Packard’s Fact-Finding Trip Is Canceled

Rep. Ron Packard has scrapped a spring break trip to Russia, Italy and Vienna to spend more time with his constituents in California and tend to business in Washington, a spokeswoman for the Oceanside Republican said Friday.

“It just wasn’t a good time to go,” said Packard’s spokeswoman, Michelle Fischbein, of the trip, which was designed to gather information on the overseas operations of the Library of Congress.

Packard’s trip--and others like it--have come under fire from State Department employees who have complained that shrinking budgets and staffs make it more difficult to host congressional delegations that often include a number of staff members and spouses.

Fischbein said the trip was canceled about a week ago because it conflicted with other work. She said she still did not know which lawmakers had planned to accompany Packard on the trip, because arrangements were “really tentative.”

Packard originally intended to take a delegation of six House members, their spouses, three to four staffers and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington on the two-week visit. The trip had been arranged to send the delegation to Russia first,so the group could be in Rome for Easter, according to the Washington Post.

Packard, whose 48th District includes parts of Orange and San Diego counties, said the trip’s intent was to gather information on the overseas operations of the Library of Congress. Packard is chairman of the House Appropriations Legislative Subcommittee, which approves the library’s budget.

Packard also has said the delegation would monitor Russian election campaigning.

While the Library of Congress has contacts with book dealers in Europe, it has no full-fledged offices in Italy or Vienna, according to a spokesperson. An acquisition specialist, who selects and purchases books for the library, is based in Moscow.