HHS Secretary Tom Price says no more private jets until review complete
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Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is flying right into controversy with the use of 5 private jets for work trips just last week. Veuer’s Nick Cardona (@nickcardona93) has that story.
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Conceding “the optics don’t look good,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price Saturday said he won’t be taking any more private flights at taxpayers’ expense until a review of those charter trips is complete.
The former Georgia congressman, who once blasted then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi for flying “over our country in your luxury jet,” said he has initiated an internal review of the practice on top of the one being handled by the department’s Inspector General that congressional Democrats had requested.
“I don’t think there will be any charter trips until this review is complete,” Price told Fox News, without being specific as to which review he was referencing. “I think that’s appropriate because of the concerns that we’ve heard.”
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While on official business last week, Price took five separate flights on private jets, according to a report by Politico.
Price, a fiscal conservative, traveled to Maine for a health care industry QA, and he visited community health centers in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, the Politico reported. Those travels, made from Sept. 13-15, cost at least $60,000, tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.
Politico also reported Price has taken at least 24 flights on private charter planes at taxpayers’ expense since early May. The news site cited people with knowledge of his travel plans and a review of HHS documents.
“We’ve heard this criticism and we’re very, very serous about addressing it,” Price told Fox. “That’s why, as the inspector general goes through his review and his audit with which we’ll cooperate (and)Â our internal review, we want to make sure the process and procedures that are in place have the full confidence of the American people.
More: Abusing taxpayer money used to be a firing offense. Not in the Trump era.
More: Democrats call on HHS to investigate Secretary Tom Price’s chartered flights
The HHS secretary said the private flights were not the norm.
“We’ve taken many, many trips in cars, sometimes four or five hours at a time so this isn’t the routine,” Price said.
The revelation of Price’s chartered trips come as other members of the Trump administration are under scrutiny for their own travels. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reportedly requested an Air Force jet for his honeymoon. And EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt flies home to Oklahoma at the government’s expense.
Price’s Obama administration predecessors, Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, flew commercially while traveling in the United States, according to Politico.
HHS told Politico that Price took private flights when commercial flights weren’t available.
Price served in the House for 12 years prior to joining the Trump administration.
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