“Ironically, Price previously criticized Nancy Pelosi and other members of the government for wasting money on charter jets.”
President Trump isn’t happy with Secretary of Health & Human Services Tom Price, nor should he be. In case you’re out of the loop, Price has been using taxpayer dollars to live a lavish jet-setting lifestyle while working for the government. He’s used private jets on at least 26 different occasions, costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel across the country. Most past HHS Secretaries simply used commercial flights.
In my opinion, President Trump should give Price a hefty dose of bad medicine and show him the door. At the moment, the United States is dealing with multiple hurricane crises, an exploding Federal budget, terrible public finances, and rising health care costs. Obamacare reform efforts have failed, but none-the-less Obamacare itself is on the verge of collapse.
Yet Secretary Price thinks it’s appropriate to waste more than $400,000 dollars of American taxpayer dollars on chartered jets. In most cases, commercial flights were available and could have been taken, costing only a few hundred dollars. This would have saved taxpayers a tremendous amount of money and would set a good example.
If the government is going to scream about the need to tighten its belt, then shouldn’t government officials be the first ones to do so? Instead, Price has supported efforts to deprive millions of Americans of health care through Obamacare repeal without replacement, but still sees it fit to waste taxpayer dollars on chartered jets.
Price claims that the majority of his flights were in response to hurricanes or the opioid crisis. However, journalist-investigators have uncovered that Price has taken government-funded jets for weekend getaways and even lunch with his son. In another case, Price spent $25,000 dollars to charter a flight from DC to Philadelphia, which is less than a 3 hour drive!
Let him take a commercial flight back to Atlanta to live out the rest of his days, he doesn’t deserve another dollar from taxpayers
If Price were using business jets for legitimate travel, it’d be easier to stomach. Sure, in most cases he probably could have taken commercial flights, but if he hates travel aboard your average American airline as much as I do, I can understand the appeal of using a chartered jet. Yet digging into the trips, there’s a disturbing trend of Price using chartered jets for personal travel.
Price linked up his personal trips with tie-ins to his work. For example, he took a weekend get-a-way to St. Simons Island in Georgia, where he owns more than a million dollars worth of property. He flew into St. Simons on Friday afternoon, spent the weekend there, and then gave a brief speech at a Medical Association of Georgia retreat. Ethics watchdogs have raised the alarm, noting that it’s rare for government officials to mix private and personal trips to such an extent.
In another instance, Price spent $18,000 dollars to fly to Nashville, where he toured a medication dispensary and gave a 20-minute speech at the Healthy Tennessee Summit. Price also had lunch with his son, who lives in Tennessee. The trip was thrown together at the last minute, and Price wasn’t even on the Summit’s official agenda. Price also failed to make himself available for questions. Instead, he left the Summit immediately and headed back to DC aboard the private jet.
Ironically, Price previously criticized Nancy Pelosi and other members of the government for wasting money on charter jets. I can agree with Price on that, members of Congress can make due with commercial flights. Yet ultimately, Price is nothing more than a hypocrite, willing to waste taxpayer money on the same luxuries he previously denounced. Such hypocrisy is, in my opinion, enough to fire Price. Let him take a commercial flight back to Atlanta to live out the rest of his days, he doesn’t deserve another dollar from taxpayers.
Apparently, President Trump has been fuming to his top aides over the waste. Such waste is a bad look for an Administration that promised to drain the swamp. Hopefully, the President channels that anger into action. Price has proven himself unfit for office.
