Health secretary promises to pay for charter flights

WASHINGTON — Fighting to keep his job, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Thursday he will write a personal check to reimburse taxpayers for his travel on charter flights taken on government business and pledged to fly commercial — “no exceptions.”

“I regret the concerns this has raised regarding the use of taxpayer dollars,” Price said in a statement. “I was not sensitive enough to my concern for the taxpayer.” His mea culpa came a day after a public rebuke from President Trump.

The repayment — $51,887.31, according to Price’s office — was for the embattled secretary’s seats. Price did not address the overall cost of the flights, which could amount to several hundred thousand dollars.

A former congressman from Georgia regarded as a conservative policy expert, Price said he hopes to keep his Cabinet seat. At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wouldn’t go that far.

“We’re going to conduct a full review and we’ll see what happens,” Sanders told reporters. Travel by other top officials is also attracting scrutiny.

Price said the president had personally let him know of his displeasure. “As he has said publicly, he wasn’t happy, and he expressed that to me very clearly,” Price said Thursday evening on Fox News.

All his travel was legally approved by officials at Health and Human Services, Price said.

Price told reporters Thursday, “I think we’ve still got the confidence of the president.” About the controversy, he said, “We’re going to work through this.”

Taxpayers “won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes,” Price said in his statement.

Prompted partly by controversy over Price, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has launched a wide-ranging investigation into travel by Trump’s political appointees. On Wednesday the committee sent requests for detailed travel records to the White House and 24 departments and agencies, dating to the president’s first day in office.

Trips by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt have also drawn criticism.