BREAKING: Trump’s HHS Chief Tom Price Resigns
I knew this would happen. You simply can’t cost taxpayers millions and expect to keep your job in the Trump administration.
When I heard that Tom Price partook in lavish travel as head of Health and Human services, I knew shortly thereafter he would hear those two words Trump made famous on The Apprentice: You’re fired!
If you are going to drain the swamp, your staff must set the example. And for the most part, Trump’s staff does it. Almost all took massive pay cuts to become part of the administration. These were all powerful men and women, many of whom Trump wouldn’t have minded working for, if the circumstances were different.
Each area of government under President Trump was tasked with reducing their budgets, and most complied. Then the news hit about Tom Price.
As CNN reported,
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price reiterated amid mounting criticism Thursday that trips he took by private charter jet were allowed by both legal and HHS officials.
“These trips were approved through the normal process,” Price told Fox News Thursday night.
The comments echo a statement Price made earlier Thursday saying he is taking a number of measures to make up for the flights, which have drawn intense scrutiny, including refraining from taking charter planes again in the future.
“All of my political career I’ve fought for the taxpayers,” Price said in the statement. “It is clear to me that in this case, I was not sensitive enough to my concern for the taxpayer. I know as well as anyone that the American people want to know that their hard-earned dollars are being spent wisely by government officials.”
And in a move that was “too little too late, Price said he would make amends.
Price also said in his statement that will write a personal check to the US Treasury to cover the cost of his travel on private charter planes, adding that he continues to “welcome” and is cooperating with a Office of Inspector General review as well as taking part in an departmental review to ” determine if any changes or reforms are necessary.”
“Today, I will write a personal check to the US Treasury for the expenses of my travel on private charter planes,” Price said in his statement. “The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes.”
Price made a few mistakes.
For example, he can’t discuss our “hard-earned dollars”, as he spends them so readily. But if he were to have any chance of surviving the onslaught, he shouldn’t have apologized.
Price could have said, “I took the most expedient flights available, with the idea that I would reimburse the taxpayers…and I have.” But you can never apologize to the Left.
Ironically, Robert Mueller and Eric Holder have done this, as well as countless Leftists. At one point, Pelosi flew government jets so often they want to name an airline after her.
In 2007, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was found to have requested military aircraft for a variety of trips. She even had the gall to insist on a larger plane and military escorts. Her utter disregard for commercial airline caught the attention of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. After publishing documents exposing her travel requests, Fitton commented: “Speaker Pelosi treats the Air Force like her personal airline.”
For those who want to compare the travel of Trump’s staff with that of Obama’s, CNN did the work for you. Surprisingly, the fake news outlet pointed out that the Trump administration had approved fewer military flights by Cabinet members than Obama had at the same point in his presidency.
Back to Price
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has resigned.
President Trump did the right thing. Quick action on this shows that the president will take no prisoners when it comes to responsibility to the taxpayers.
I wrote a while back that Trump will retool his cabinet periodically, because that’s how business works. And Trump has brought business to government.
Trump had said he was “not happy” with Price. His grievance centered around price hiring private charters on the taxpayers’ dime for official travel, when cheaper commercial flights would have worked. What Trump says without saying is, the private sector works better than government.
