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'Another Fantastic Week': Tom Prices Celebratory Travelogues
Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/fahrenthold
On his trips, Tom Price wrote celebratory letters back to staffers at HHS
Link to tweet
‘Another Fantastic Week’: Tom Price’s Celebratory Travelogues
By KATIE ROGERS and ERIC LIPTON SEPT. 29, 2017
Tom Price, the former secretary of health and human services, visited Geneva, Switzerland, in May and posted images from the trip to a Flickr account under the government agency’s name. Credit U.S. Mission Geneva
WASHINGTON — As he traversed the world on taxpayer-funded flights, Tom Price made it a habit to write home, repeatedly sending celebratory letters back to staff members at the Department of Health and Human Services detailing his time on the road, and complimenting agency employees who “ensure the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”
In May, Mr. Price celebrated his 15th week on the job by detailing his trip to Geneva, snapping a photo of the lush grounds of the United Nations compound, and a mountain range in the distance, as he attended the World Health Assembly. ... Weeks later, opening with the words “another fantastic week,” Mr. Price described a June trip to Nashville, Tenn., where he owns a condominium, leaving out the fact that he had flown on a chartered plane and, according to Politico, stopped to have lunch with his son.
The dispatches outraged many members of the department staff, given that the travel took place at a time when the agency is facing hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed budget cuts, as well as certain budget-related restrictions on work-related travel for employees.
Document: Tom Price’s Travels Around the Globe
“I can’t comprehend that someone wants to throw people out of nursing homes, take millions off Medicaid and deny children and the disabled health care, but is riding around in private chartered jets, at times taking his wife,” said J. David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers’ union, who spoke shortly before Mr. Price’s resignation. “This is like an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.’’
By KATIE ROGERS and ERIC LIPTON SEPT. 29, 2017
Tom Price, the former secretary of health and human services, visited Geneva, Switzerland, in May and posted images from the trip to a Flickr account under the government agency’s name. Credit U.S. Mission Geneva
WASHINGTON — As he traversed the world on taxpayer-funded flights, Tom Price made it a habit to write home, repeatedly sending celebratory letters back to staff members at the Department of Health and Human Services detailing his time on the road, and complimenting agency employees who “ensure the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars.”
In May, Mr. Price celebrated his 15th week on the job by detailing his trip to Geneva, snapping a photo of the lush grounds of the United Nations compound, and a mountain range in the distance, as he attended the World Health Assembly. ... Weeks later, opening with the words “another fantastic week,” Mr. Price described a June trip to Nashville, Tenn., where he owns a condominium, leaving out the fact that he had flown on a chartered plane and, according to Politico, stopped to have lunch with his son.
The dispatches outraged many members of the department staff, given that the travel took place at a time when the agency is facing hundreds of billions of dollars in proposed budget cuts, as well as certain budget-related restrictions on work-related travel for employees.
Document: Tom Price’s Travels Around the Globe
“I can’t comprehend that someone wants to throw people out of nursing homes, take millions off Medicaid and deny children and the disabled health care, but is riding around in private chartered jets, at times taking his wife,” said J. David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers’ union, who spoke shortly before Mr. Price’s resignation. “This is like an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.’’
PS: Not that it matters anymore, but next time, turn your phone sideways to use the landscape format.
