Sticker Shock: How Much You’ve Paid for Obama Vacations Will Blow Your Mind
President Barack Obama is likely to go down in history as the president who was always in campaign mode, and when he wasn’t campaigning, he was on vacation.
Unfortunately, taxpayers footed the bill for almost all of it.
The government watchdog organization Judicial Watch released a new report this week that states the Secret Service has finally tallied its expenses for the first family’s 2015 vacation to Hawaii at $1.2 million. That brings the total cost of that one vacation to $4.8 million, or roughly equivalent to 90 times the average American household income last year.
Judicial Watch issued the following statement about the latest information:
This was the Obamas’ eighth Hawaiian family vacation. The trip has become an annual event for the Obamas. To date, Obama’s and his family’s travel expenses total at least $85,029,819.
The records obtained by Judicial Watch for Obama’s Secret Service travel to Hawaii reveal the following expenses totaling $1,234,316.67:
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- Hotel and lodging costs totaled $1,000,458.63
- The Secret Service spent $165,893.88 on car rentals.
- Air and rail expenses totaled $67,964.16.
Although the vacation officially lasted from Dec. 18, 2015, to Jan. 3, 2016, the Secret Service rented several Kailua homes for 19 nights, starting from Dec. 16. The total for the rentals, located near the Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay was $245,993.12.
According to bills obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act, the Secret Service also paid for rooms at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki and Golf Club. The Secret Service also reserved rooms at the Moana Surfrider resort on Waikiki Beach, and the Ala Moana Hotel, which cost a total of $40,249.48 and $671,895.99, respectively.
The Secret Service rented cars from Avis, Alamo, and Hertz—103 cars for the two-week vacation—totaling $165,893.88 in taxpayer money.
Reportedly, the Obamas stayed at the Hale Reena Estate, which “rents for anywhere between $5,000 to $10,000 a night, depending on the season.”
According to other news sources, the Obamas dined out frequently (and were guarded) at Hawaii’s finest restaurants:
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- On Sunday, Dec. 20, the Obamas had dinner at Morimoto, a celebrity chef-owned Asian-fusion restaurant,
- On Christmas Eve, they dined at MW Restaurant in Honolulu,
- On Dec. 27, the first family took their dinner at “one of Hawaii’s finest restaurants,” Hoku’s at the Kahala Hotel and Resort,
- The next day, the Obamas dined at Alan Wong’s with friends,
- And on New Year’s Day, the Obamas dined at Halekulani, billed as one of the “top restaurants on Oahu.”
The president played seven rounds of golf, and went hiking and snorkeling.
Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request for these documents in January. The records were released in response to a FOIA lawsuit filed on May 6. The lawsuit was filed after the Secret Service ignored a series of separate FOIA requests for costs associated with the president’s travel.
“The Secret Service and the Air Force are being abused by unnecessary travel,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Unnecessary presidential travel for fundraising and luxury vacations on the taxpayers’ dime would be a good target for reform for the incoming Trump administration.”
