Wasteful Spending on President Obama's Upcoming Trip to Africa

Floor Speech

Mr. HOLDING. Mr. Speaker, in a time when many Americans are out of work and struggling to make ends meet, the last thing that they want to see is tens of millions of their taxpayer dollars being spent to send the President on a trip to Africa.

Mr. Speaker, while every President deserves appropriate protective detail, the security provisions for President Obama's upcoming trip are excessive. Hundreds of Secret Service agents, over 50 vehicles, fighter jets, and a Navy aircraft carrier with a fully staffed medical trauma center will cost the government tens of millions of dollars.

Mr. Speaker, our country is over $16 trillion in debt, and the government agencies have made cutbacks as a result of the sequester. It is no secret that we need to rein in government spending, and the Obama administration has regularly and repeatedly shown a lack of judgment for when and where to make cuts.

For example, why should pilots' hours, Air Force pilots' hours, be cut back at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base so that the President can now have his most expensive trip since taking office?

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the President's upcoming trip to Africa is going to be for less than 1 week, and that trip costs 1,350 times more than a week of White House tours. So for the cost of this trip to Africa, you could have 1,350 weeks of White House tours, which the White House has canceled indefinitely due to budget restraints.

Mr. Speaker, the numbers don't lie. So either the administration is bad at math, or they simply don't see a problem with their excessive spending.

The American people have had enough of the frivolous and careless spending; and they deserve real, appropriate cuts from this excessive administration.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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