Health, Human Services chief resigns over pricey jet travel
HHS chief criticized for taking charter flights at taxpayer expense
WASHINGTON — Tom Price, President Donald Trump’s embattled health and human services secretary, resigned Friday amid sharp criticism of his extensive use of taxpayerfunded charter flights, the White House said.
The announcement came shortly after Trump told reporters he considered Price a “fine man” but that he “didn’t like the optics” and planned to make a decision by the end of the day.
By that point, the president had already received Price’s resignation letter. In a statement shortly afterward, the White House said Trump would designate Don Wright as acting secretary. Wright has been the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Price submitted a fourparagraph resignation letter in which he said he regretted “that the recent events have created a distraction” from the administration’s objectives. “Success on these issues is more important than any one person,” he continued.
Trump’s advisers said the president was particularly discomfited by Price’s behavior because he’d run as a champion for “forgotten” Americans for whom costly charter-plane travel seemed particularly egregious.
“It speaks to people who think Washington is already beyond hope and out of touch,” said Barry Bennett, a campaign adviser last year.
Price, a Georgia multimillionaire and orthopedic surgeon by training, had announced Thursday that he would reimburse the government for a fraction of the costs of his charter flights in recent months. A Health and Human Services official said Price would write a check for $51,887.31, which appears to cover the cost of his seat on the flights but not those of his staffers.
Trump had also directed some of his frustration at Price over the inability of Republicans in Congress to pass a health care replacement bill. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and former House speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia had pushed for the then-congressman to lead Health and Human Services arguing that Price’s medical and policy expertise and congressional ties could help Trump deliver on his vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
During a speech in July to a gathering of Boy Scouts, Trump said — jokingly at the time —that Price could lose his job if a bill didn’t pass. “He better get the votes,” Trump said. “Otherwise I will say, ‘Tom, you’re fired.’ ”
It is unclear whom Trump will tap to lead one of the largest agencies in the federal government. Both Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Scott Gottlieb, who heads the Food and Drug Administration, are well-liked and respected within the White House.
Former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, another Republican whom Price edged out for the job during the transition, could be in the mix, as well as possibly Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.
Regardless of who is nominated, Republican health expert Avik Roy said in a email that the administration’s policy objectives will remain unchanged.
Wright, the new acting secretary, trained as a physician and public health specialist and focused on family medicine and preventive care. A career official, Wright had prominent roles in both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He is considered to be someone who knows Health and Human Services operations and has served in prior situations as a competent, interim executive, according to one longtime public health official.