This week in OnPolitics: The Price was not right

with Jessica Estepa

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price speaks

It's Friday, OP readers, so you know what that means: another resignation from the Trump administration.

On the bright side, you can never say that there's a dull day with Donald Trump in office.

Another one bites the dust

So, this is what Tom Price gave up his seat in Congress for: a seven-month stint as Trump's Health and Human Services secretary. What did Price accomplish during that time? Well, Obamacare is still intact...so not that. And the president has yet to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency...so not that either.

Price did manage to rack up around $400,000 in costs for private flights since May (yes, MAY, meaning his department spent, on average, $100,000 a month on these charters). And he also racked up around $500,000 in military cost flights for international travel.

The revelation of those flights are ultimately what brought Price down, and after he offered an apology and to pay for a fraction of the costs, Price resigned. His resignation letter called these "recent events" a "distraction."

But is it really a distraction to hold your public officials accountable?

Obamacare's here to stay (for now again)

Speaking of things that probably disappointed Price about his tenure as HHS secretary, Obamacare isn't going anywhere. Sen. Susan Collins officially announced this week that she couldn't vote for the Graham-Cassidy legislation , killing the bill in its tracks after Sens. Rand Paul and John McCain said they wouldn't support the legislation, either. The special budgetary process that allows the Senate to only need 50 votes to push health care legislation through expires on Saturday, so the administration is going to have to retool their strategy if they expect to make any changes to former president Obama's signature health care law (whether Sen. Thad Cochran is around or not).

Prayers for Puerto Rico

We're going to have to disagree with acting Department of Homeland Security chief Elaine Duke: What's happening down in Puerto Rico is not just a "good news story" about the hurricane aid the federal government is able to provide to the devastated region. It's, as San Juan Mayor Carmen Cruz put it, a "people are dying" story. President Trump is visiting Puerto Rico next week, and he said in a speech Friday that the territory is "totally unable" to handle the crisis on its own and that "we will not rest" until it is safe. That should be the point, though: In times of crisis, we prop each other up. (Here's what you can do to help.)

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