In response to reports that HHS Secretary Tom Price wasted taxpayer dollars repeatedly traveling on a private chartered jet for government use, DNC deputy communications director Adrienne Watson released the following statement:

“The Trump administration treats taxpayer dollars like they are frequent flyer miles, while they try to take health care away from millions. These funds could be used to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, to help fund Medicaid, combat the opioid epidemic or increase ACA enrollment. Secretary Price is in charge of the health of all Americans – instead of wasting their money, he should start working to protect them.”

Politico: Price’s private-jet travel breaks precedent

HHS secretary took chartered aircraft on five flights last week, while his predecessors would fly commercial

By Dan Diamond and Rachana Pradham

In a sharp departure from his predecessors, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price last week took private jets on five separate flights for official business, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more than commercial travel.

The secretary’s five flights, which were scheduled between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15, took him to a resort in Maine where he participated in a Q&A discussion with a health care industry CEO, and to community health centers in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, according to internal HHS documents.

The travel by corporate-style jet comes at a time when other members of the Trump administration are under fire for travel expenditures, and breaks with the practices of Obama-era Secretaries Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, who flew commercially while in the continental United States.

Price, a frequent critic of federal spending who has been developing a plan for department-wide cost savings, declined to comment.

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