Seeking to recover at least $341,000

Federal auditor hits Tom Price for improper travel

By RACHANA PRADHAN and DAN DIAMOND

Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price took 20 trips that did not comply with federal requirements, and the agency is seeking to recover at least $341,000 in spending, according to a report released Friday from the department’s inspector general.

The inspector general report was requested by Democratic lawmakers after a POLITICO investigation found that Price had taken dozens of flights on private aircraft at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, a sharp break from his predecessors’ practices.

The OIG review, which came about 10 months after Price’s resignation, found he spent more than $1.2 million on travel during his tenure at HHS, including use of chartered aircraft and government planes.

Many of Price’s flights were between major cities that offered inexpensive alternatives on commercial airlines, including Nashville, Philadelphia and San Diego. Price also used military aircraft for multi-national trips to Africa, Europe and Asia.

Price, a Georgia Republican who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade before President Donald Trump nominated him to helm HHS, led the agency for roughly seven months before the travel scandal forced him to resign last September.

Price was the first to depart Trump’s Cabinet, which has undergone major churn amid investigations into officials’ ethical behavior in office. Scott Pruitt was forced out as EPA administrator last week, facing more than a dozen probes into his travel, spending and ties to lobbyists. David Shulkin, who was fired as Veterans Affairs secretary in March, was flagged for improper spending on overseas travel in a scathing inspector general’s report several weeks before his ouster.

The White House has since cracked down on use of private planes, telling Cabinet officials that chief of staff John Kelly must approve almost all travel on “government-owned, rented, leased, or chartered aircraft.”

HHS stressed that the department’s policies changed since Price’s tenure.

“All HHS political appointees have undergone further training regarding government travel rules and procedures and are required to file a checklist before each trip with their supervisor or the Office of the General Counsel,” a spokesperson said.