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Corrupt Government Title: Tom Price gets the axe WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's health secretary resigned Friday, after his costly travel triggered investigations that overshadowed the administration's agenda and angered his boss. Tom Price's regrets and partial repayment couldn't save his job. The Health and Human Services secretary became the first member of the president's Cabinet to be pushed out in a turbulent young administration that has seen several high-ranking White House aides ousted. A former GOP congressman from the Atlanta suburbs, Price served less than eight months. Publicly, Trump had said he was "not happy" with Price for repeatedly using private charter aircraft for official trips on the taxpayer's dime, when cheaper commercial flights would have done in many cases. Privately, Trump has been telling associates in recent days that his health chief had become a distraction. Trump felt that Price was overshadowing his tax overhaul agenda and undermining his campaign promise to "drain the swamp" of corruption, according to three people familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Friday the president called Price a "very fine person," but added, "I certainly don't like the optics." The flap prompted scrutiny of other Cabinet members' travel, as the House Oversight and Government Reform committee launched a governmentwide investigation of top political appointees. Other department heads have been scrambling to explain their own travel. Price's repayment of $51,887.31 for his own travel costs and his public expression of regrets did not placate the White House. The total travel cost, including the secretary's entourage, was unclear. It could amount to several hundred thousand dollars. An orthopedic surgeon turned politician, Price rose to Budget Committee chairman in the House, where he was known as a fiscal conservative. When Price joined the administration, Trump touted him as a conservative policy expert who could write a new health care bill to replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act. But Price became more of a supporting player in the GOP's futile health care campaign, while Vice President Mike Pence took the lead, particularly in dealing with the Senate. The perception of Price jetting around while GOP lawmakers labored to repeal "Obamacare" —including a three-nation trip in May to Africa and Europe— raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. Price flew on military aircraft overseas. Although much of Trump's ire over the health care failure has been aimed at the Republican-controlled Congress, associates of the president said he also assigns some blame to Price, who he believes did not do a good job of selling the GOP plan. But House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Friday that Price had worked hard to help that chamber pass its plan before the GOP health overhaul effort reached an impasse in the Senate. "I will always be grateful for Tom's service to this country," he said. Democrats said Trump's next HHS secretary should turn away from partisanship and try to work with them. A Pence protege, Seema Verma, has been mentioned as a possible successor to Price. Verma already leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which runs health insurance programs that cover more than 130 million Americans. Another possible HHS candidate: FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, who won some bipartisan support in his confirmation and is well known in policy, government and industry circles. Trump named Don J. Wright, a deputy assistant secretary of health, to serve as acting secretary. Price, 62, was seen in Congress as a foe of wasteful spending. As HHS secretary, he led a $1 trillion department whose future is the key to managing mounting federal budgetary deficits. As secretary, Price criticized the Medicaid health program for low-income people, saying it doesn't deliver results commensurate with the hundreds of billions of dollars taxpayers spend on it. As a congressman, he favored Medicare privatization. But Price's image as a budget hawk took a hit when reports of his official travel started bubbling up. Price used private charter flights on 10 trips with multiple segments, when in many cases cheaper commercial flights were available. His charter travel was first reported by the news site Politico. On a trip in June to Nashville, Tennessee, Price also had lunch with his son, who lives in that city, according to Politico. Another trip was from Dulles International Airport in the Washington suburbs to Philadelphia International Airport, a distance of 135 miles. The reports triggered a review by the HHS inspector general's office, which is looking into whether Price's travel violated federal travel regulations. Those rules generally require officials to minimize costs. The controversy over Price was a catalyst for Congress launching a bipartisan probe of travel by political appointees across the administration. The House oversight committee has requested travel records from the White House and 24 federal departments and agencies. Initially, Price's office said the secretary's busy scheduled forced him to use charters from time to time. But later Price's response changed, and he said he'd heard the criticism and concern, and taken it to heart. His office said it would cooperate fully with investigators and he'd cease using charter flights while the inspector general investigated. Finally, he offered regrets and a repayment of his own costs, and said he'd stick to commercial flights. Poster Comment: Another one bites the dust. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
Good riddance. His best day as HHS secretary was the day he was appointed. It's been downhill ever since and now he's leaving in disgrace for repeated excessive luxury air travel at taxpayer expense.
The flap prompted scrutiny of other Cabinet members' travel, as the House Oversight and Government Reform committee launched a governmentwide investigation of top political appointees. Other department heads have been scrambling to explain their own travel. Let's hope it's only the start of a new trend. Won't hold my breath, but still...
If it does,it will only last until Trump leaves office and one of our Masters replaces him. Then it will be right back to business as usual,and no newspaper will be interested in investigating things like that anymore. In the entire history of the world,the only nations that had to build walls to keep their own citizens from leaving were those with leftist governments.
a) The press never would have investgated the expenses of any Obama cabinet member and b) Obama never would have fired them. Trump did the right thing, though if this had been uncovered the first time it happened, Price could have simply repaid it and apologized.
Trump was obviously unhappy with Price's performance, more than just the air charter issue. We did elect the Yuh-Fahd guy after all. Now John Kelly is in charge of all travel by the cabinet. Kelly isn't happy with Javanka and they aren't that happy with him. They have to make appointments to see Daddy, just like the hired help. There are some rumors that Kelly might tell Trump to make a choice: him or Javanka. And Jared has given him enough bad advice (Comey firing, supporting Strange) that Trump might keep Kelly. There are some indications that Trump is going that way too. Recently when Ivanka was getting bashed for something in the NYC media, Trump was saying stuff like "That's just unfair to you. This isn't worth it for you to take such abuse." That's not exactly, "Stay here and help me, no matter what."
Another plate to keep spinning.
At some point, the press will recognize Kelly as being the entire WH. There is little doubt that he is a very capable administrator to have gotten this far in such circumstances. As soon as the press writes nice things about Kelly, Trump will be a little jealous of him. I'd guess that Kelly must have a very impressive personal manner to garner so much authority within Trump's orbit. I think he likely has support from Melania as well. It goes beyond the solid military resume and West Point bearing. And the military does know how to deal with personality prima donnas like Trump; they have had a number of those personality types in military uniform over the centuries. There has to be some very personal connection that Trump actually respects and heeds which is a rarity with The Donald. Trump lets Kelly manage him and his White House, even at the expense of family connections to Javanka.
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