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Department of Homeland Security, led by the Secretary Kristi Noemhas bought two Gulfstream G700 luxury jets for top officials — a deal worth about $172 million that is now raising questions about how the agency paid for them and why it needed two.
As per records reviewed by the new York Times, The jet, marketed by Gulfstream as offering “the most spacious cabin in the industry”, was purchased by a DHS spokesperson in what a DHS spokesperson described as “a matter of security.”
The spokesperson said in a statement that the department’s existing jet was more than 20 years old and “far exceeded the hours of operational use for a corporate aircraft.”
Earlier this year, the United States Coast Guard Her budget requested a long-range Gulfstream V jet to replace the older jets used by Noem, which was estimated to cost $50 million.
“Avionics are becoming increasingly obsolete, communications are becoming increasingly unreliable and, like the rest of the fleet, it needs recapitalization,” Acting Coast Guard Commandant Kevin Lunde said in May.
He said a new aircraft was necessary “to provide safe, reliable, on-demand communications and movement for agency leaders to go forward, visit our operating forces, conduct missions and then come back here to Washington and make sure we can work together to get them what they need.”
But Democrats are calling the move another example of Noem’s habit of spending recklessly at taxpayers’ expense, especially amid the government shutdown. It is not clear where the money came from.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, and Lauren Underwood of Illinois, the top Democrat who oversees the Homeland Security panel, asked Noem in a letter not reviewed. the new York Times, “To clarify funding source.”
He wrote, “In addition to raising serious questions about your ability to effectively lead an agency whose procurement strategies appear to change arbitrarily, your purchase of new luxury jets for your use shows that the USCG has been directed to prioritize your own comfort above the operational needs of the USCG, even during a government shutdown.” “We are deeply concerned about your decisions, leadership priorities, and responsibility as stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Earlier this year, Republicans included nearly $25 billion in new funding for the Coast Guard, including about $2.3 billion for “procurement and acquisition of rotary-wing aircraft.”
This week, Noem said she was using some of those funds to make sure Coast Guard members don’t receive pay checks during the current government shutdown. many times Informed.
Noem’s spending as governor of South Dakota also attracted attention Sioux Falls Argus Leader Who reported in 2021 that he spent $68,000 of taxpayers’ money to redecorate the governor’s mansion. The Associated Press reported in March that South Dakota taxpayers also paid about $150,000 in Noem’s personal and political travel costs.
Independent DHS has been contacted for comment.