Interior Department says it will temporarily block Democratic aides from official oversight trips

The Interior Department announced Thursday it was suspending the practice of allowing congressional staffers for the House Appropriations Committee on department-funded trips, acknowledging a rift between the department and Democratic lawmakers who approve its spending plans. "The Department of the Interior will not be funding any travel for House Appropriation staff until the ethics issue with their staff is resolved by Chairwoman (Betty) McCollum and the Committee and the assurance is made that all our employees will be treated equally, fairly and respectfully," an Interior Department spokeswoman told CNN. The spokeswoman did not comment on what directly led to the fallout between the two bodies. NBC News, which first reported the spat, reported late Wednesday it involved a "complaint over staff behavior" involving an Interior Department employee who attended an oversight trip. Because Congress controls budgets of every agency through the appropriations committees, congressional staff can take trips to oversee any aspect of agency work. Based on a 1953 law, the agency is required to pay for those trips as a part of Congress oversight work. The spokeswoman for the department told CNN the department's chief of staff reached out to the appropriations committee about the issue, but did not receive a response. Evan Hollander, a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, told CNN that "senior staff at Interior have concocted this entire incident to obstruct the House's critical oversight work."...MORE