Report: HHS chief Tom Price spent $25K for private jet from D.C. to Philly

When Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price flew to Philadelphia last Friday he took a private jet that cost taxpayers about $25,000, Politico reports.

Politico says the 135-mile trip from Dulles International Airport to Philadelphia International Airport was one of five private flights Price took on official business last week.

"Price, a frequent critic of federal spending who has been developing a plan for department-wide cost savings, declined to comment," Politico said.

It said Price could have flown to Philadelphia on a commercial flight for anywhere from $447 to $725 per person, round trip, or made the trip by train for as low as $72 when booked in advance.

During his visit Friday to a Delaware County drug treatment center with White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, Price announced $144 million in addiction treatment grants.

In contrast, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, who was in Philadelphia Tuesday to open a school, had to cut short an interview with our reporters Kristen Graham and Aubrey Whelan because he had to catch a train.

Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., weighed on the report in a tweet.

In the meantime, Dan Diamond, one of the authors of the Politico story, tweeted a photo of the private jet Rice and Conway flew on.