Tom Price Out As HHS Secretary Following Uproar Over Cost Of Private And Military Travel

The New York Times: Health Secretary Tom Price Resigns After Drawing Ire For Chartered Flights
Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, resigned under pressure on Friday after racking up at least $400,000 in travel bills for chartered flights and undermining President Trump’s promise to drain the swamp of a corrupt and entitled capital. Already in trouble with Mr. Trump for months of unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care program, Mr. Price failed to defuse the president’s anger over his high-priced travel by agreeing to pay a portion of the cost and expressing “regret” for his actions. (Baker, 9/29)

Politico: Price Resigns From HHS After Facing Fire For Travel
Price becomes the first Trump administration Cabinet secretary to step down. The White House said Trump asked Deputy Assistant Health Secretary Don Wright to serve as acting secretary of the agency, which has an annual budget $1.15 trillion and includes the Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as the FDA, NIH and CDC. As late as Thursday, Price said he believed he had the president’s support. But the tumult surrounding his travel became another distraction for an administration already reeling from the defeat of repeated Senate efforts to repeal Obamacare and facing criticism for its hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico. (Diamond, Pradhan and Bettelheim, 9/29)

NPR: Price Resigns As HHS Secretary Amid Private Jet Investigations
The work-related travel, which was first reported Sept. 19 by Politico, cost taxpayers nearly $1 million, or about $400,000 for private charters and $500,000 in military airplane costs. Most of the trips were between cities where inexpensive commercial flights were also available. (Kodjak, 9/29)

The Associated Press: Trump's Health Secretary Resigns In Travel Flap
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. (Alonso-Zaldivar and LeMire, 9/29)

Kaiser Health News: Latest Scandal Too Much for HHS Secretary Tom Price. He’s Out.
In a statement released Friday afternoon, the White House said President Donald Trump he intends to designate Don Wright of Virginia to serve as acting secretary, effective at midnight Friday. Wright serves as the deputy assistant secretary for health at HHS and he directs the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (Rovner, 9/29)

Fox News: HHS Secretary Tom Price Resigns Over Private Plane Trips
“Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement. The White House said Trump will designate Don J. Wright as acting secretary. Wright currently serves as deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (Pappas, 9/29)

CNN: Price Out As HHS Secretary After Private Plane Scandal
The scandal infuriated Trump, who viewed the controversy as a needless distraction from his agenda. Over the course of the week, Trump fumed to aides about Price's flights, which he deemed "stupid," according to multiple sources. Instead of moving past the storm, Price's offer to reimburse the government for only a fraction of the flights' costs enraged Trump further. (Liptak and Green, 9/29)

Vox: Tom Price, Trump’s Scandal-Plagued HHS Secretary, Is Stepping Down
The private flights doomed Price, who quickly lost favor with President Donald Trump. The White House announced late Friday that Price had offered his resignation and the president had accepted. Don Wright, currently a deputy assistant secretary at HHS, will assume Price’s post until Trump appoints a permanent replacement. (Scott, 9/29)

The Washington Post: Health And Human Services Secretary Tom Price Resigns After Criticism For Taking Charter Flights At Taxpayer Expense
The announcement came shortly after Trump told reporters he considered Price a “fine man” but that he “didn't like the optics” and planned to make a decision by the end of the day. “I'm not happy, I can tell you that. I'm not happy,” Trump said as prepared to leave the White House en route to his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J. (Wagner, 9/29)

USA Today: Tom Price Has Stepped Down As HHS Secretary In Flight Furor
The announcement came less than two hours after Trump called Price a "very fine man," but once again expressed his irritation about how Price racked up roughly $1 million in flight costs on private and military aircraft since taking office in February. "I certainly don't like the optics," Trump told reporters as he headed for the presidential helicopter Marine One, en route to a weekend stay at his golf club in New Jersey. "I'm not happy, I can tell you that. I'm not happy." (Locker and Jackson, 9/29)

ABC News: Tom Price Resigns As Health And Human Services Secretary
On Thursday, Price expressed regret over his trips and pledged to reimburse the government for his portion of the cost of the chartered jets. The resignation comes three days after Senate Republicans announced they would not hold a vote this week on the party's latest attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the Graham-Cassidy bill. Price played an integral role in promoting the administration's thus far unsuccessful efforts to roll back the Democratic health care legislation passed under the Obama administration. (Kelsey, 9/29)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Health Secretary Price Resigns Amid Private Jet Scandal
During the administration’s months-long attempt to get Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Price was never an obvious force. He did, however, let the law wither under his administrative tenure. His agency slashed advertising funding meant to get people to sign up for insurance plans sold under the law, and cut budgets for local groups of “navigators” who helped people find the right plan for them. HHS also shortened the time when people could sign up for coverage, and took other steps that critics decried as “sabotage.” (Edney, 9/29)

Reuters: Under Pressure From Trump, Tom Price Resigns As Health Secretary Over Private Plane Uproar
Price was one of a handful of senior officials in Trump’s administration put on the defensive over reports about their use of charter flights and government aircraft, sometimes for personal travel, when they could have flown commercial for less money. (Holland, 9/29)