.S. Treasury.
“Rep. Love takes the use of taxpayer money very seriously," Piatt said, "and in order to ensure there is never a question about the proper use of funds, Rep. Love will reimburse the government for those flights.”