Taxpayers getting their money's worth

As a veteran reporter of the annual legislative and political advisory sessions, I consider the two sessions a big political gala.

Every early March, about 5,000 legislators and advisers travel from near and far to the capital and stay together in hotels for about two weeks at huge expense to the taxpayer. The CPPCC once revealed that it spent 59 million yuan ($9.6 million) on the annual session in 2010, while the NPC never discloses the budget for its national meeting.

At the two sessions, the NPC deputies fulfill their legal obligation to review the work of the government and the top judicial organs. The role of the CPPCC National Committee members is to offer advice on how to make the country more prosperous and healthy.