Mace used taxpayer funds to cover DC housing, food. Her rival calls it a breach of trust. (2024)

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace used a taxpayer-funded program that allows members of Congress to be reimbursed thousands of dollars for food and lodging — a move her leading GOP primary rival said reinforces the incumbent's self-serving pattern.

For 2023, Mace recouped nearly $28,000 in lodging expenses to cover costs associated with her $1.6 million Capitol Hill townhouse, along withmore than $9,400 for food, according to House records reviewed by The Post and Courier.

The widespread use of the program across Congress was detailed June 4 by The Washington Post, which found more than 300 House members are taking advantage of a program ethics watchdogs say is ripe for abuse.

The initiative, which began last year, was meant to ease the financial strain put on lawmakers who maintain separate homes in D.C. and their districts.

The Washington Post report detailed that the program does not require lawmakers to provide any receipts when they make their reimbursem*nt requests, raising questions about the lack of transparency and accountability for an effort that operates largely on an honor code.

The newspaper's analysis found reimbursem*nt requests varied widely.

Last year some 319 members — 153 Democrats and 166 Republicans — received reimbursem*nts totaling a combined $5.2 million to cover food and lodging expenses while they were working on official business in Washington.

Of the members who own D.C. homes and participated in the program, Mace was among those who requested "significantly higher" reimbursem*nts, according to the newspaper's review of thousands of pages of House data.

Mace co-owns a $1.6 million Capitol Hill townhome that she purchased in 2021 with her then-fiancé, Patrick Bryant. According to the deed, she owns 28 percent of the home. The couple is no longer together.

In the first two months of 2024, Mace has continued to make disbursem*nt requests, including a combined $3,367 in lodging reimbursem*nts and $1,609 for food.

Reached for comment June 4, Mace’s office declined to elaborate but directed The Post and Courier to a statement made to the Post where her spokesperson said they "follow all the rules for reimbursem*nts."

The program has just a few strict rules: Lawmakers cannot be repaid for principal or interest on their mortgages. They can only get reimbursem*nt for the days when they are actually working or traveling to D.C., and lawmakers cannot ask for more money back than their actual expenses.

Additionally, members can only expense taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities and other ancillary costs.

They are also subject to daily spending caps depending on the month, which are predetermined by the General Services Administration.

Members are “strongly encouraged” but not required to keep records of their expenses, according to guidance issued by the House Committee on Administration.

The Washington Post also reported that anonymous sources, including two former Mace staffers, told them the congresswoman had instructed her staff to seek the maximum reimbursem*nt each day the House was in session, regardless of her actual expenses.

Mace denied the allegation to the Post.

In South Carolina, Mace's chief Republican rival in next week's June 11 GOP primary, Catherine Templeton, accused the incumbent of betraying the public's trust and possibly breaking the law based on her extensive reimbursem*nts.

"Nancy Mace is all about Nancy Mace, and she has no problem sacrificing her integrity or our interests to benefit herself," Templeton told The Post and Courier.

Asked if she would take advantage of the reimbursem*nt program if elected, Templeton replied, "I would, of course, follow the rules, and that is the difference. Nancy Mace believes that the people of the 1st Congressional District are not paying attention. She treats us as if we are not intelligent, and she is dead wrong."

Templeton, a former two-time state agency head, is one of two Republicans challenging Mace for the GOP congressional nomination. Bill Young, a Marine veteran, is the other.

Young said Mace has a pattern of showing "a complete disregard for rules" and, as an example, referenced when she solicited political contributions last year while on Capitol grounds.

"Nancy Mace is an embarrassment for all of the Lowcountry, and the taxpayers should not be forced to pay for her media TV stunts," he said.

Mace, an Isle of Palms Republican, earns the $174,000 annual salary as a member of Congress.

Her office additionally declined to comment to The Post and Courier when asked to share details about how the reimbursem*nt money was spent.