Committee on Government Reform, Minority Office; Rep. Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member Rep. Henry A. Waxman Home United States House of Representatives Rep. Henry A. Waxman



Administration Oversight

Bush Cabinet Secretaries Have Frequently Traveled on Private Jets at Taxpayer Expense

Rep. Waxman reveals that Bush agency heads have taken 125 trips to over 300 locations aboard private jets, helicopters, and other aircraft at taxpayer expense and urges OMB Director Rob Portman to impose a moratorium on this luxury travel.

The analysis of flights by cabinet secretaries and agency heads released by Rep. Waxman is based on information provided by 14 departments and agencies, ten of which reported travel aboard leased or chartered private aircraft at taxpayer expense. The total cost to the taxpayer of the travel aboard private aircraft by cabinet secretaries and agency heads since 2001 is more than $1.5 million.

According to the records, taxpayer-funded travel aboard private jets intensified in 2004 when President Bush was campaigning for reelection. In 2004, cabinet secretaries took 36 trips stopping in 74 cities aboard private aircraft at taxpayer expense. Much of this travel was concentrated in electoral battleground states.

According to Rep. Waxman's analysis:

  • In October 2004, Education Secretary Rodney Paige spent $50,290 to charter a private jet to travel from Philadelphia to Seattle to Kansas City. In each city, Secretary Paige hosted town hall events in which he called the Leave No Child Left Behind Act “the most powerful civil rights act in the last three decades.”
  • In September 2004, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman chartered a jet at a cost of $11,678 to fly to Spencer, Iowa, where she attended the Clay County Fair.
  • Between August and October 2004, EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt took three multi-state tours aboard chartered aircraft at a cost of $41,471. At one stop in Garnerville, Nevada, he awarded an “Outstanding Environmental Achievement Award” to a middle school for its response to a jar of spilled mercury.
  • Since becoming HHS Secretary in January 2005, Mr. Leavitt has taken 19 trips to more than 100 cities aboard a private jet at a cost to the taxpayer of $726,048.

 Letter to OMB Administrator Rob Portman