Watchdog slams ex-HHS chief Price on costly travel

WASHINGTON — The government wasted at least $341,000 on travel by ousted Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, including booking charter flights without considering cheaper scheduled airlines, an agency watchdog said Friday.

The HHS inspector general’s long-awaited report chastised the department for flouting federal travel rules, which require officials to book trips in the most cost-efficient way for taxpayers.

The inspector general estimated the government spent nearly $1.2 million on Price’s travel during his seven months in office. That included more than $700,000 in military flights on two foreign and two domestic trips, as well as more than $480,000 for various domestic trips by private chartered aircraft.

HHS “improperly used federal funds related to Sec. Price’s government travel,” the report said. Of 21 trips reviewed by the inspector general’s investigators, only one complied with all federal travel requirements. The report said none of the charter flights complied.

Price, who built a reputation as a budget hawk during earlier congressional service, has apologized and repaid the government nearly $60,000. The report said authorities should seek full recovery of the $341,000 deemed wasteful spending.

Price spokesman Nicholas Peters said in a statement, “there is no indication in the [inspector general’s] report that the paperwork and regulatory issues of department staff were anything other than good faith mistakes.”

Peters would not comment on any additional repayments by Price. He said investigators did not attempt to interview Price.

In its formal response to the report, HHS agreed with most of the inspector general’s recommendations for tightening up official travel and requested detail on the $341,000 that investigators said the government should recoup. The inspector general said HHS should determine how best to recover the money.

On Friday, HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan said in a separate statement that the department has since instituted new travel procedures for all political appointees, calling them “the most rigorous controls on travel in the organization’s history.” Such travel is now reviewed by the ethics office.

But Hargan also seemed to quibble, saying “the work of an audit is to review compliance with procedures, not make legal conclusions. As a matter of law, none of the travel at issue was unauthorized.”