Michael Tasselmyer, NTU Foundation's Policy Analyst, authored a paper on the international travels of President Obama. Though the President spends fewer average days abroad per trip, he is still on pace to travel more overall than six of the last eight Presidents. He could be away for as many as 190 days on international trips, if his travel trends continue. To put this in context, if the President ends up traveling abroad for those 190 days, he will have spent just under nine percent of his tenure visiting other countries (FYI, he will be in office a total 2,191 days). That not only means that he will be spending more time away from the White House but the government will be spending new levels of tax dollars on security, personnel, and logistics associated with those trips.
One key fact Tasselmyer points out is the unknown total cost of each or all of the President's trips, which reach the tens of millions of public dollars. Just as Presidents Clinton and Bush, Obama has many hundreds of traveling companions and multiple aircraft to guarantee his security and travel but taxpayers are not purview to the top-line costs. Tasselmyer said:
"NTUF does not dispute the widely-held belief that a vital component of the President's duties is to represent our nation in foreign countries. [This study] is provided in the interest of fostering rational public discussions over the transparency as well as the costs and benefits of such activity."
Below is a travel breakdown of each year that President Obama has been in office:
President Obama's International Travel by Year | ||||
Year | Trips | Days | Total Countries | Unique Countries |
2009 | 10 | 40 | 25 | 21 |
2010 | 6 | 20 | 9 | 8 |
2011 | 4 | 20 | 9 | 9 |
2012 | 5 | 15 | 7 | 7 |
2013 | 4 | 18 | 10 | 10 |
| Note: Data for 2013 includes 4 trips, including his current trip to Africa. Source: State Department data and media reports, compiled in Up in the Air: A Study of Presidential Travel and its Uncertain Costs, National Taxpayers Union Foundation | ||||
The study also includes an updated per-flight-hour cost for Air Force One, which slightly decreased from NTUF's 2010 study because of changes in fuel costs. Check out the report and stay tuned to NTUF's Twitter feed for other key findings (as well as reactions from taxpayers, lawmakers, and the Administration).