“When Seema Verma, the Trump administration’s top Medicaid official, went to a reporter’s home in November 2018 for a ‘Girl’s Night’ thrown in her honor, taxpayers footed the bill to organize the event: $2,933.”
“When Verma wrote an op-ed on Fox News’ website that fall, touting President Donald Trump’s changes to Obamacare, taxpayers got charged for one consultant’s price to place it: $977.”
“And when consultants spent months promoting Verma to win awards like Washingtonian magazine’s ‘Most Powerful Women in Washington’ and appear on high-profile panels, taxpayers got billed for that too: more than $13,000.”
“The efforts were steered by Pam Stevens, a Republican communications consultant and former Trump administration official working to raise the brand of Verma, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The prices were the amount a consulting company billed the government for her services, based on her invoices, which were obtained by congressional Democrats.”
“They are among the revelations included in a sweeping congressional investigation chronicling how Verma spent more than $3.5 million on a range of GOP-connected consultants, who polished her public profile, wrote her speeches and Twitter posts, brokered meetings with high-profile individuals — and even billed taxpayers for connecting Verma with fellow Republicans in Congress…” Read the full article here.
Source: $2,933 for ‘Girl’s Night’: Medicaid chief’s consulting expenses revealed – By Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn, September 10, 2020. POLITICO.
