Reading Room Document

Payment of Expenses Associated With Travel by the President and Vice President

Funds appropriated for the official functioning of the offices of the President and the Vice President may be used for travel expenses only if the travel is reasonably related to an official purpose; and, official activities may be funded only from funds appropriated for such purposes. Thus appropriated funds should not be used to pay for political travel and political funds should not be used to pay for official travel. Whether an event is official or political for purposes of paying its expenses must be determined on a case-by-case basis, and both the nature of the event and the nature of the individual involved should be considered. Where both official and political activities occur on the same trip, the expenses of individuals on the trip for both political and official reasons can be apportioned between the government and a political committee on a basis which reflects the time spent on the respective activities. During the period of a presidential election campaign. Federal Election Commission regulations may require a different rule of allocation. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22996/download.

March 24, 1982