TRAVEL PROBE

Tom Price’s flights draw scrutiny

The Health and Human Services inspector general is investigating department Secretary Tom Price’s reported use of chartered planes for at least two dozen flights in recent months at taxpayer expense, a spokeswoman said Friday.

Investigators will seek records of Price’s travel and review the justifications that he and his staff gave for the trips, the spokeswoman for HHS Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson said.

House Democrats wrote to Levinson, an appointee of President George W. Bush, on Wednesday requesting the investigation. They said the flights appeared to violate a federal law designed to make sure executive branch officials use the most economical travel available.

Democrats cited a Politico report that Price last week took five private charter flights along routes and at times when commercial flights were available at a fraction of the cost. In a second story, the news organization reported that the Georgia Republican has taken at least 24 such flights since May. The flights cost taxpayers a reported $300,000.

“The review focuses on whether the travel complied with Federal Travel Regulations, but may encompass other issues related to the travel,” said Tesia D. Williams, Levinson’s spokeswoman. “We take this matter very seriously, and when questions arose about potentially inappropriate travel, we immediately began assessing

the issue.”

Price’s office this week sought to justify his use of chartered jets, saying that the secretary’s office evaluates the most effective way for him to travel and finds that it is sometimes necessary to charter planes to allow Price to both manage one of the largest executive branch agencies and stay grounded with voters.

“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.

Yoest said that early in his tenure in the Trump administration, Price was delayed at an airport and forced to cancel a public event.

“Wasting four hours in an airport and having the secretary cancel his event is not a good use of taxpayer money,” Yoest said.

Democrats have blasted Price’s use of private jets — some with plush amenities — as hypocritical at a time when he has sought deep

budget cuts at the National Institutes of Health and a repeal of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

On Friday, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform panel called on House Republicans to hold a hearing into Price’s travel and asked Price to provide details on the number of noncommercial flights that he or other agency officials chad taken , how much they cost and any documents justifying the private-jet travel.

“If these recent reports are accurate, this would be a stunning and hypocritical breach of trust, given that the Trump Administration at the same time is trying to take away healthcare from millions of Americans and is proposing to slash funding at HHS — negatively affecting critical programs to provide early-childhood education, fund Medicare for seniors, and conduct medical research and development,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wrote in his letter to HHS.

JACQUELINE LARMA / ASSOCIATED Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price is under investigation regarding his recent use of costly charter flights at taxpayer expense.