Republicans: Cancel 9th Circuit Conference in Hawaii

Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Judiciary ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) urged the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to cancel its planned August conference in Hawaii, which is estimated to cost more than $1 million. In the wake of all the controversy associated with the GSA scandal in Las Vegas, the Republican senators hope to halt the extravagant conference. In the second letter to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals chief judge the Senators insist:

"'[S]urely you recognize that the congressional authorization for the Circuit's judges to meet and discuss court business is not an invitation to gather annually at the most expensive and far-flung island paradise within the Circuit.' 

"'Indeed, a member of your staff admitted in a phone conversation with one Senate staff that judges and employees could fly to Maui at the expense of the taxpayer and not participate in any even related to the Conference.'"