Source: PRESS RELEASE, 7/23/14

For the 29th consecutive year, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) announced today that he is returning unspent funds from his congressional office budget.  Congressman Coble said that unspent funds for 2013 pushed his total savings close to $1.8 million during his congressional career.

        Rep. Coble said in 2013 his office returned $21,295.31 in unspent funds from a budget of $1,230,682.  “We have always operated our congressional offices with the knowledge that we are spending taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” Rep. Coble said.  “Our budget for 2013 was $130,000 less than in 2012.  Even with that large cut in our funding, we were able to keep our spending under the cap and return funds to the taxpayers.”

In 2010, Rep. Coble’s allocated budget was $1,529,438.  In 2013, his budget was $1,230,682.  In this four year-period of declining budgets, Congressman Coble was still able to return $500,088.74 in unspent funds.  

Congressman Coble maintains a fulltime staff of 16, with eight employees in Washington and eight in North Carolina.  Rep. Coble has a four-staffer office in Greensboro and one person offices in Graham, High Point and Madison.  The eighth staffer serves five counties on a rotating basis.  

        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
•        2011          $187,246.45
•        2012          $74,307.29
•        2013          $21,295.31

                               Total                $1, 777,229.88

        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 to Washington.  “For 30 years, our staff has provided outstanding constituent services to the citizens of the Sixth District,” Rep. Coble added, “and we did it in a fiscally-prudent manner.  I am proud to say that we have returned almost $1.8 million of taxpayers’ money.”