Late last week the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard broke the story that the Secret Service costs of the President’s, Vice President’s, and First Lady’s separate 2013 President’s Day weekend jaunts totaled over $295,000 dollars.
The information was obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
As emphasized in the article, these exorbitant costs are just what the Secret Service paid out (at least what they’re willing to identify) for lodging, rental cars, etc.
Since National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) provides estimates on the cost of flying Air Force One, we thought an impromptu examination of the President’s Palm Beach gold weekend that accounts for his part of this triumvirate of travel would be in order.
In this case the President flew from an official event in Chicago to Palm Beach, and then to Washington – these two trips total at least $721,590 in operating costs for Air Force One. That is a conservative estimate based off the White House’s schedule, average flight times, and the cruise speed of his VC-25 jet.
The actual, real world, cost could be noticeably more expensive.
$721,590 is still not a cheap airfare. Perhaps the trio will make up for it and stay in this President’s Day to watch House of Cards?