WASHINGTON _ Before resigning last week, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price indeed reimbursed taxpayers for nearly $52,000 _ the amount he said covered his portion of recent official trips on private jets.
A spokesman for the department said Friday that Price wrote a personal check to the U.S. Treasury "for the expenses of his travel on private charter planes" before he tendered his resignation on Sept. 29.
Price had promised to pay the amount as he was lobbying to save his job amid intense scrutiny for taking more than two dozen such trips that cost taxpayers more than $1 million. The former Georgia congressman was swiftly criticized for the amount, which only covered his portion of the travel.
"The necessary processing of that payment by HHS has been completed," the spokesman said.
The news comes a few days after U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, wrote to Trump administration officials requesting evidence that Price indeed paid back the money.
Wrote Cummings: "To verify that Secretary Price made his payment last Friday, please provide by October 6, 2017, a copy of any check or other form of payment former Secretary Price submitted to reimburse his expenses for these flights."
