Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned today after becoming embroiled in a scandal involving expensive chartered flights that cost American taxpayers more than $1 million. The White House released a statement today acknowledging the President’s acceptance of Price’s resignation and that:
“The President intends to designate Don J. Wright of Virginia to serve as Acting Secretary effective at 11:59 p.m. on September 29, 2017. Mr. Wright currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health and Director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.”
Here is Price’s resignation letter:
Here's the resignation letter pic.twitter.com/v2bh7gOPpQ
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) September 29, 2017
Price’s resignation comes after news broke nearly a week ago that he used taxpayer money to book expensive charter flights. After days of public outcry, President Donald Trump expressed his disappointed with the Secretary’s decision-making and indicated that Price’s job might be on the line. As the outrage grew, Price claimed that he was going to repay the public for the extravagant airfare expenses. It was soon revealed that Price was only going to repay $52,000 of the over $1 million, a mere fraction of what he actually spent.
Before becoming the Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price served as a Congressman for Georgia’s 6th congressional district from 2005-2017. His replacement Don Wright has been with the Department since 2009, and was previously a practicing physician in the state of Texas.
Watch MSNBC break the news here:
Feature image via YouTube screengrab.
