Traveling by Private Jet
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. Speaker, is Donald Trump running a Cabinet or a country club? Because every day it is getting harder to tell. Not only is the President spending vast sums to ferry himself to and from his various golf courses, but now it turns out that top leaders in his administration have developed a special fondness for traveling by private jet.
The Treasury Secretary used a taxpayer-funded plane to hop down to Fort Knox to see the eclipse, for example, and he has also asked to use one for his honeymoon in Europe.
Trump's EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, spent another $58,000 on private jets. But the worst offender is HHS Secretary Price, who, in his brief time in office, has already chalked up an astonishing 400 grand in flights on private aircraft. He flew down to Tennessee for all of 6 hours, much of which was spent having lunch with his son. That is nice. He also jetted off to an island off the coast of Georgia for a trip that apparently featured far more recreation than government business. Clearly, when it comes to travel on the taxpayers' dime, the price does not matter to Tom Price. Ethics and personal responsibility doesn't matter to Tom Price. Doing what is right doesn't matter to Tom Price, and that is why he needs to resign immediately.
Now, don't take my word for it. Here is what President George W. Bush's top ethics official, Richard Painter, said about Price's travel habits: ``To use a charter flight on something that combines personal and government business, I think, is highly unprofessional and really inappropriate.'' Those are strong words. But, Mr. Speaker, you know who summed up best how terrible it is for someone to use private jets? Tom Price, himself. Let's see what Tom Price said. In 2009, he described government officials taking private planes as ``just another example of fiscal irresponsibility run amok.'' I couldn't agree more, Mr. Speaker. Price spent nearly $25,000 to fly from D.C. to Philadelphia and back for one single day. He could have spent, at last minute, $725 to get there on United Airlines, or $133 to get there on Amtrak.
Mr. Speaker, I just checked, on my phone, that an Uber to Philly right now, back and forth, would have cost Mr. Price about $450 round trip. That means that, for the price of his private jet, he could have ordered individual cars for himself and his 54 staff members. Every American who works and pays taxes should find this totally appalling.
Amtrak was good enough for the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, but, somehow, it is beneath the Treasury Secretary and HHS Secretary to ride the train. Riding the train is apparently even beneath the EPA Administrator.
Here is a good rule of thumb, Mr. Speaker: If you are spending more on private jets than most American families make in 1 year, you are spending too much on private jets.
Tom Price has plenty of time to go jetting around the country, but not enough time, for example, to ensure that millions of kids won't lose their coverage when CHIP expires soon.
There is apparently plenty of money at HHS for private jets, but very little to help people sign up for health insurance. That is completely unacceptable. Secretary Price says he needs to fly around on his jet to connect with ordinary citizens. I am not kidding. His press secretary told reporters that these outrageous junkets were about ``getting outside of D.C., making sure he is connected with the real American people.'' Mr. Speaker, here is how you really connect with your fellow Americans: don't take a private plane; fly a middle seat in coach.
Of course, we should have seen this coming. News reports earlier this year revealed that, when he was a Member of Congress, Price was guilty of introducing legislation to benefit his own personal investments.
Even more egregious, he traded more than $300,000 in healthcare industry stocks based on insider information.
There is no question Secretary Price needs to resign right now, and, if he doesn't, President Trump needs to fire him. Donald Trump claims that he loves firing people. He once said: I love doing it if someone really, really, really deserves it.
Mr. Speaker, Secretary Price really, really, really deserves it. Then again, we all know Trump won't actually do anything. We are all familiar with the Trump way of doing business with its bad deals and bankruptcies.
Here's the Trump way of doing government. Number one, hire people proven to be corrupt. Number two, create an environment in which corruption and bad behavior are encouraged. Number three, do absolutely nothing when the corruption and bad behavior is exposed. This administration talks about putting America first. This administration talks about draining the swamp, but its Cabinet officials are more interested in traveling first class.
This administration talks about making America great again, but they are really only concerned about never ever having to wait at another airport gate again.
This administration talks about fighting for working families, but its top leaders are only concerned about lining their own pockets with taxpayers' hard-earned money.
I am fed up, and so are the American people. Let's bring back government to the people, for the people, instead of government for the powerful friends of Donald Trump.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend from California (Mr. Ted Lieu).
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Representative Lieu, how often do you fly back, and where do you fly back to?
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
How long is your flight?
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
You and I have been Members of Congress since 2015. At any point in any of your flights to and from your work--I am sorry-- from here to your home, have you ever used a charter plane? BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Would you even be able to, by law, use a charter plane according to the funds we are allowed to expense?
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
So what makes Mr. Price think that he is somehow above the law, that he is allowed to do this, considering that he knew, as a Member of Congress, that was not allowed and that somehow he can just take advantage of the situation now that he has suddenly moved up after only just a few months of being in Congress, to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services?
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
While you were talking about that actual regulation, and to see how well and easy it is not to violate the regulation, I literally just typed into Google, ``flights to Philadelphia.'' And there is a flight leaving in 46 minutes. And the cheapest I found right now--well, no, I found one for $441. I found another one for $447. If you want to connect to Philadelphia--which I don't know why you would-- but if you want to do that, JetBlue will take you there for $264.
So in Secretary Price's effort to live an extravagant lifestyle and basically void himself of all commonsense, he also violated ethics violations. And this is something that we consistently see within this Trump administration.
On the other flip of that, we consistently see a Republican-led Congress that is not doing their duty by the Constitution of oversight on the executive. Not one, not one movement has been done by any Republican, especially Republican leadership, to push back on this egregious waste of taxpayer money. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Representative Lieu.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source