Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) also sent a letter to the White House in early October asking it to provide details of private jet flights that counselor Kellyanne Conway took with then-Secretary Tom Price. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo Cummings to Gowdy: Subpoena HHS, White House over Price's private jet use

Rep. Elijah Cummings has asked the chairman of the House Oversight Committee to subpoena the White House and Health and Human Services Department for full information about former Secretary Tom Price’s use of private and military planes, which cost taxpayers at least $1 million.

Cummings, the committee’s top Democrat, wrote in a letter today to Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) that the administration has not sent complete details about Price's flights on private or military aircraft, including manifests showing all passengers, flight destinations and costs. A spokesperson for Oversight Committee Republicans did not immediately respond to a request for comment.


Price, a Georgia Republican who was confirmed as HHS secretary in February, resigned at the end of September amid controversy over his use of charter aircraft for official government business, which was detailed in a POLITICO investigation. HHS said Price reimbursed the U.S. Treasury for the cost of his seat on the flights, but Cummings’ letter states that HHS and the Treasury Department also have not produced a copy of the reimbursement check.

Gowdy and Cummings opened a bipartisan inquiry into senior officials’ use of private planes, and Gowdy previously threatened to subpoena the Departments of Justice and Agriculture for failing to adequately respond. The request asked for details of private flights for 24 federal agencies as well as the White House.

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HHS has sent documents in response, but they are redacted to the point where “it is impossible to tell which other government officials or non-government officials joined Secretary Price on his charter flights,” Cummings wrote.

Separately, Cummings sent a letter to the White House in early October asking it to provide details of private jet flights that counselor Kellyanne Conway took with Price. The HHS Inspector General is also reviewing the former HHS Secretary's use of private planes.