By CHRIS MEGERIAN, Related Press
16 hours in the past
FILE – President Joe Biden boards Air Pressure One at Dallas Fort Value Worldwide Airport, March 21, 2024, in Dallas, en path to Houston. The White Home and the Democratic Nationwide Committee are sharing the price of Biden's journey as he runs for a second time period. It's a part of a long-standing deal that stops taxpayers from being caught with the total invoice for political journey. (AP Picture/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's no easy matter of transferring the commander-in-chief from level A to level B, and it's much more difficult when the president is in search of a second time period.
President Joe Biden lately spent three days in Pennsylvania, a key state within the 2024 marketing campaign, and he plans to be in Virginia and Florida this coming week. The Democratic incumbent is in search of a bonus over Republican Donald Trump as he ramps up his travels across the nation.
Right here's a take a look at how a lot it prices and who foots the invoice throughout the marketing campaign season.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
It's not low-cost to fly the president's fleet.
The White Home makes use of Sikorsky helicopters referred to as Marine One when the president is on board, in addition to personalized Boeing 747s which are immediately recognizable as the long-lasting Air Pressure One (typically the president makes use of a extra modest modified 757 if his vacation spot is close by or if a the runway just isn’t lengthy sufficient to accommodate the bigger plane.)
Marine One prices between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 an hour to function, in accordance with Pentagon information for finances yr 2022. Air Pressure One is much more costly: roughly $200,000 an hour.
However these figures solely scratch the floor of the true price. There are additionally army cargo planes that journey forward of the president to ensure his armored limousines are in place, to not point out the large safety equipment that follows the president all over the place.
New planes are within the works as a result of the present variations are a number of a long time outdated. Sikorsky is producing 23 up to date helicopters to function Marine One, Boeing is constructing two new Air Pressure One planes and they’re scheduled to be accomplished by 2028. In line with the Pentagon, the planes will include all of the upgrades, together with “ a mission communication. system”, a “self-defense system” and even “autonomous baggage loading”.
WHO PAYS FOR TRAVEL?
When the president flies for political functions, the marketing campaign is meant to foot the invoice. However throughout an election yr, the road between governing and campaigning may be blurred.
For instance, Biden held an official occasion Wednesday in Pittsburgh the place he introduced his proposal for greater tariffs on metal imported from China. The occasion, nonetheless, was a not-so-subtle alternative for the president to tackle union members who’re vital of his re-election, and he hit again at Trump in his feedback. (At one level Biden joked that the previous president was “busy proper now,” a reference to the hush cash trial that lately started in New York.)
It's as much as the White Home counsel's workplace to determine what share of the president's journey is campaign-related. This determines how a lot the federal authorities should be reimbursed by the Biden marketing campaign. Generally the calculations should not easy, corresponding to when the White Home provides an official occasion to a different political journey.
Norm Eisen, a White Home ethics lawyer below President Barack Obama, stated each Republicans and Democrats have usually adopted the rules.
“We had a algorithm on find out how to make the allocations,” he stated. “They’re difficult and we stayed true to them.”
It doesn’t matter what, taxpayers find yourself on the hook for a lot of the price. Campaigns don’t pay for all Secret Service brokers and the remainder of the safety equipment. In truth, they normally solely cowl the price of Air Pressure One passengers who fly for clearly political functions — like shopping for a ticket on a very unique non-public jet.
HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY?
Biden's marketing campaign and his joint fundraising committee have stashed journey money in an escrow account held by the Democratic Nationwide Committee. From January 2023 to the top of final month, they deposited practically $6.5 million.
A few of this cash goes to basic marketing campaign logistics, corresponding to employees prices and advance work. The account can also be used to reimburse the federal authorities for official plane used to move the president, first woman, vp and second gentleman after they journey for re-election efforts.
To this point, not a lot cash has discovered its means again into the US Treasury. In line with the newest information accessible, solely $300,000 has been awarded.
It's protected to imagine that the Biden marketing campaign will find yourself way more than that after the marketing campaign is over. Trump's group reimbursed the federal authorities practically $four.7 million for journey bills throughout the 2020 race.
However Biden in all probability received't have any bother masking his payments. His marketing campaign and the DNC had greater than $192 million in money available on the finish of March.
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AP White Home Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.