A group of congressional Democrats requested an investigation into a report that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price took trips this month on a private jet for official business in lieu of commercial flights.
At issue is whether the Price used taxpayer dollars to accommodate the use of a private jet on five separate occasions from Sept. 13-15.
“We are writing to request that you conduct a review of Secretary Tom Price’s adherence to federal regulations and Department of Health and Human Services policies and procedures for travel,” A group of House and Senate Democrats led by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the ranking member on the Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote to the HHS Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday. “This request follows a troubling report by Politico that Secretary Price recently used privately chartered flights to travel within the Northeast United States on HHS business over the course of three days, which was estimated to cost ‘tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.'”
The original report from Politico on Tuesday cites internal HHS documents that show Price visited a resort in Maine to join a question-and-answer session with a healthcare industry CEO and New Hampshire and Pennsylvania to visit community health centers.
The sites Price visited said they did not pay for the flights, and an HHS spokesperson said that when “commercial aircraft cannot reasonably accommodate travel requirements, charter aircraft can be used for official travel.”
In their letter, the Democrats want the OIG to determine how many taxpayer dollars were used for the trips, how many of them there have been, determine if there is a “mechanism” to reimburse taxpayers and find out whether any HHS employees raised concerns about the trips.
“American taxpayers deserve assurances that their tax dollars are not wasted by the government’s highest officials, and we are committed to holding Secretary Price to his stated pledges to reduce waste throughout the Department. Therefore, we appreciate your prompt and thorough review of these issues,” the Democrats wrote.
Price’s reported private jet excursions represents a departure from the standard set by HHS heads in the Obama administration, including Sylvia Matthews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while traveling within the mainland of the U.S.
In a statement from Charmaine Yoest, the assistant secretary of public affairs at HHS, put out a statement saying “every effort is being made to maximize Secretary Price’s ability to travel outside Washington” to meet with Americans and carry out HHS business.
Here’s the statement that was sent to me by HHS about charter jet travel by HHS Secretary Tom Price pic.twitter.com/AOjPgjC05R
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) September 21, 2017
Price isn’t the only Trump Cabinet official who has had his air travel scrutinized in recent weeks. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s trips have also raised concerns.
