Former HHS secretary Tom Price's air travel wasted $341,000 in government funds, watchdog says
Source: Washington Post
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price repeatedly failed to follow federal requirements during his travels, wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars in government funds, according to the internal watchdog of the department he once led.
The inspector general’s report, released Friday morning, comes 10 months after Price, an orthopedic surgeon and former congressman from Georgia, resigned under pressure amid criticism for his extensive use of private jets while traveling on government business.
“Our rigorous review of former HHS Secretary Price’s use of chartered, military, and commercial aircraft found that 20 out of 21 trips did not comply with applicable federal regulations and HHS policies and procedures, resulting in waste of at least $341,000 in federal funds,” Tesia Williams, a spokeswoman for the inspector general’s office, said in a statement. “We recommend the Office of the Secretary review the lack of compliance with federal requirements and determine appropriate actions to recoup the travel costs.”
In its 58-page report, the department’s inspector general determined that for chartered airplane trips, Price’s office did not compare the cost of these flights with commercial travel. In one case, a chartered one-way flight from Seattle back to Washington in August 2017 cost $121,500, while an average commercial flight would have totaled $2,490. Even for a chartered flight, the report concluded, Price’s office could have selected an option saving more than $45,000. The 21 trips reviewed by the inspector general totaled about $1.2 million in travel costs, the watchdog said.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/former-hhs-secretary-tom-prices-air-travel-wasted-341000-in-government-funds-watchdog-says/2018/07/13/82f700a4-860c-11e8-8f6c-46cb43e3f306_story.html
Swamp things are loose...
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TGIF! 