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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) will reportedly enjoy a taxpayer-funded safari with five Senate Democrats during a trip in Africa, which includes the nations of Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, and Morocco.
The excursion appears to be under the guise of conducting “fact finding missions, focused on the fight against HIV/AIDS through site visits, meetings/briefings, and informal substantive meals designed to provide a frontline look at the impact of US Government investments in PEPFAR [U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief],” according to an itinerary obtained by Punchbowl News.
Graham will be joined by five high-profile Democrat senators: Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Chris Coons (D-DE), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Mark Kelly (D-AZ).
None of the senators appear to have a history in medicine, though Delaware State University in 2018 named Coons as an Honorary Doctor in Humane Letters.
Cindy McCain, who serves as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. food and agriculture agencies, will also join the “CODEL,” an acronym for taxpayer-funded excursions for members of Congress.
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While the American officials are on an HIV/AIDs “fact-finding mission,” they will reportedly enjoy a safari this week and visit Victoria Falls, one of the world’s largest waterfalls on the Zambezi River in southern Africa between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“On Friday, the group will head to Botswana, where the itinerary says the recommended attire is ‘rugged casual.’ Friday and Saturday are packed with ‘conservation observations,’ which appear to be safari trips,” Punchbowl reported.
The CODEL’s final day will be spent without official business in Casablanca and the return to the United States before going back to work in Washington, DC, next Monday.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
