Congresswoman Betty McCollum (DFL-Minn.), Ranking Member of the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, today wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting specific details of his noncommercial flights at taxpayer expense.
The Washington Post reported that Secretary Zinke “chartered a flight from Las Vegas to near his home in Montana this summer aboard a plane owned by oil-and-gas executives” that cost taxpayers $12,375. In addition, Secretary Zinke apparently chartered private flights at taxpayer expense during a visit to the United States Virgin Islands in March. Secretary Zinke joins other senior Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt who have apparently abused taxpayer dollars with excessively expensive private travel.
“Congress and the American people deserve an explanation for this extravagant use of taxpayer funds. Combined with similar reports of excessively expensive private travel by numerous senior Trump administration officials, there seems to be a disturbing pattern of limitless spending on noncommercial flights without reasonable justification,” Congresswoman McCollum wrote. “Additionally, your decision to fly on an aircraft owned by an oil and gas corporation, in a sector over which the Department of the Interior has direct leasing and regulatory authority, creates the appearance of a serious conflict of interest.”
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