the House Ethics Committee — which is in charge of establishing the rules by which Congress operates — quietly removed a requirement to list “sponsored travel” on their annual financial disclosure forms. Sponsored travel refers to those trips lawmakers take that are paid for by groups outside Congress, often agenda-based or lobbying organizations. The trips have a tendency to be lavish and extend to lawmakers’ family and loved ones, and came under fire in the 1970s after Watergate and in 2006, after the Jack Abramoff scandal.

Reading this, my mind immediately went to this scene from Billy Madison.