Price vows to pay back nearly $52K for flights

WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Thursday that he would reimburse the government for a fraction of the costs of his flights on charter planes in recent months, after coming under sharp criticism from members of both parties for the expensive practice.

“Today, I will write a personal check to the U.S. Treasury for the expenses of my travel on private charter planes. The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes,” Price said in a statement, adding that he will no longer take private planes while serving as secretary. “No exceptions.”

The move came as House and Senate investigators are pressing Price, as well as other Cabinet members, to disclose the extent to which they have relied on noncommercial travel to travel across the United States and overseas. The recent revelations about these costly trips on military and private aircraft, at a time when the same officials have proposed dramatic cuts in the agencies they oversee, has put the administration on the defensive.

Price has come under the most intense scrutiny — President Donald Trump chastised him publicly Wednesday and suggested that his job was no longer secure — but lawmakers are also demanding investigations into travel by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

And a private plane chartered this summer by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, for a flight from Las Vegas, Nev., to near his home in Montana, cost taxpayers $12,375, according to a department spokesman. Zinke also used private flights during a trip to the Virgin Islands.

Pruitt has taken at least four noncommercial and military flights since mid-February, according to congressional oversight records, costing taxpayers more than $58,000. Mnuchin is under investigation by the Treasury inspector general for his use of a government plane to visit Kentucky in August, as well as for flying on an Air Force C-37 to Washington after visiting Trump Tower in New York City.

Last week, Price’s office explained that he had turned to chartered jets for the most efficient and effective travel in managing his department and maintaining contact with the public.

“This is Secretary Price, getting outside of D.C., making sure he is connected with the real American people,” said Charmaine Yoest, his assistant secretary for public affairs.

An department official said Thursday that Price would write a check for $51,887.31, which appears to cover the cost of his seat on chartered flights but not those of his staffers.