Category: “Your Tax Dollars At Work”

Well, the VP visited Europe recently.  It was a 5 night trip.  He spent one night in London, and one night in Paris.

He stayed at very nice hotels – the Hyatt Regency in London, and the Hotel Intercontinental Paris Le Grand in Paris.  I won’t begrudge him that; after all, he is the VP of the United States.  And he did have to send an advance party, and bring security, staff, etc . . . .

But perhaps whoever booked his rooms needs to work on their negotiating skills.

Hotel cost for the VP’s London stay:  $459,388.65.  The sole-source contract was awarded non-competitively, and was for 136 rooms – and a total of 893 room-nights.  Average cost per room was somewhat over $510 per night.

And the hotel cost for the VP’s stay in Paris?  A cool $585,000.50.  Not as many details are available here, so it’s unclear precisely what the nightly cost per room really was.  But if the number of room-nights is the same, that works out to around $650 per night.

The above contracts appear to be for lodging only – no staff salaries, fuel, etc . . . .

Yeah, you’re reading that correctly.  That’s apparently over $1,044,000 for lodging alone to support the VP staying one night in London and one night in Paris.

In case anyone’s wondering:  the normal maximum authorized overseas lodging rate for US government travelers in London is $301 per night.  For Paris, $379 the normal maximum authorized is per night.  Exceptions exceeding this amount require special authorization.

Obviously, this is a case where an exception was authorized.  And yeah, the VP doesn’t just walk in and get a room for the night; security considerations nix that.

But it seems to me that you should be able to negotiate a nightly rate at least somewhere close to the maximum authorized for Federal travelers when booking a block of 130+ rooms including the POTUS or VP – like maybe within $50 or $100 per night, anyway.  Here, in each case it looks like the rate negotiated was at least $200 per night per room over that.

And 136 rooms?  Really?

But hey:  it’s the for the VP of the United States, so it’s cool.  And it’s only money, right?

Yeah, that last bit is kinda my point.  It’s the US taxpayer’s money.  Over $1 million for lodging alone so the VP can spend two nights overseas just seems a bit much.

 

PS:  it looks like the VP got around in style while he was in Paris, too.  His limo bill for the stay appears to have been $321,665.

He’s got nothing on his boss, though.  According to the same article, when the POTUS visited Cannes in November 2011 for the Cannes Film Festival the limo bill there was estimated to cost $731,938 – with a “not to exceed” limit of $1,400,000.

That visit to Cannes by the POTUS lasted approximately 36 hours.

Apparently the former SECDEF wasn’t the only one regularly flying home most weekends.  It seems as if our VP loves flying on government aircraft, too.

The VP has an official residence in DC.  He also owns a home in Wilmington, DE – about 110 miles away.

As a Senator, he apparently took the train from DC to Wilmington on weekends.  Once he became VP, according to Biden the Secret Service put the kibosh on that for security reasons.

However, as VP most weekends he’s still been going home. He’s a member of a rather exclusive club in Wilmington, and likes to golf there.  And since it’s his home, presumably he likes the area too.

So he’s been flying home.  He’s generally been using Air Force Two to fly to Wilmington.

Air Force Two is a modified Boeing 757.  It has an operating cost of around $8,800 per hour.  Add to that operating cost whatever it costs to get him to/from Andrews AFB to catch his flight and to/from his home in Wilmington, DE, of course.  Plus crew salaries, and travel expenses if they stay for the weekend.  Plus the travel expenses for his protection detail – as well as additional salaries for same whenever his family doesn’t come with him.

Ya know, if it were me I think I’d just drive.  Seems to me that would be possible for the VP, too – even if he might have to wait until after rush hour to leave.  By the time he gets from his Naval Observatory residence to Andrews, catches his flight, flies to Wilmington, gets off, and then goes home, I’m guessing he burns at least an hour – if not closer to an hour and a half.  At off-peak hours, it’s only about a 2-hour drive.  And I’ll guarantee someone else will be doing the driving, too.

And if the Secret Service nixed that (which is entirely possible due to security concerns if being done on a regular basis), I think I’d either just stay in DC most weekends – or at least see if Marine 2 might be available to take me vice Air Force Two.  Even a VH-3D has to be less expensive to operate than a 757.

But we should feel sorry for our poor Mr. VP.  According to recent remarks Biden made to the National Association of Attorneys General, sequestration is going to force him to go back to using the train.

Which brings a question to mind:  if it’s OK for you to resume using the train due to sequestration, Mr. VP – then why in the hell haven’t you been using it all along?