Schock Billed Taxpayers for Staffers' NYC Trip

Two-day visit to New York City in late September was connected to a visit by India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi

Rep. Aaron Schock had at least 10 staffers with him during a taxpayer-funded visit to New York City last September, and few of them had official business there.

A spokesman for the Illinois Republican confirmed the expenditure to the Chicago Sun-Times, which first reported the news late Sunday following an analysis of House disbursement records and Federal Election Commission reports.

The total bill to taxpayers exceeded $10,000, records show. He defended the expenses when reporters asked about them on Monday afternoon.

The revelation is the latest in a series of expenditures that have raised questions about Schock's expenses and comes just days after he announced he'd hired private firms to oversee spending for his official and campaign operations.

The two-day visit to New York City in late September was connected to a visit by India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. It's also been previously reported that Schock billed taxpayers for a number of tickets to that weekend's Global Citizen Festival, where Modi made an appearance.

Schock, 33, has twice visited India since joining the House of Representatives in 2009. Caterpillar, one of the state's major employers, is headquartered in Schock's district and has manufacturing facilities in the nation.

Caterpillar was listed as a major sponsor of the Global Citizen Festival event (Disclosure: NBC and MSNBC were also sponsors of the event).

Since questions arose last month of Schock's lavish spending, he's reimbursed taxpayers for a decoration project to his congressional office and private plane expenses for a Chicago Bears game.

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