Source:  PRESS RELEASE, 5/10/11

U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) announced today that his office did not spend all of its allocated budget for 2010, marking the 26th straight year of savings.  Congressman Coble said the unspent funds for 2010 pushed his total savings to almost $1.5 million during his congressional tenure.

         Rep. Coble said that in 2010 his office returned $217,239.69 in unspent funds from an office budget of $1,529,438.  That amounts to 14.2% of the 2010 budget that was not spent.  For his 26 years in office, Congressman Coble said that the total savings for his office is $1,489,449.84.   

         “From my first day in office,” Rep. Coble stated, “I vowed to never spend our full budget allotment, and we have lived up to that pledge.  We have always operated our congressional offices with the knowledge that we are spending someone else’s hard-earned money – namely taxpayers in the 6th District.  And we have achieved these savings while still providing the kind of outstanding constituent services that residents of the 6th District have come to expect for the last quarter-century.”   

         Congressman Coble maintains a fulltime staff of 16, with eight employees in Washington and eight in North Carolina.  Four of the district staffers work in the main office in Greensboro and there are four, one-person offices in Asheboro, Graham, High Point, and Granite Quarry.  Below is a listing of the amount of unspent funds for each year that Rep. Coble has been in office:
•        1985          $5,176.47
•        1986          $7,344.00
•        1987          $5,000.02
•        1988          $17,700.00
•        1989          $32,661.16
•        1990          $17,592.26
•        1991          $14,002.00
•        1992          $32,436.24
•        1993          $38,000.00
•        1994          $19,216.18
•        1995          $16,114.65
•        1996          $123,005.79
•        1997          $71,544.91
•        1998          $37,409.22
•        1999          $66,106.77         
•        2000          $41,388.13
•        2001          $77,469.50
•        2002          $55,922.55
•        2003          $89,682.36
•        2004          $71,346.04
•        2005          $47,248.11
•        2006          $89,545.43
•        2007          $71,787.80
•        2008          $67,847.42
•        2009          $156,663.14
•        2010          $217,239.69

   Total                $1,489,449.84

         Each member of the House receives approximately the same amount of funds and the only difference is a larger travel allowance for those representatives from states distant from Washington.

  “One large area of savings for us comes from not abusing our franking privilege, which is the congressional mailing system,” Rep. Coble added.  “Since 1990, we have produced no newsletters, questionnaires or other unsolicited mailings that amount to nothing more than self-promotions.  Unless you contact us, we will not contact you.  That mailing ban has allowed us to save hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, and I am proud to say that we have returned almost $1.5 million of taxpayers’ money.”