Civic Register
| 11.20.17

White House Blocking Congressional Oversight of Travel Spending

Join us and tell your reps how you feel!

What’s the story?

The House Oversight Committee continues to try and provide oversight of the administration’s travel spending, following numerous news reports over the summer of exorbitant travel spending by Cabinet officials, but the White House is refusing to fully comply, reports Government Executive.

Why does it matter?

The exposure of the travel spending by former Health Secretary Tom Price led to his resignation. Other Cabinet members, including Energy Secretary Scott Pruitt and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, also found themselves in hot water after questions about their travel expenses were raised.

The White House subsequently issued a new policy that all chartered or government aircraft travel must be approved by the White House.

The House Oversight Committee, led by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), has been trying to review the administration’s travel spending since September. They sent letters requesting information from the White House and 24 agency leaders.

So far, only 13 agencies have provided a partial response. The committee has threatened both the Justice Department and Agriculture Department with subpoenas if they do not comply.

The White House request, sent to Chief of Staff John Kelly, was sent back as unaswerable because, "not all the components in the Executive Office of the President [EOP] fell under the chief of staff’s purview."

That assertion directly contradicts the organizational chart as outlined on the White House website, noted the Committee in a letter, and therefore was an insufficient answer. They continued that they expected Kelly to encourage the necessary officials to comply:

"Assuming arguendo the information on your website is incorrect—EOP components do not fall under your authority—I trust you can nevertheless facilitate their response to the committee's request."

The Committee is now requesting all records from January 1, 2016 to January 1, 2017 in order to decide, "whether new policies or regulations need to be enacted or perhaps to even change [to] the nature of appropriations" awarded to the agencies.

What do you think?

Should Congress subpoena records if necessary? Should they enact new policies and regulations, or change agency budgets, due to concerns about travel expenses?

Tell us in the comments what you think, then use the Take Action button to tell your reps!

— Asha Sanaker

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia / Creative Commons)

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