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Tom Price Resigns For Wasting Taxpayer Funds But He's Not Alone
Back in February, it took an overnight rushed vote for Senate Republicans to get Tom Price confirmed as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a reminder, he vacated his House seat representing the northern portion of Atlanta, Georgia which led to the highly publicized special election in which Democrat Jon Ossoff nearly claimed the seat despite it being a Republican stronghold.
Price should never have been confirmed and beyond that, should have been removed from his House seat due to ethics violations regarding lucrative stock purchases of companies his legislation would directly impact. Price is a bad person that is out for himself, forgetting this his boss is the American people.
On the same day the stockbroker for then-Georgia Congressman Tom Price bought him up to $90,000 of stock in six pharmaceutical companies last year, Price arranged to call a top U.S. health official, seeking to scuttle a controversial rule that could have hurt the firms’ profits and driven down their share prices...
Price's primary role at HHS was to have the Affordable Care Act repealed and ensure savage rollbacks to Medicare and Medicaid. His past opposition to federal health care programs of all varieties are the reason Trump named him HHS Secretary to begin with.
Price was among the Trump appointees who had called for the elimination or radical downsizing of the agencies they would come to lead.
Fortunately for the lives of millions of Americas, Price, Trump, and Congressional Republicans have failed thus far in their attempted to dismantle our already less-than-ideal healthcare system.
Price took office February 10. Since then all four Republican health-reform bills have failed.
Now, Price is out.
Price resigned as secretary of Health and Human Services Friday, amid a controversy over spending more than $1 million in taxpayer money on private and military jets. Price “offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted,” the White House said in a terse statement sent late Friday afternoon.
The White House had approved Price’s use of military aircraft for trips to Asia and Europe over the summer. His wife Betty had flown with him, while other staffers flew commercial. That brought the total tab for Price’s travel to more than $1 million, at least of what is publicly known.
Price isn't alone as Trump's White House swims happily in their Swamp, spending taxpayer dollars while seeking to cut valuable programs and lower taxes for their corporate donors.
For a group of secretaries who espouse conservative principles and complain that government is too large and spends too much, Trump’s Cabinet has proven remarkably effective at spending taxpayer money.
Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has sought steep cuts in its budget even as he racks up large bills.... more than $800,000 for an around-the-clock security detail in his first three months in office alone, nearly double the cost for his predecessor.... spending $25,000 to construct a soundproof privacy booth for Pruitt... accrued thousands of dollars in costs for private and military jet flights, including travel between Washington and his home state of Oklahoma.
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is another frequent private flyer, including chartering a plane from an oil-and-gas company for a flight from Las Vegas to his home state of Montana for $12,000 this summer. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is under investigation for a flight in a government plane that included viewing the solar eclipse from Fort Knox, Kentucky. Mnuchin also requested the use of a government plane for his honeymoon, though Treasury later decided against it.
Let's not forget Trump whose unprecedented spending on recreational travel to resorts from which he has not divested financial interest is an impeachable offense.
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/tom-price-resigned/541608/