White House budget director Mick Mulvaney Mick MulvaneyMick Mulvaney to start hedge fund Fauci says positive White House task force reports don't always match what he hears on the ground Bottom line MORE is on business in the Middle East, where he's meeting with area leaders and visiting military installations in the region.

Politico Playbook reported Tuesday that Mulvaney, who also serves as interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, spoke to the American Business Council Dubai over the weekend.

"Director Mulvaney is traveling on official business to the Middle East. He will visit troops stationed overseas, review assets, and meet with locally based American business leaders," Coalter Baker, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, told Playbook.

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"He is accompanied on the trip with three staff and arrived on Saturday via commercial airline travel in coach."

According to Playbook, Mulvaney is joined by his chief of staff and deputy chief of staff on the trip, but not his family.

Mulvaney's trip — and his decision to fly coach — comes as Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittJuan Williams: Swamp creature at the White House Science protections must be enforceable Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, is the latest Trump Cabinet members to face scrutiny for his use of first-class and business-class flights.

Pruitt postponed a planned trip to Israel over the weekend after The Washington Post reported that he had racked up thousands of dollars in travel expenses by taking first-class and business-class flights to conferences and other engagements.

Pruitt told the New Hampshire Union Leader that the flights were dictated by security concerns, and that he has had previous interactions on airplanes that have "not been the best."