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Price spent $300,000 on private plane travel since May: report

by Josh Delk 09/21/17 06:47 PM ET

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price has flown in a private jet at least 24 times on government business while in office, according to a new report on Thursday.

Price racked up the equivalent of $300,000 in taxpayer-funded private flights since May, Politico found. He has frequently flown private, rather than commercial, since joining the agency in February.

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The private flights were found to cost taxpayers thousands more than commercial flights to the same destinations, according to Politico’s analysis.

Five Democrats signed a letter on Wednesday, following reports of five documented private flights, asking the HHS inspector general to gather a “full accounting” of Price’s travel.

“American taxpayers deserve assurances that their tax dollars are not wasted by the government’s highest officials, and we are committed to holding Secretary Price to his stated pledges to reduce waste throughout the department,” the Democrats said in the letter.

Charmaine Yoest, an HHS spokeswoman, said that while the department always checks for multiple travel options, “commercial flight is not always feasible.”

Yoest told Politico that the cost of Price’s travel for government work “comes from the HHS budget.”

“Dr. Price is focused on hearing from Americans across the country,” she said.