Inside Washington
Joe Biden Binges on Taxpayers’ Tab
It’s all aboard Air Force Two for golf outings and weekend junkets for the vice president — all overseen by the Secret Service, and all at a hefty price.
W
RONALD KESSLER
CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
regularly returns to Andrews on the airplane on Saturdays to play golf at the Air Force base with President Obama. After the golf game, he fl ies back to Delaware and returns to Washington on the plane on Sunday evening — all at taxpayer expense. The cost of fl ying Air Force Two
hen president Barack Obama appointed Vice President Joe
Biden to root out wasteful government spending, Biden proclaimed himself the “new sheriff in town.” But behind the scenes, it’s an entirely dif- ferent matter. Every Friday, Biden takes
a helicopter designated as Marine Two from the vice president’s residence to Joint
Base Andrews in Maryland and then hops on Air Force Two to fl y back to his home in Delaware. At the end of the weekend, he returns on Air Force Two. During warm weather, Biden
“Biden leaves every
Friday from Joint Base Andrews, so he gets lifts from the observatory via Marine Two to Andrews Air Force Base, takes off via Air Force Two, lands in Delaware, and stays the weekend and then comes back on Sunday nights,” says a Secret Service agent familiar with the trips. “Every three or four weeks when it’s warm, he gets
is $22,000 an hour, so each half- hour trip to or from Delaware costs about $10,000. Each golf game costs taxpayers $20,000. At that rate, the annual cost to taxpayers of Biden’s weekend trips is well over $1 million. In addition, the Secret Service has to rent more than
20 condominiums in Wilmington, Del., for agents who protect him during weekend trips.
28 NEWSMAX | AUGUST 2012
Each golf game costs taxpayers $20,000. The total annual cost to taxpayers for Biden’s weekends is well over $1 million.
up there on Saturday and then will fl y back on Air Force Two,” the agent says. “While Air Force Two is sitting on the tarmac at Andrews, he goes and plays golf with the president at Andrews Air Force Base, gets back on the plane, and fl ies back to Delaware. Let me tell you something, that is egregious.” The Boeing C-32 that usually fl ies as Air Force Two is a specially confi gured Boeing 757-200 commercial jet. The Secret Service agent says
that since Air Force Two parks at Andrews, Obama is obviously aware that Biden is running up a huge government tab for each game of golf he plays with him. Biden’s press offi ce said the
number of trips and costs are “infl ated” but would not provide any details. The White House press offi ce had no comment. In addition to his salary — $230,700 — as vice president, Biden has free use of the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory.
GOLF/AP IMAGES / BIDEN/ELVIS BARUKCIC/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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