Congress travels, taxpayers pay

Republicans and Democrats:

Two Air Force liaisons went to a wine and liquor store called Oddbins. With one aide reading from a shopping list for scotch, they bought three bottles of 12-year old Auchentoshon for $42 apiece and a bottle of 14-year old Clynelish for $52, according to the clerk who rang up their order. Mr. Tanner's spokesman said the group reimbursed the military liaisons.

The overall cost to the government of the trip won't be public for a few weeks. Mr. Tanner has taken seven previous trips to the NATO assembly. Their total reported cost, for him and his co-travelers, came to $575,000, not including the undisclosed cost of travel on Air Force planes.

Mr. Tanner is a founder of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of conservative Democrats dedicated to curbing government spending and balancing the budget. On his Web site is a ticker keeping tabs on the national debt. Five of the eight Democrats on the trip were Blue Dogs.