The White House cracked down on Cabinet officials’ use of private planes Friday, telling them chief of staff John Kelly must approve almost all travel on “government-owned, rented, leased, or chartered aircraft,” after Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned over his own taxpayer-funded flights.
Mick Mulvaney, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, sent out the memo soon after Price’s resignation was made public. His exit came after a series of POLITICO reports about his frequent use of private planes to conduct government — and sometimes personal — business.
“In light of recent events, the President has asked me to remind the heads of all executive departments and agencies of Administration policies on travel,” Mulvaney wrote.
He reminded the department and agency heads that, by regulation, “Government-owned, rented, leased, or chartered aircraft should not be used for travel by Government employees except with specific justification.”
“However, beyond the law and formal policy, departments and agencies should recognize that was are public servants,” Mulvaney wrote. “Every penny we spend comes from the taxpayer. We thus owe it to the taxpayer to work as hard managing that money wisely as the taxpayer must do to earn it in the first place.”
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White House to Cabinet: No private air travel without Kelly's approval https://t.co/z3LXhkzTZj via @MatthewNussbaum pic.twitter.com/WjDvQkdEtU
— POLITICO (@politico) September 29, 2017
I find this all amusing since the president himself plays fast and loose with government travel, especially those campaign rallies disguised as official government business. Like his predecesdor, Obama, Trump thinks nothing of plundering our tax dollars for his personal use.
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