Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has flown on at least 24 flights through private charter planes since May, costing taxpayers more than $300,000 in travel expenses, according to a report Thursday.
Many of the flights were between cities where there is frequent and low-cost airline traffic. For example, Price visited Nashville on June 6 from Washington. Instead of taking one of four regular nonstop flights from Washington airports for a flight as low as $202 via Orbitz.com, Price’s charter with Classic Air Charter cost $17,760, Politico reported.
“The Secretary has taken commercial flights for official business after his confirmation,” Charmaine Yoest, a top spokesperson for HHS, said. “He has used charter aircraft for official business in order to accommodate his demanding schedule. The week of September 13 was one of those times, as the Secretary was directing the recovery effort for Irma, which had just devastated Florida, while simultaneously directing the ongoing recovery for Hurricane Harvey … Some believe the HHS Secretary should be Washington-focused. Dr. Price is focused on hearing from Americans across the country.”
On Tuesday it was first reported that Price flew in private jets on five separate occasions to carry out official business last week, costing tens of thousands of dollars more than a commercial travel bill and breaking away from the precedent set by Obama administration HHS secretaries.
Price participated in travel from Sept. 13 to Sept. 15. Internal HHS documents reveal he 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. Five Democratic lawmakers sent a letter Wednesday to the HHS inspector general requesting an investigation on Price’s travel.
“This use of federal funds for private flights would represent a departure from former HHS Secretaries who made a practice of traveling by commercial flights in non-emergency situations,” they wrote.
