Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price on Saturday told Fox News he will stop using private planes until an internal review on some of his recent travel has been completed.
Price is under investigation by his department's inspector general for chartering dozens of private flights for domestic business trips that racked up about $300,000 in costs. The HHS defended his use of private jets for official business, saying, "wasting four hours in an airport and having the secretary cancel his event is not a good use of taxpayer money."
"We've heard the criticism. We've heard the concerns. We take that very seriously and have taken it to heart," Price told Leland Vittert on Fox News’ America News Headquarters. "I don't think there will be any charter trips until this review is complete. I think that’s appropriate because of the concerns that we’ve heard."
Price has reportedly flown by private charter plane at least 24 times since May, according to a report in Politico.
"We will cooperate fully with it," Price said of the investigation. "I instituted or initiated, as well, an internal departmental review of the procedures and processes that we go through for official travel to determine whether there are any changes or reforms that are necessary. And if there are, then we look forward to instituting those, because we welcome this review."