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The Department of Homeland Security has signed a $172 million contract to buy two top-of-the-line private jets for use by Secretary Kristi Noem and other leaders, reports say, amid a lengthy government shutdown threatening crucial services for everyday Americans.
The purchase is for two Gulfstream G700 jets, which are advertised by the company as planes with the “most spacious cabin in the industry,” the New York Times reported. A record of the sale, by the Coast Guard, was posted on the government’s federal procurement website on Friday.
The Washington Post also reported on the sale, but cited documents saying that the sale totalled $200 million.
The jets are slated to be used by Noem, who has faced scrutiny for her frequent use of Coast Guard resources, and other top DHS officials, the agency said in a statement on the purchase.
“These aircraft are required to provide official travel for the secretary of homeland security, deputy secretary homeland security, commandant of the Coast Guard, vice commandant and Atlantic and Pacific commanders as specified by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Department of Homeland Security policy,” the agency wrote.
However, in a post on X, the agency said that the Times’s headline was false, contradicting its own statement.
“More LIES from the failing @nytimes! These government planes are for the brave men and women of the @USCG. The NYT wants our leaders to be incapable of responding to national emergencies while in the air, leaving DHS to be without leadership anytime the secretary is airborne,” DHS’s account wrote.
Democrats have sharply criticized the purchase, which comes amid one of the longest government shutdowns in history, which has left thousands of federal employees in limbo and is threatening to take away food benefits for millions of women and children.
Two House Democrats have requested more information on the purchase in a letter, and Rep. Bennie Thompson (Mississippi), the top Democrat on the House Committee on Homeland Security said the purchase is “wholly inappropriate” and “completely vile” amid the shutdown.
“Such spending is blatantly immoral — and probably illegal — and Congress must investigate,” Thompson said.
Because Noem has reportedly implemented a much criticized policy that she must personally approve any purchase, contract, or grant over $100,000, Noem has presumably personally signed off on the jet purchase.
It’s unclear where the funds for the jets came from. In Republicans’ budget bill earlier this year, $50 million was appropriated for a new jet for the Coast Guard for Noem’s personal use. Noem defended the purchase in a press conference on Monday, saying that it was paid for by the appropriated funds in the budget bill. However, the updated purchase well exceeds that figure.
The department has said that the purchase is necessary to ensure equipment is up-to-date, but the Coast Guard has a wide variety of equipment not related to Noem’s travel that needs replacing, as critics have noted. The secretary is frequently criticized for her frequent travel to other countries for photo ops. She has also faced scrutiny for reports that she is living rent-free in a large, waterfront home that’s typically not used by the homeland security secretary, but rather by the Coast Guard’s top admiral. Typically, if Cabinet secretaries live in military housing, they pay rent, reports say.
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