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Today we are going to unveil that we are returning $500,000 to the Treasury. We invited several representatives of taxpayers from around the state to receive this check. This is a check for $500,000, or representative of $500,000, that we are returning from our office budget to the Treasury.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), speaking at a news conference, Jan. 13, 2012

Senator Rand Paul returns $480,000 to U.S. Treasury from Office Budget, has returned $1.8 million since taking office.

headline on Rand Paul news release, Feb. 20, 2015

A reader spotted a news item about Sen. Rand Pauls annual announcement that he has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds and returned it to the Treasury. He wondered how accurate that statement was, and so we decided to look into it.

Theres actually less to this claim than meets the eye one made by not just Paul but a number of lawmakers. But Paul certainly makes a big deal out of it, including the visual image of a giant check made out to The U.S. taxpayer.

The money that every lawmaker receives is subject to annual appropriations, just like funds for the executive branch. As part of that allotment, each lawmaker in the House receives a members representational allowance (MRA), and each senator receives a senators official personnel and office expense allowance (SOPOEA).

The money is intended to be used for office and staff expenses; the procedures and formulas for determining the amount for each lawmaker are slightly different in each legislative body.

The average amount for House members was $1.255 million in fiscal year 2014, while senators will receive an average of$3.24 million in fiscal year 2015, according to the Congressional Research Service. Few lawmakers spent every cent of their allotment, and some (especially in the Senate) leave hundreds of thousands of dollars unspent.

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Did Rand Paul really return money to the Treasury ...