DHAKA: Tom Price, secretary of the United States Health and Human Services Department, resigned Friday (September 29), ending days of presidential criticism over the use of private airplanes, reports USA Today.
Price "offered his resignation earlier today and the President accepted," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a brief statement.
Sanders said Trump will designate Don Wright, the deputy assistant secretary for Health and Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, as acting HHS secretary. He's a holdover from the Obama administration.
Price's resignation came a day after he said he would reimburse taxpayers for just a small fraction of the cost of his flights, and after he vowed to not use charter planes in the future.
A longtime critic of wasteful federal spending and the administration's putative point man on attacking Obamacare, Price had taken 26 flights on charter plans since May, according to a Politico investigation.
In a letter addressed to Trump, Price said he was tendering his resignation in order to allow the administration "to move forward without further disruption."
"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," Price wrote.
In June, Price traveled on a $17,760 roundtrip charter from Washington to Nashville, Tennessee, Politico revealed. He spent less than six hours there, making two official appearances and eating lunch with his son.
In a four-day stretch in September, Price took flights costing an estimated $60,000 in total, according to Politico. Some of those flights came at times when dramatically cheaper commercial air travel would have been available.
Politico on Thursday (September 29) reported that Price had also taken trips overseas using military jets, at a cost of more than $500,000 — putting the total tab for his penchant for pricey travel above $1 million.
However, Price is the latest high-ranking official to leave the Trump administration, joining a list that includes White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, senior strategist Steve Bannon, press secretary Sean Spicer, and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. The president also dismissed FBI Director James Comey.
BDST: 0953 HRS, SEP 30, 2017
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