BY MALIA ZIMMERMAN – KAILUA, OAHU – The U.S. Secret Service has arrived, street barricades are in place, and the U.S. Coast Guard has stationed itself in the waters surrounding Kailua, Oahu.
That is a sure sign President Barack Obama’s security team is preparing for the first family to arrive in the small beachside community as early as Friday night for what is expected to be a 17-day vacation.
The President and his family are traveling separately to Hawaii because he wants resolve the payroll tax cut issue before leaving Washington – and his wife does not want to wait.
But the advanced trip and the cost that comes with it – as much as $100,000 (flight and security) – adds to an already expensive vacation for the taxpayers.
Hawaii Reporter research shows the total cost for the President’s visit for taxpayers far exceeded $1.5 million in 2010 – but is even more costly this year because he extended his vacation by three days and the cost for Air Force One travel has jumped since last assessed in 2000. In addition, Hawaii Reporter was able to obtain more specifics about the executive expenditures.
TRAVEL: $3,629,622
The biggest expense is President Barack Obama’s round trip flight to Hawaii via Air Force One, a cost the GAO office estimated at $1 million in the year 2000. Contacted today, the GAO confirmed there is no report the independent office affiliated with Congress has prepared since 2000 to operate Air Force One and Air Force Two.
However, the U.S. Air Force provides the most current numbers of $181,757 per flight hour. Travel time for Air Force One direct from Washington D.C. to Hawaii is about 9 hours or $1,635,813 each way for a total of $3,271,622 for the round trip to Hawaii and back.
The cost for USAF C-17 cargo aircraft that transports the Presidential limos, helicopters and other support equipment to Hawaii was not made available. However, the flight time between Andrews Air Force Base and Hawaii is at about 21.5 hours roundtrip, with estimated operating cost of $12,000 per hour. (Source: GAO report, updated by C-17 crew member). The United States Marine Corps provides a presidential helicopter, along with pilots and support crews for the test flights, which travel on another C-17 flight. That is $258,000, not including costs for the 4 to 6 member crew’s per diem and hotel.
Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii costs about $63,000 (White House Dossier), but add security and personnel for a total of about $100,000.
HOUSING: $151,200
The President and his family pay for their own beachfront rental (they are not staying in the Winter White House this year but rather a house on the same street further to the ocean point).
The Kailua rentals are fronted by the ocean and backed by a canal. So, the taxpayers must cover the costs for housing U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Seals in beach front and canal front homes in Kailua.
That costs about $1,200 a day ($200 allocated per bedroom per day). Since security arrives one day early, homes are rented for 18 days.
That is about $21,600 per home for approximately 7 houses rented at a total cost of $151,200 for security to stay nearby.
HOTEL: $72,216
The President’s staff and White House Press Corps stay at one of Hawaii’s oldest and most elegant hotels, the Moana Surfrider. Hawaii Reporter confirmed they are again staying there this year. Besides its stunningly beautiful view of Waikiki, and its traditional architecture, it is one of the most pricey hotels in the state.
Government rates are $177 per night, but that only is available during certain times a year.
Rooms typically start at $250 but can cost on average as much as $450 a night, and are even higher during the holidays. Hotel spokeswoman Marsha Weinert said she could “neither confirm nor deny” the president’s staff is staying there.
A conservative estimate with rooms at the government rate of $177 per day (excluding a 9.25 percent Transient Accommodation Tax and a 4.712 percent General Excise Tax on each bill, meals, internet charges and other charges) means the taxpayers are covering more than $72,216 in hotel bills for an estimated 24 staff.
LOCAL TAXPAYER COSTS: $260,000
Local police over time for the president’s visit has historically cost Oahu taxpayers $250,000 but may be more expensive this year with the extended vacation.
The city ambulance the accompanies the president 24 hours a day through his entire visit is $10,000, according to city spokeswoman Louise Kim McCoy.
UNKNOWN COSTS
There are several costs the White House annually refuses to release, citing security.
- For example, the president’s security usually rents an entire floor of an office building in Kailua on the canal during the president’s stay.
- There are security upgrades and additional phone lines to several private homes where Obama and friends are staying. That includes bullet proof glass installed, home security systems disabled, new security measures put into place and additional phone lines added.
- There is the cost for car rentals and fuel for White House staff staying at Moana Hotel.
- And there are additional travel costs Secret Service and White House staff traveling ahead of the President.
The total cost (based on what is known) for a 17-day round trip vacation to Hawaii for the President and his family and staff and security is an estimated $4,113,038.
Hawaii Reporter annually has requested details on the cost of the President’s trip, but the White House will not release any figures, citing security concerns. A spokesperson has maintained the costs are “in line” with other presidential vacations.
