ORDER GRANTING ATTORNEY FEES

DAVID A. SANDERS, Magistrate Judge.

The plaintiff has petitioned for an award of EAJA attorney's fees and expenses. The plaintiff seeks $6,029.10 in attorney's fees and $50.29 in expenses for mileage incurred in traveling to the courthouse for oral argument in this action.

The Commissioner does not challenge the hourly rate claimed, nor the reasonableness of the hours claimed, but suggests that since the attorney is being compensated for his time for travel at the full hourly rate, that compensating him for his mileage is excessive, redundant and otherwise unnecessary. The Commissioner has previously tried to persuade the court to reduce the compensation for travel time for social security practitioners to one-half of the hourly rate. This court previously addressed that argument, refusing to "further reduce the incentive for social security work by reducing compensation that is already below the market rate for similar services." Stark v. Comm'r of Soc. Sec., No. 3:14CV150-DAS, 2015 WL 3795985, at *2 (N.D. Miss. June 17, 2015). This objection is more of the same argument. The mileage expense is just that — an expense — not payment for services rendered. Just as the time to travel was unavoidably spent in coming to the courthouse, the mileage expense was necessarily and unavoidably incurred. Furthermore, allowing the reimbursement is consistent with the government's practice of reimbursing its own attorneys for any mileage necessarily incurred in attendance at court hearings. For the reasons stated in Stark the court rejects this objection.

The court awards the plaintiff $6,029.10 as attorney's fees and $50.29 in expenses. The check for attorney's fees shall be mailed to the offices of the plaintiff's counsel

SO ORDERED.