Lawmakers Plan Trips Amid Shutdown : Congress: Foreign travel by Senate and House members strains reduced staffs at State Department, embassies. Some are having second thoughts.

Senators and House members have planned 25 trips to foreign countries in the next three weeks, abandoning Washington in the midst of a government shutdown and overloading the State Department and foreign missions operating with reduced staffs because of forced furloughs.

Diplomats in Latin America sent an outraged message to the State Department’s union complaining that “while American schoolchildren are being turned away from museums, some members of Congress are looking forward to seeing exotic attractions.”

As of Thursday morning, two trips had begun, and planning was underway for 23 others scheduled to leave between now and Jan. 16. But by Thursday evening, after the State Department advised congressional offices of the burden the trips would impose and informed them that the press was making inquiries, a number of offices indicated they were having second thoughts.

Many congressional aides said their bosses’ trips would be canceled unless there was a budget agreement to end the shutdown.

The State Department is one of nine Cabinet departments without funding for fiscal 1996, and diplomats and department officials have not been paid since the shutdown began Dec. 16.

Knowledgeable sources said several foreign embassies have called furloughed staff back to work to handle the congressional visitors.

A State Department spokesman said diplomats had been instructed to curtail their travel with the congressional delegations, but said it was “the ambassador’s call” on whether mission personnel could chaperon sightseeing and shopping jaunts, regular features of many trips.

Congressional trips--known in Washington parlance as Congressional Delegations, or CODELS--traditionally occur during recess periods, especially during midsummer and at year’s end.

All have some business focus, usually related to the activities of a particular congressional committee. An aide said Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.), who plans to travel to Africa, wanted to “show support for democracy and peace in countries in transition.”

But CODELS have also endured frequent ridicule as an excuse for lawmakers to enjoy themselves in foreign countries at taxpayer expense. Besides senators and House members, Congress has also scheduled 18 January trips by staff members.

The partial shutdown of the government and the pending budget agreement have complicated the holiday congressional travel season. Several congressional offices contacted Thursday by the Post said they would cancel their trips unless a budget agreement was reached and the shutdown ended.

However, Rep. Charles Wilson (D-Texas), who is retiring next year, said he intended to leave today for France, Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Britain, but would keep an eye on developments in Washington.

Two delegations have already left. Reps. Edward Whitfield (R-Ky.) and Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.) spent two days with U.S. troops at Camp Democracy in Haiti and were scheduled to return today.

Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Richard G. Shelby (R-Ala.) left Thursday on a 12-day trip to Africa, Egypt and Israel, accompanied by their wives, who pay some of their own expenses, and three aides, who do not. Before the trip, a State Department cable outlined some of the delegation’s special requirements:

“Sen. Specter is an avid squash player,” the cable said in part. “Request matches be arranged at air-conditioned courts in each location with local opponent. Sen. Specter will provide his own equipment except balls.”

Knowledgeable sources said the cable prompted a message of complaint from U.S. diplomats in Africa to the American Foreign Service Assn., the union that represents State Department employees. The association also received a stinging rebuke from diplomats in Latin America over a 15-day trip to be led by Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) to Panama, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Ecuador.

“Frankly,” the message said, “we are disturbed by the thought that while American schoolchildren are being turned away from Smithsonian museums, national parks, monuments and memorials, some members of the U.S. Congress are looking forward to seeing exotic attractions like Copacabana, Iguazu, Cuzco, Macchu Picchu and Otavalo--largely at the expense of the parents of those schoolchildren.”

Thomas E. Mooney, chief counsel for a House subcommittee that is chaired by Moorhead, said “the whole trip is under review. We understand the extra responsibility is difficult to deal with, and if this [budget impasse] is not resolved over the weekend, Moorhead said they weren’t going anywhere.”