Via The New York Times: Health Secretary Tom Price Resigns After Drawing Ire for Chartered Flights. Excerpt and then a comment:
WASHINGTON — Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, resigned under pressure on Friday after racking up at least $400,000 in travel bills for chartered flights and undermining President Trump’s promise to drain the swamp of a corrupt and entitled capital.
Already in trouble with Mr. Trump for months of unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care program, Mr. Price failed to defuse the president’s anger over his high-priced travel by agreeing to pay a portion of the cost and expressing “regret” for his actions.
In a statement, the White House said that Mr. Price “offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted.”
It said Mr. Trump will tap Don J. Wright of Virginia to serve as acting secretary at midnight Friday. Mr. Wright currently serves as the deputy assistant secretary for health and as director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Mr. Price’s resignation came barely an hour after Mr. Trump publicly dressed him down for the second time in a week and said he would decide whether to fire the secretary by the end of the day. “I’m not happy, O.K.?” the president told reporters before boarding a helicopter as he headed to his New Jersey golf club for the weekend. “I can tell you, I’m not happy.”
Mr. Price’s job was on the line ever since the first of a string of reports by Politico on Sept. 19 about his extensive use of charter aircraft. Mr. Trump has fumed privately and publicly about Mr. Price’s actions, fearing that they undercut his promise to rid Washington of the sort of abuses that have soured the public on its political class. The president made clear on Friday that he also saw it as undermining his promise to save the government money, citing efforts to renegotiate contracts.
In a bid to assuage Mr. Trump, the secretary offered on Thursday to reimburse the government $51,887 of the $400,000 spent, which he said represented the cost of his own seat on the trips. But it was clear that was not enough to save his job.
I suspect American healthcare workers will stoically endure this shock, at least until they can get home and start the first of a (moderate) number of celebratory drinks.
Now the question is who would be willing to serve as his replacement. Just holding the fort is not skill enough; the next health secretary will need to deal (for starters) with the Puerto Rican public-health crisis, opioids, and likely a very nasty flu season.
It's a no-win job: Success would trigger suspicion from Trump; failure would make Trump look bad. Just associating with Trump's cabinet charlatans would likely bring reproachful stares from one's children and colleagues.
