Irresponsible spending by agency heads has seen taxpayer money fly out of Washington in first class. Scott Pruitt, former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Tom Price, former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, each resigned after reports that they spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on first-class tickets and charter jets.
In the face of these mounting costs, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) introduced H.R. 6061, the Formally List Your Travel (FLY) Act, to put a stop to taxpayers shelling out for luxury airplane tickets. The bill would require Cabinet secretaries and agency heads to report a monthly travel log instead of the current requirement of only once per year. This new standard would greatly improve transparency on behalf of the taxpayers who pay for the trips. The bill also expressly prohibits agency heads holding Senate-confirmed positions from using taxpayer money to purchase a first-class ticket on an airline. These simple reforms will force agency heads to keep their budgets grounded, cutting out embarrassing and wasteful spending.
Similar reforms are also needed when the head of the entire executive branch travels. Use of Air Force One costs an eye popping $142,380 per flight hour, and there are additional outlays for logistics and security. These costs extend across any federal agencies with representatives participating in a given trip. The Government Accountability Office only rarely issues reports detailing presidential travel expenses. These costs can be significant, especially when the President travels abroad, but often go unreported.
In cases where domestic trips involve a mix of official duties and political activities (such as campaign events), outside agencies are required to reimburse the federal government for a portion of the transportation costs. As NTUF noted after use of Air Force One to a campaign event in the 2016 election, greater transparency and clarity is need for reporting the reimbursements.
Travel is a necessary expenditure, and improved transparency over the executive branch will help ensure that money is not being squandered on perks. Congress should continue to consider ways that taxpayer dollars can be used more efficiently.