Rand Paul Pokes Reid on GSA Vegas Junket

Freshman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is urging the House to investigate government junkets to Las Vegas in light of the scandal over the General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) $800,000 trip to Sin City.

Paul wants an inquiry into how many government conferences have taken place in Vegas during the past three years, he wrote in a letter Wednesday to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Politico reports.

Paul cited letters showing that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who hails from Nevada, asked then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in 2009 to assist in eliminating a ban on government conferences in “leisure-oriented” spots like Las Vegas.

“In light of the recent extravagant spending within the Government Services Administration, and the subsequent House and Senate hearings, I respectfully ask you to investigate how many government agency conferences, from any agency throughout government, were held in Las Vegas since the administration reversed its previous policy,” Paul wrote.

Reid defended his home territory Tuesday. “We all acknowledge the best place to hold a convention in the world is Las Vegas,” he told reporters. “There are 150,000 hotel rooms, it’s very inexpensive to come there . . . What the GSA did has nothing to do with Las Vegas. It has everything to do with stupidity, with a lack of common sense.”