The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating the use of private aircraft by senior Trump administration officials after it was revealed Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has taken dozens of trips on private jets since May.
Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., sent letters to 24 federal agencies and White House chief of staff John Kelly asking for information about the use of government-owned and private planes for both official and personal trips.
“[O]fficial travel on the part of federal employees must be ‘by the most expeditious means of transportation practicable’ and ‘commensurate with the nature and purpose of the [employee’s] duties,’ and by no means should include personal use,” Gowdy and Cummings wrote.
The two lawmakers specifically asked for each agency to identify all uses of government-owned and private planes from the start of the Trump administration, as well as each agency’s procedures about the use of government-owned and private aircraft.
The Trump administration’s use of private jets first came under scrutiny last week after it was revealed Price has frequently chartered private planes for combined government and personal use.
The Health and Human Services secretary first began taking private planes in May when he was forced to cancel a meeting in April because weather caused the delay of a commercial flight.
Since May, Price has taken at least 24 flights on private planes, costing taxpayers close to $300,000.
The Associated Press reported Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also travels on her own private plane for official business, but DeVos covers the cost of the travel herself.
Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin used a government jet in mid-August for a trip from New York City to Washington, D.C., after a meeting at Trump Tower, and he also used a military plane to fly to Louisville and Fort Knox, Ky., in late August. Some speculated the Treasury secretary, who was accompanied by his wife, used the trip to view the solar eclipse.
The inspector general at the Treasury Department is reviewing Mnuchin’s travel.
