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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

How Much Did that 'Air Force One' Photo Op Cost?

Besides almost creating a panic in NYC and maybe some heart attacks, how much did this AF1 maneuver cost taxpayers?

ABC News - April 28, 2009
"Another way you could have done that picture -- Photoshop!" fumed Jon Stewart last night on The Daily Show, satirizing the "Air Force One" photo op that caused a Manhattan panic yesterday.
"Air Force One flight over NYC, how much $ did it cost the taxpayers?" tweeted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., this morning. "Stay tuned..."
We don't yet know how much this photo op cost, but this March 2006 report -- "THE COST OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL POLITICAL TRAVEL" -- prepared for Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., then the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, "assumes that flight operating costs are $56,518 per hour for Air Force One," a figure "based on the per-hour cost figures cited by GAO for fiscal year 2000, adjusted for inflation."

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