Squad's Ilhan Omar pocketed $40K, Matt Gaetz took home $42K: Lawmakers who gave themselves the biggest bonuses through new Congress reimbursement program revealed

Some 300 members of Congress took part in a new congressional reimbursement program that doesn't require receipts for food and housing costs last year. Dozens topped off their $174,000-a-year salary with an extra $30,000 or more. 

The change in House rules was designed to aid members who have long had to maintain housing in both their home districts and the high-priced D.C. housing market out of their own pocket. 

But critics are warning that the program - and lack of a receipt requirement - could lead to abuse. 

DailyMail.com combed through a new Washington Post database of  reimbursements and found that Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., was the top spender for reimbursements, claiming $44,079 in costs - $32,189 for lodging and $11,890 for meals and incidentals. 

Behind him was Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who claimed $42,279 in expenses, Rep, Jim Baird, R-Ind., at $41,459 and Squad Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., at $40,092. 

Gaetz and Omar were both in the top five for members who claimed the most expenses as part of a food and lodging reimbursement program 

The average amount members charged was $18,000. 

Members have since 2009 opted not to give themselves a pay boost due to the political implications. 

But the bipartisan House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress in 2022 suggested the expense program as a work-around - but its lack of receipt requirement could lead to abuse. 

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy took advantage of the program, expensing $23,011 on top of his $223,500 speaker's salary, but Speaker Mike Johnson did not. 

Bergman, a retired general and Delta pilot, had assets valued at between $647,000 and $1.4 million, according to his most recent 2023 disclosure form. 

Gaetz, whose wealthy father Don Gaetz started a successful hospice care company, filed an extension for his 2023 disclosures so they have not been made public.

In 2022 he had assets between $341,000 and $1.2 million and liabilities - credit card bills and a car payment - between $20,000 and $30,000.

Omar's assets were between $37,000 and $208,000 and her liabilities - credit card bills and student loans - were between $45,000 and $150,000. 

Omar has four children, the youngest being 12 years old. In 2020 she paid her new husband Tim Mynett's political consulting firm $3 million. 

A new Washington Post database of their reimbursements found that Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., was the top spender for reimbursements, claiming $44,079 in costs - $32,189 for lodging and $11,890 for meals and incidentals.

A DailyMail.com report last week found Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., expensed $37,277 - the sixth highest amount in the house - and overcharged taxpayers by $12,000 for a home she owns and rents out.  

The quiet rules change at the start of this Congress allowed members to file expenses for food and lodging for the days that they are in Washington, D.C., on official business. 

Some 300 members took advantage of the new rules last year and were reimbursed for nearly $6 million. 

The members' representational allowance (MRA) allows members to expense hotels and rent within the per diem set by the General Services Administration (GSA) for each day they are in Washington on official business. 

It does not, however, allow them to file expenses for mortgage payments or interest on homes they own so that members are not building capital from taxpayer funds. 

Only utilities, property taxes and home insurance can be expensed under the program for homeowners. Members and their staff were made expressly aware of this, according to a source who helped usher in the new system.

'We had a lot of questions in the beginning, members saying, 'can we get our lawn care reimbursed, dry cleaning reimbursed, house cleaner reimbursed,' and we've really stuck to, again, insurance, taxes and utilities,' a source who helped implement the new change told DailyMail.com. 

Members who sleep in their offices may also not be reimbursed for housing.