Taxpayer-funded travel has always been an easy target for both sides to score political points. Long before Democrats pounced on former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who resigned over allegations related to his travel on private planes, Republicans cried foul over the use of taxpayer-funded planes for President Obama’s fundraising trips.
The salacious details related to taxpayer-funded travel across the executive and legislative branches of the federal government periodically make the headlines, but once they go away, the underlying problems remain unresolved. Travel information is fragmented, incomplete and impenetrable, if it is reported at all, making it difficult and time consuming to acquire. There is no accessible, searchable database to find out how often federal officials use taxpayer-funded travel and how much it costs.
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