Hawaii Reporter has sought to determine the cost of vacations for the current president and last two presidents but the Government Accountability Office was able to provide those costs and referred Hawaii Reporter back to the White House spokesperson.
See related story and update: First Family Arrives in Kailua
[…] girls arrived Friday; check out photos of President Obama arriving last year here) as well as the extended stay of the vacation will cost American tax payers nearly $4 million, roughly $2.5 million more than the […]
YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!
I didn’t vote for obama last time but this time I am gonna vote for him…. I think he is the best thing for America in recent history… WONDERFUL!!! 4 more years and this country will be purged of a corrupt congress and senate because the people are gonna purge every politician out by civil war…. There will be unrest like never seen in America. Because now Americans believe that good is bad and bad is good. Once this country goes even further to hell in a hand basket there will be a purging… When Americans can’t say “Merry Christmas” because good is bad and once they can’t store more than seven days worth of food because good is bad and once they can’t own a gun because good is bad….. There will be a purging of the bad by the good!!!!! So lets pull together and re-elect this looser…. OBAMA2012!!!!! yahooooooooo
Congressman Ron Paul early on the Republican presidential candidate debates said that if elected President, he would voluntarily reduce his salary from the current $400,000 to $39,336 – the median salary of an American worker. I doubt him and his wife if elected as our next president would rack a bill this high for us to pay for.
no no nooooooo!!!
I didn’t vote for obama last time but this time I am gonna vote for him…. I think he is the best thing for America in recent history… WONDERFUL!!! 4 more years and this country will be purged of a corrupt congress and senate because the people are gonna purge every politician out by civil war…. There will be unrest like never seen in America. Because now Americans believe that good is bad and bad is good. Once this country goes even further to hell in a hand basket there will be a purging… When Americans can’t say “Merry Christmas” because good is bad and once they can’t store more than seven days worth of food because good is bad and once they can’t own a gun because good is bad….. There will be a purging of the bad by the good!!!!! So lets pull together and re-elect this person…. OBAMA2012!!!!! yahooooooooo
[…] (Hawaii Reporter) Secret Service has arrived, street barricades are in place and the U.S. Coast Guard has stationed itself in the waters around Kailua, Hawaii […]
[…] week, the Hawaii Reporter estimated the entire cost of the vacation for both Obamas – should he ever arrive – at more than $4 […]
HUH!!!
[…] 19, 2011 by The Crescat… and got one of those cushy gummit jobs with 22 hour work weeks and vacation perks."Lemme tell ya, them guys ain't dumb" About The Crescat Mackerel Snapping Papist […]
[…] – the expected total cost to the US taxpayer of the Obama Christmas family vacation to Hawaii according to the Hawaii Reporter (hat tip: Rob Bluey at The Foundry). This is an astonishing amount of public money to be […]
I agree!!!!!!
I didn’t vote for obama last time but this time I am gonna vote for him…. I think he is the best thing for America in recent history… WONDERFUL!!! 4 more years and this country will be purged of a corrupt congress and senate because the people are gonna purge every politician out by civil war…. There will be unrest like never seen in America. Because now Americans believe that good is bad and bad is good. Once this country goes even further to hell in a hand basket there will be a purging… When Americans can’t say “Merry Christmas” because good is bad and once they can’t store more than seven days worth of food because good is bad and once they can’t own a gun because good is bad….. There will be a purging of the bad by the good!!!!! So lets pull together and re-elect this person…. OBAMA2012!!!!! yahooooooooo
This is costing every American taxpayer… 2-1/2 cents.
[…] me make it simple: President Obama’s job description does not include “$4 million holiday trips to Hawaii.“ Considering he bungled this entire situation in the first place by deciding to play games […]
I expect more from Hawaii Reporter, your supposed “research” is nothing more than a cut and paste from an article on The Blaze website. A website owned by Glenn Beck to further his country dividing drivel. If you are going to plagiarize from the someone’s psychobabble of faulty and unsubstantiated guestimates parading as “research”, then at least attribute such to the original source.
Some of those costs are fixed costs that taxpayers will pay for no matter where the President spend his vacations. The job of POTUS is the toughest one in the World and no matter who was/is President, the one thing I have never been critical of is the need for a President to vacation where he chooses to.
This is yellow journalism at it’s worst – and for it to be part of Hawaii Reporter is disgraceful and beneath what I have come to expect from Hawaii Reporter. I hope for the good of your reputation you will seriously consider (and investigate) how and where you get your information. More importantly, how you choose to package it to your readers in an open and honest way.
[…] million, this year’s trip, which is set to last 17 days, is indeed the priciest, according to the Hawaiian Reporter, due to the president’s separate arrival, and the family’s extended […]
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