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12/01/15 02:23 PM EST

The latest email dump shows a hunger for intel on the domestic political scene – and an eye toward presidential politics.

12/01/15 02:14 PM EST

The agreement sets the stage for the bill to move through the House and Senate as soon as this week.

Schock treatment: Congressman reviews his travel spending

Updated 02/11/15 06:11 PM EST

When originally asked by POLITICO about the reimbursements, his office defended the practice, citing Schock’s extensive travel throughout his Peoria, Illinois, area district.

He added: “This weekend alone, I traveled 800 miles with events in Quincy, Bloomington, Peoria, Roanoke, Washington and other towns. I am proud that the voters and elected officials of Illinois 18th district can see me out in the district.”

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When pressed for further information — including details of his official travel in and out of the United States, and of campaign travel — Schock’s office sent a different statement hours later, indicating that it wasn’t sure who was driving his car at certain times, whether Schock was present and whether it was allowed under House rules.

“Congressman Schock and his team have a well-deserved reputation for constituent service,” the second statement from his office read. “This is due to extensive travel throughout the district which is 205 towns and 19 counties. The Congressman’s staff has access to his vehicle so it is used frequently when he is both in and out of the district. For example, this weekend over 800 miles were driven crisscrossing the district for events. Congressman Schock takes his compliance responsibilities seriously and procedures concerning this issue will be reviewed to determine whether they can improved.”

Kenneth Gross, a leading ethics and campaign finance attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher Flom, said reimbursements for using personal vehicles are a “perennial headache.”

“Reimbursements for cars are a perennial, ongoing problem that often get into allocation issues, personal use and campaign use and official use — all three of them come into play,” he said, speaking broadly about the issue, not about Schock’s specific situation. “If you are going to do an allocation, you need to have some basis for that allocation.”

Multiple sources familiar with Schock’s office’s operation have raised questions with POLITICO about the miles Schock says he drives and how much he’s pocketed in reimbursement charges.

Schock has a busy schedule in Washington and around the world — and April 2014 was a perfect example.

On April 6, he was in Las Vegas for the Academy Of Country Music Awards. He missed House votes the next day.

On April 19, he was in Hawaii, where a photographer posted on Instagram a shot of the chiseled Illinois Republican surfing off Waikiki Beach. He then jetted off to Asia for a six-day congressional delegation trip to China, South Korea and Japan. On April 28, he was back in New York, where he appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and Fox News.

Schock was also in Washington for 11 days that month, casting votes on the House floor.

Yet in April, Schock received a reimbursement for nearly $1,200 worth of mileage, amounting to approximately 2,100 miles on his personal vehicle. The same month, his aides received a total of $702 in reimbursements, which would equal 1,255 miles in driving.

The next month — May 2014 — Schock traveled to Brazil with three other lawmakers for several days as part of an official cultural exchange. Still, Schock received $1,232 in automobile reimbursements, roughly equal to 2,200 miles in official travel. His aides received $750, equivalent to a further 1,341 miles in travel. (Schock’s office declined to say how long he was in Brazil, and whether additional days were tacked on as a vacation. He won’t have to file a disclosure until the summer.)

Schock, who has a prized seat on the Ways and Means Committee, has collected tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money for miles he says were put on his personal vehicle. It amounts to more than 150,000 miles driven for congressional business using his car since he took office in the beginning of 2009.

In total, Schock is claiming his vehicle has been driven about a quarter-million miles in roughly six years while conducting official and campaign duties.

And that doesn’t include upward of $70,000 in taxpayer travel his office has racked up on private planes, which his office says is to help him get around the district more efficiently.

In addition, Schock has been reimbursed tens of thousands of dollars more for travel as part of his burgeoning political operation, although this is more difficult to track because individual trips are not disclosed. Schock and his aides boast that he visited 40 districts on behalf of Republican candidates in October 2014 alone. In 2014 alone, Schock’s campaign reimbursed him $18,354 for mileage.

His campaign later bought a Chevrolet Tahoe for nearly $74,000. His campaign has also purchased a Ford.

Schock’s campaign committees have reimbursed him more than $50,000 for campaign mileage, amounting to nearly 100,000 more miles driven since 2008.

He’s also racked up tens of thousands of dollars in private aircraft charters while conducting campaign work.

Schock’s spending has come under scrutiny in recent days. It started when The Washington Post revealed that he had redecorated his Capitol Hill office to look like “Downton Abbey,” a show airing on PBS about British aristocracy. POLITICO reported Monday that Schock’s campaign was spending heavily on lush hotels like the Four Seasons and a posh ski resort in Aspen, Colorado, in addition to money his campaign and taxpayer-funded congressional office have spent on private airplane flights around his district and across the country.

A pro-Democratic watchdog group has filed multiple complaints with the Office of Congressional Ethics in relation to his use of official funds for the office renovation and the sale of his home to a donor.

The office has already been looking into whether the Illinois Republican solicited a contribution above legal limits for a super PAC that was designed to target incumbent Republicans. Schock has maintained that he did nothing wrong, and he has not been charged with any ethics violations.

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