Fresh on the heels of a report that Amtrak advocate Vice President Joe Biden spends $1 million annually to fly home on Air Force Two, a taxpayer watchdog group is suing the Air Force and Secret Service for the costs of first lady Michelle Obama’s Spring Break trip to Aspen, Colorado with daughters Sasha and Malia in February.
Judicial Watch, responsible for uncovering the $821,000 costs of two other trips by the first lady, told Secrets Tuesday that the suits followed the failure by the Air Force and Secret Service to hand over details sought in an earlier Freedom of Information Act request.
“Why is the Obama administration repeatedly stonewalling basic questions about the costs of the Obama family’s personal travel?” asked Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “In the least, the Obama administration owes the American people the truth about how much each of these trips cost,” he said in a statement to Secrets.
The trip in February to Aspen was the 16th vacation the first family has taken. At the time, the White House said that the personal expenses of the first mom and first daughters were being paid for by the Obamas. They stayed a donor’s home.
But the costs of flying them to Aspen and the associated security costs are what Judicial Watch is seeking. The group filed a FOIA after the Aspen trip was reported in newspapers. The Air Force told the group that it could not meet Judicial Watch’s May 9 deadline. The Secret Service did not meet the group’s April 23 deadline for “all records concerning the use of U.S. government funds to provide security and/or any other services” during the trip.
Judicial Watch recently released FOIA’d documents for the first lady’s trips to Spain and Africa. The Spain trip in 2010 cost at least $467,585 and the June 2011 trip to South Africa and Botswana cost $424,142, according to the public interest group.
The White House disputed the costs calculations and noted that the first lady often conducted official business, so it is wrong to call the trips personal business. “The number stated is misconstrued and out of context. The hourly rate is not the marginal cost of operation the plane – it is an accounting figure that prices in a number of fixed costs from maintaining the Air Force fleet for this kind of plane over a year,” said an official. “For example, it includes estimated replacement parts, depreciation, repairs, and costs that would have been incurred regardless of this flight. Also, for security reasons Mrs. Obama must fly on military aircraft.”
Newsmax this week reported that Biden spends about $1 million a year to fly Air Force Two home on weekends. They also reported that Biden sometimes returns to Andrews Air Force Base to play golf with President Obama, then travels back home to Delaware.
The use of taxpayer-funded transportation and security for vacations is typically a subject of Judicial Watch and other groups, no matter which party is in charge. Former President George H.W. Bush, for example, came under fire by Democrats for using Air Force One and Marine One to fly to his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine and his son George W. Bush’s frequent trips to his Texas ranch were hit. Media Matters has detailed some of those reports to offset the coverage of the Obamas.
