How Much Is the Taxpayers Paying the Trump Family Every Time the President Goes to Maralago

March 03, 2022 Post a Comment

President Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month in Palm Beach, Fla.

WASHINGTON — Critics for decades have sniped at the cost of presidential travel, but Donald Trump'due south frequent — and expensive — trips to his Florida resort to carry government business and play golf have sparked a level of disapproval his predecessors never faced.

Trump, who equally a citizen needled President Obama for his taxpayer-funded travel, already has racked upwardly millions in regime expenses for repeated trips to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

He has visited his Wintertime White House seven times since he was inaugurated Jan. 20, spending virtually a quarter of his time as the leader of the free globe either traveling to or staying at the glitzy resort.

And when he does visit other parts of the state, it's ofttimes in campaign-style rallies meant to gin upwardly his base of operations — not the more than policy-oriented speeches earlier Republican and Democratic presidents delivered during their first 100 days in places such equally Omaha, Beaver, Pa. or Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Transporting, securing and protecting the outset family unit in a densely populated stretch of Southward Florida is an expensive task, said James McCann, a political science professor at Purdue University in Indiana who has studied presidential travel.

"The fact that he'southward a repeat company puts a real drain on local municipal service," McCann said. "It's a real burden on local airline providers. When the president comes in, everything has to finish."

– Federal travel and security costs for Mar-a-Lago visits have already added up to millions if a Regime Accountability Office review of a four-mean solar day trip Obama took in February 2016 is any yardstick.

Obama'south trip, which began with an official visit to Chicago and ended with a golf outing in Florida, cost U.Due south. taxpayers $3.6 million. Although GAO declined to isolate the expenses tied to the Florida portion of the trip, Obama spent all three nights in the Sunshine State earlier returning to Washington. The review did not examine local or state bureau costs.

– The Palm Beach Sheriff'southward Office has already logged $3.5 million in overtime costs through April 9 for which it's seeking reimbursement, according to an agency spokeswoman.

The Sheriff's office spends roughly $60,000 in overtime every day to provide protection and traffic control when the president is at his Winter White House, she said. The visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this calendar month cost the county $ i.5 1000000.

– A Washington Post analysis finds that the cost of Declension Guard protection of Mar-a-Lago (Castilian for "Sea to Lake"), which sits on land straddling the Atlantic Ocean to the due east and the Intracoastal Waterway to the due west, is piling up and could run into the "tens of millions" over his four-year term.

The increased costs to protect the president come as Trump is proposing to slash $1.3 billion — or 12% — from the Coast Guard budget. A bipartisan group of senators wrote in a letter of the alphabet to Trump upkeep managing director Mick Mulvaney that the cut would compromise maritime security.

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Protecting Mar-a-Lago is more complicated and costly compared to the second homes of previous presidents, especially given Trump'due south penchant of inviting over globe leaders. Aside from Xi, the president as well has hosted Japanese Prime Minster Shinzō Abe in February.

Providing round-the-clock protection in such a high-traffic part of the country has meant complex security arrangements involving numerous federal and local law enforcement.

In dissimilarity, Ronald Reagan's retreats to the hills of Santa Barbara, George H.W. Bush-league'due south escapes to Kennebunkport, Maine, and George W. Bush-league's jaunts to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, were cheaper to safeguard because they not simply were less frequent but also involved accommodations that were more isolated.

What hasn't changed? Critics only besides happy to dredge upwards his previous criticism of Obama's trips and bewail the millions of taxpayer dollars spent protecting Trump and his family every fourth dimension they visit Mar-a-Lago.

"The criticism here is almost laughably situational" said Brendan Doherty, a politics professor at the U.Due south. Naval University in Annapolis who studies presidential trips. "Democrats have an awful lot to say nigh President Trump's travels. Republicans had an awful lot to say most President Obama'southward travels. But they're fairly quiet of course when information technology'southward the president of their own party who is going on and so-called vacations at great expense to taxpayers."

On cue, it is Democrats who have led the scrutiny of Trump'southward travels.

The Government Accountability Office agreed last month to await into security and price concerns raised by the president'south visits to Mar-a-Lago afterward a request by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and three other Capitol Hill Democrats.

Three other congressional Democrats, each of whom correspond portions of Palm Beach County, are seeking reimbursement for security costs incurred by local emergency responders. They've also raised concerns that the security footprint required of a presidential visit has cost local flying-related businesses collectively more than $700,000 because of air space restrictions that take grounded planes and helicopters.

"During your campaign and presidency, you vowed to make jobs more than plentiful and government less wasteful," Reps. Lois Frankel, Alcee Hastings and Ted Deutch wrote to Trump. "We sincerely asking that you lot lead by example."

Trump spokesman Sean Spicer last month dedicated the president'south frequent visits to Mar-a-Lago as working trips, not vacations.

"Presidents always travel. And I think the president, wherever he goes, he carries the apparatus of the White House," Spicer said. "The president volition continue to get and travel around the country and take meetings to solve the nation's problems. He (works) 7 days a week. This is where he goes to encounter his family unit. He brings people down at that place. This is part of existence president."

Trump was less charitable about Obama's travel.

In 2012, Trump tweeted his displeasure: "President @BarackObama's vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars----Unbelievable!"

In 2014, Trump jabbed Obama again on Twitter: "We pay for Obama's travel so he can fundraise millions so Democrats can run on lies. Then nosotros pay for his golf game."

The revenue Trump's visits generate does non begin to cover the expense local governments shoulder. A preliminary study by the Palm Embankment County Tourist Development Council concluded that a 4-dark visit past the president's entourage and the news media roofing him (about 300 people) generates only almost $fifteen,000 in local bed and sales taxes.

Simply Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO of county-sponsored Notice the Palm Beaches Florida, said the Wintertime White Firm lends a prestige factor.

"From a tourism perspective, we expect that the renewed media focus on the president'south ocean forepart retreat will raise the profile of The Palm Beaches and entice curious travelers to explore the vast array of recreational and cultural activities, innovative restaurants and award-winning hotels that these headlining celebrities frequent during their regular visits," he said.