Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who has made a career advocating for fiscal responsibility, has been booking private planes for official business at taxpayer expense to the tune of thousands of dollars, according to a report by Politico.
Between September 13 and September 15, Politico reported that Price booked five charter plane trips — including a round-trip to Philadelphia from Washington D.C., even though the two cities are less than 150 miles apart.
On another trip, three other flights took him to a Maine resort for a discussion with a health care CEO, a health center in New Hampshire, and then back to Washington, D.C.
Price has fiercely promoted reducing spending at HHS. Former HHS staffers in the Obama administration said that charter plane flights, especially for short-haul flights like the ones Price took, were a "non-starter" during their time. When reached for comment, HHS said charter planes may be used for travel when commercial travel options are not available, but Politico found commercial flights and Amtrak trains that nearly overlapped Price's schedule for those trips.
Charter plane operators interviewed for Politico's story say the flights cost over $10,000 a piece. A reasonable estimate for Price's plane travel for the two-day span is in the vicinity of $60,000, apparently paid for by Health and Human Services. (When contacted, none of the organizations hosting Secretary Price indicated that they had compensated Price for his travel.)
Back when Price was a member of the House of Representatives, he lambasted charter plane travel for members of the federal government.
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