Today In Republican Swamp-Draining
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Surprisingly for someone with his extensive history of corruption, Tom Price has turned out to be highly corrupt!
The White House approved the use of military aircraft for multi-national trips by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to Africa and Europe this spring, and to Asia in the summer, at a cost of more than $500,000 to taxpayers.
The overseas trips bring the total cost to taxpayers of Price’s travels to more than $1 million since May, according to a POLITICO review.
Price pledged on Thursday to reimburse the government for the cost of his own seat on his domestic trips using private aircraft — reportedly around $52,000 — but that would not include the cost of the military flights.
Price’s wife, Betty, accompanied him on the military flights, while other members of the secretary’s delegation flew commercially to Europe.
HHS spokeswoman Charmaine Yoest said Price has reimbursed the agency for the cost of his wife’s travel abroad, but declined to say when he did so. Price has been under intense criticism since POLITICO revealed his extensive use of charter aircraft for domestic flights last week. His travel expenditures are subject to reviews by the HHS inspector general and the House Oversight Committee. Democratic and Republican senators have also demanded information about Price’s travel expenditures.
The reimbursement of a small fraction of his exorbitant and entirely unnecessary expenses is a nice touch. The next time I attend a conference I intend to charter a private jet and stay for a week in a suite at the Ritz-Carlton, and then reimburse the university for an ultra-economy ticket on Spirit Air and a room at the Hotel 6. I see no ethical problems with this plan. And I also have my unanswerable reply when the administrator objects!
“The trips he’s gone on make total sense,” one former HHS official said of Price. “It’s just how he got there.”
“IT’S JUST HOW I GOT THERE!” Checkmate, libs.
Yoest, the HHS spokeswoman, said the use of military aircraft — known as Milair — was necessary both for Price’s security and his ability to communicate with the department.
LOL sure it seems totally plausible that commercial air travel could not provide adequate security for the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As I recall, Obama’s were getting assassinated roughly every three months.
And needless to say Price isn’t the only cabinet member getting his beak soaked from Trump’s bust-out of the American taxpayer:
In July, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt flew on a private plane for official travel in his home state of Oklahoma – leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than $14,000.
Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general, along with staff and security, flew on an eight-seat Learjet on July 27 from Tulsa across the state to Guymon, Oklahoma. There, he met with farmers at a town hall to discuss water issues. Afterward, he boarded the same plane and flew to Oklahoma City.
In total, he spent 83 minutes in the air. The cost was $14,285.71, according to the purchase order obtained by CBS News.
Nearly three days into a trip to Europe this past July, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin had attended a Wimbledon championship tennis match, toured Westminster Abbey and taken a cruise on the Thames.
The 10-day trip was not entirely a vacation. Shulkin was in Europe for meetings with Danish and British officials about veterans’ health issues.
Yet he and his wife spent about half their time sightseeing, including shopping and touring historic sites, according to an itinerary obtained by The Washington Post and confirmed by a U.S. official familiar with their activities.
In conclusion, someone once asked Hillary Clinton’s State Department for diplomatic passports and didn’t get them, making her the most corrupt candidate in American history.