WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom
Price resigned under pressure from President Donald Trump on Friday in an
uproar over Price's use of costly private charter planes for government
business.
His abrupt departure was announced an hour after Trump told reporters
he was disappointed in Price's use of private aircraft and did not like the way
it reflected on his administration.
"Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his
resignation earlier today and the president accepted," the White House
said in a statement.
Trump named Don Wright to serve as acting secretary. Wright is
currently the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the office
of disease prevention and health promotion.
"I'm not happy. OK? I'm not happy," Trump told reporters on
the White House South Lawn.
Candidates to succeed Price included Seema Verma, who is administrator
of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and who is close to Vice
President Mike Pence, and Scott Gottlieb, a physician who serves as
commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, according to industry
analysts.
Several sources saw Gottlieb as a clear front runner. They said he got
along well with the White House and is viewed favourably there.
Price's resignation leaves Trump with a second Cabinet position to
fill. He has yet to pick a secretary for homeland security after hiring former
Secretary John Kelly as his White House chief of staff.
It was the latest blow to the Trump White House, which has struggled to
get major legislative achievements passed by Congress and has been embroiled in
one controversy after another since Trump took office in January.
Price, a former congressman, was instrumental in the Trump
administration's policies aimed at undercutting Obamacare, as well as working
with governors across the country to slowly begin unravelling parts of the law.
In a resignation letter, Price offered little in the way of contrition.
He said he had been working to reform the U.S. healthcare system and reduce
regulatory burdens, among other goals.
"I have spent forty years both as a doctor and public servant
putting people first. I regret that the recent events have created a
distraction from these important objectives," he said.
Trump, currently trying to sell his tax cut plan and oversee the federal
response to devastation wreaked by three hurricanes, saw the Price drama as an
unnecessary distraction and behind the scenes was telling aides "what was
he thinking?," a source close to the president said.
Price promised on Thursday to repay the nearly $52,000 cost of his
seats on private charter flights. "The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my
seat on those planes," Price said.
But that was not enough to satisfy Trump.
Trump told reporters that the "optics" of Price's travel were
not good, since, as president he was trying to renegotiate U.S. contracts to
get a better deal for taxpayers.
"Look, I think he's a very fine person. I certainly don't like the
optics," Trump said.
Price had also been seen in the White House as having been ineffective
in getting Congress to pass healthcare reform legislation, an effort that has
fizzled on Capitol Hill.
Price was one of a handful of senior officials in Trump’s
administration put on the defensive over reports about their use of charter
flights and government aircraft, sometimes for personal travel, when they could
have flown commercial for less money.
The White House issued an order late on Friday saying use of private
planes required approval from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and that
the commercial air system was appropriate even for very senior officials with
few exceptions.
The Washington Post on Friday reported that Veterans Affairs Secretary
David Shulkin attended a Wimbledon tennis match, toured Westminster Abbey and
took a cruise on the Thames this summer during a 10-day trip to discuss
veterans' health issues in Britain and Denmark.
Shulkin, who travelled on a commercial airline, was accompanied on the
trip by his wife, whose airfare was paid for by the government and who received
a per diem for meals, the Post said, noting that the Department of Veterans
Affairs said she was travelling on "approved invitational orders."
His six-person travelling party included an acting undersecretary of
health and her husband as well as two aides. They were accompanied by a
security detail of as many as six people, the Post said.
Washington news media outlet Politico has reported that Price had taken
at least two dozen private charter flights since May at a cost to U.S.
taxpayers of more than $400,000. Politico also reported he took approved
military flights to Africa and Europe costing $500,000.
Senior U.S. government officials travel frequently, but are generally
expected to keep costs down by taking commercial flights or the train when
possible.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Treasury
Secretary Steve Mnuchin have also been in the spotlight for their travel
habits.
(Additional reporting by David Alexander, James
Oliphant, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Toni Clarke; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and
Andrew Hay)
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