Yes, it is true. The vice president stayed one night at a hotel in Paris, and all it cost the tax payers was $585,000.
"That's a big f***** deal."
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/us-vice-president-joe-bidens-585000-bill-for-night-at-paris-hotel/story-e6frfq80-1226607586930
You know, when I was a DEA agent, I traveled quite a bit in my day, both across the country and around the world. I even went to Paris a few times on official duty. (I'll never forget the night we were driving in circles around the Arc de Triumph at 3 in the morning singing, "I love Paris".)
Of course, all that was nothing as important as whatever old Joe was doing in Paris, but I was there nonetheless. I never recall running up a per diem costs like that, however.
So what was Joe doing over there in Paris with that big sequester looming?
Keep in mind that Big Sis Janet Napolitano was cutting costs at DHS before the sequester even kicked in and hope was rampant it could be avoided.
OK, Gary, I followed the link. You made it sound like one room for one night cost $585,000. Even at the highest luxury levels, that would be a bit much. But the real story is:
ReplyDelete"The contract costs cover the entire range of support, including accommodations for military, communications, secret service staff, and other support professionals. Security experts are also required to travel in advance of the president or vice president. Safety and security are not negotiable."
Now I too am nostalgiac for the days when a president-elect stayed in a Washington rooming house with no security detail and shared a common table with the rest of the guests, subject to the benign dictatorship of the widow proprietor of the establishment.
But that's not how any head of state, or other top leadership position, operates these days, and arguably, it couldn't be.
If I were Joe, I'd like to travel incognito with a small suitcase, and pop up at the Elysee Palace to surprise everyone once I'd slept off my jet lag. But is that realistic?
As the article notes, past vice-presidents of every stripe have cost about the same.
Did you have a security detail guarding you when you traveled for DEA?
Yeah, we really need to spend half a million and all that travel requires to send Joe Biden to Paris. What useful role is there for this dud to do anything overseas except further embarrass us.?
ReplyDeleteThat's a different question Gary. You insinuate either that American officials should never travel overseas, or, that Paul Ryan would have done a hell of a lot of good (whether the Europeans appreciated him or not), but that Joe Biden needs to stay in a little office in the White House basement like Spiro Agnew.
ReplyDeleteMaybe so... but its not an exorbitant sum for sending the Vice President of the United States on an official state visit.
Keep your issues straight, and your beefs focused.
I will try to focus my beef. We have a situation where the govt is telling us we don't have money for border patrol agents and Napolitano implied in Feb that 5,000 agents may be cut. We are closing down control towers. The govt is
ReplyDeletetelling us all these dire things that are going to happen because of the sequestration.
And we send useless Biden to Paris for half a million bucks? You tell me what essential task they would have this boob do in Paris that justifies this expense.