HHS secretary repays cost of private flights

WASHINGTON—Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price announced Thursday he will no longer take chartered flights and plans to repay taxpayers for his high travel expenses. “Today, I will write a personal check to the U.S. Treasury for the expenses of my travel on private charter planes,” Price said in a statement. “The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes.” The concession comes after a Politico investigative report found Price spent more than $400,000 on at least 26 private flights since May. Price’s repayment check to the U.S. Treasury totaled $51,887.31, the cost of his personal seat for the private flights. There are no known plans to reimburse the cost for support staff and others who flew with him who could have also saved money by flying commercially. President Donald Trump refused to defend Price on Wednesday. He simply said, “We’ll see,” when asked if the secretary should lose his job. “As the president said yesterday, he’s not thrilled—certainly not happy with the actions,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday launched a bipartisan investigation into the use of private planes by all Cabinet-level secretaries. The next day, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote the White House asking it to rein in travel costs.