Rick Perry's premium class travel cost taxpayers $63,500 last year in first 7 months alone
Source: think progress
He joins a growing list of White House officials linked to outsized spending at the expense of taxpayers.
E.A. Crunden
May 31, 2018, 11:48 am
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends the official arrival ceremony for French President Emmanuel Macron on the South Lawn of the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. CREDIT: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry attends the official arrival ceremony for French President Emmanuel Macron on the South Lawn of the White House April 24, 2018 in Washington, DC. CREDIT: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the latest Trump administration official to be linked to costly spending and travel habits. The Energy Department says it spent approximately $63,500 on Perry’s flights alone during his first seven months heading the agency.
According to internal tracking conducted regularly by the Energy Department, Perry took 12 business or first class flights during the 2017 fiscal year, ABC reported Thursday after obtaining the department’s travel logs. Despite the availability of coach fares on all of the flights disclosed, the department paid for Perry’s upgraded travel — adding $51,000 to the total cost in the process.
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According to federal guidelines, officials are meant to opt for low-cost travel whenever possible, choosing more expensive alternatives only in rare circumstances.
It is not clear what “exceptional security circumstances” — which can be used to justify such expenses — might have prompted the uptick in Perry’s travel costs. ABC reported that the logs obtained also show Anita Perry, the secretary’s wife, flew business class as well on at least two of the trips. Her seats cost approximately $20,000 and were reimbursed, seemingly by Anita Perry or her husband, according to agency spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes, per ABC.
Information regarding the specific dates and destinations for Rick Perry’s trips were not immediately made available. Last year, the secretary visited Japan and China along with a number of other destinations both domestic and international.
Secretary Zinke. CREDIT: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Interior Secretary reportedly bought a $139,000 door with taxpayer money
Swirling questions regarding spending habits are nothing new for the Trump administration. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price have both faced scrutiny over their spending habits, particularly with regard to flights. Price was later forced to resign amid uproar over his travel costs.
Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/perry-travel-cost-energy-63500-03856ea26d10/
Price, (gone), zinke, pruitt and now this cowboy!
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Energy Department spent $63,500 on upgraded flights for Rick Perry in first 6 months
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/energy-department-spent-63500-upgraded-flights-rick-perry/story?id=55538173
By STEPHANIE EBBS
May 31, 2018, 5:50 AM ET
PHOTO: Secretary of Energy Rick Perry speaks at the Energy Policy Summit at the National Press Club, Oct. 16, 2017 in Washington, D.C.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
WatchEPA chief faces sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers
Energy Secretary Rick Perry took a dozen premium-class flights during his first seven months in office, spending extra on airfare for what he argued were security concerns, according to travel logs obtained by ABC News.
The Energy Department records tracking premium travel for the 2017 fiscal year show that coach fares were available for the 12 flights disclosed but that the department approved the premium or first-class fares, adding approximately $51,000 to the cost, as compared to the listed coach prices.
PHOTO: Energy Secretary-designate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 19, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Carolyn Kaster/AP
Perry's first or business class flights were all listed as part of official agency business and cost the agency at least $63,560. The documents, which include travel for former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and other agency officials, did not include the dates or destinations of any of those trips.
Moniz, who was an Energy Secretary under the Obama administration, also flew an upgraded class for what was approved by the department as "exceptional security circumstances" in his final months as secretary, spending more than $42,500 on premium flights during the last three months of 2016 before he departed the agency in January. The documents obtained by ABC did not include information on Moniz's flights prior to the 2017 fiscal year. .............................................
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