$100+K for Biden’s USDA to Attend UN Climate Conference?

How did Sec. Vilsack alone spend nearly $20K over five days … in Azerbaijan?

As a Secretary of State, a jet-setting private environmentalist, and as Joe Biden’s “Special Presidential Envoy for Climate,” John Kerry never seemed to let his green convictions nudge aside his VIP perks. And neither, it seems, did Biden’s Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. 

Secretary Vilsack led a 14-member delegation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the United Nations Climate Conference known as COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024, after the U.S. Presidential election. According to documents obtained by federal government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), the junket cost was $103,881. Secretary Vilsack alone racked up $19,274 over five days. 

On the other hand, most of the attendees spent far less – around $5,000, perhaps more in line with what one might expect in Baku.

Ironically, Vilsack went to Baku to talk about wasted money. A USDA press release said that Vilsack “highlighted four years of progress and historic investments made under the Biden-Harris Administration to position U.S. agriculture and forestry as climate leaders, develop innovative climate solutions, and build climate-smart markets to provide new revenue streams for rural communities.” The price tag is jaw dropping. Secretary Vilsack announced that the United States’ investment [in an international environmental program called AIM for Climate] has topped $4.3 billion, with nearly $4 billion coming from USDA.” Elsewhere, he boasted that USDA’s “investments” under the Inflation Reduction Act were nearly $40 billion. 

So, he may be forgiven for believing that dropping nearly $20,000 on an excursion to talk about billions spent on climate didn’t amount to much.

“Secretary Vilsack spent over $100,000 of taxpayer money to send himself and 13 colleagues to Azerbaijan, $20,000 on himself alone, to brag about the tens of billions in taxpayer funds his agency spent on other countries during his tenure,” said PPT Director Michael Chamberlain. “Mind you, this was after he knew that the American public had opted to change direction away from the programs he was promoting. Yet another reason why trust in government virtually disappeared during the administration he served.”

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