It has been quite a commute for Brent Robertson, top aide to Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), who has charged taxpayers $44,000 over the past two years for his commute.
The aide commutes between Washington, D.C., and Lynchburg, Virginia, where he lives, Politico reported.
Experts who reviewed his arrangement noted that while the price tag was high, it still was legal and in compliance with congressional rules regarding expense reimbursements.
Senior congressional aides are either in Washington or their employer’s home state. Robertson, however, bought a home 190 miles from Washington.
From April 2024 and September 2025, Robertson took 11 trips called “Lynchburg VA to Washington DC and Return” and received $16,000 in expenses from the government, according to Senate expense records.
These expenses included “incidentals,” “transportation” and a “per diem,” — something which is not usually taxed.
Between October 2024 and March 2025, Robertson took 15 trips with the same label and was paid $28,000 in expenses. He also had a per diem payment of $10,000 for one trip to D.C. between Jan. 14 and Jan. 23, which coincided with the presidential inauguration.
Stanley Brand, an attorney who served as House general counsel under Speaker Tip O’Neill, called it “a big, wide loophole” and said he had “never” heard of a similar arrangement.
“What if everybody decided to do that, let their staff live far away from their location, and then just charge it off to the government?” Brand said.
Payton Fuller, a spokesperson for Marshall, said the senator is allowed to designate a remote duty station for his employees. Fuller added Robertson’s move to Virginia was out of safety.
“After a gang shooting struck his wife’s vehicle outside their D.C. condo, Brent and his family made the decision last year to move to Virginia,” Fuller said. “Like dozens of other chiefs of staff who have duty stations outside of D.C., and in full accordance and approval of Senate ethics, rules, and guidelines, Brent is reimbursed for official travel to and from his home and duty station in Virginia.”
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, interim vice president of policy and government affairs at the Project on Government Oversight, questioned the arrangement. He said Robertson’s use of official funds“appears as though it’s purely personal, which is not what those funds are supposed to be used for.”
Senate expense rules do not allow spending taxpayer funds for personal use. Hedtler-Gaudette said the expenses “violate the spirit” of the guidelines.
“It would be one thing if he was traveling to Kansas because that’s the state that his boss is the senator from,” he said.
“He also raised the concern that arrangements like Robertson’s, that ‘stretch the definition of what a duty station is and encompass the personal home of every staffer,’ could proliferate,” per Politico.
