SALEM, Ore.-- A Northwest Congressman is firing back after questions were raised about a trip he and several other lawmakers took to the Galapagos Islands on the taxpayer’s dime.

The hidden camera investigation aired Monday night on the nationally syndicated program Inside Edition.

“The program that ran was pretty cheap shot and pretty inaccurate in a number of ways, but it is tabloid journalism,” said Representative Brian Baird of Washington.

Last June, Representative Baird and his wife, along with Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley and her daughter, were among the delegation from the House Committee on Science and Technology that stayed at a luxury resort. The trip cost taxpayers $21,000.

Congressman Baird says he paid for his wife’s travel. Baird explains that the trip was a fact finding mission to learn about global warming, ocean acidification and invasive species. The Washington Democrat argues, the delegation spent long days with researchers in the field.

“I would go down there and sleep on dirt for ten weeks to learn about this stuff, that’s how important it is,” said Baird.

The report also asked why Congresswoman Darlene Hooley needed to go. She’s not running for re-election and resigned from the Committee on Science and Technology just days before the trip. Congresswoman Hooley’s office did not respond to a request for an interview.

Watchdog groups believe there are more effective ways to research issues like global warming than fly halfway around the world on a private jet.

Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste said,

“Many of these locations are chosen not because they might be the best places to study climate change or another issue but because they are wonderful places to visit at the taxpayer expense.”