House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Wednesday he intends to take commercial flights home when he moves up to speaker in the new Congress. “Over the last 20 years, I have flown back and forth to my district on commercial aircraft, and I am going to continue to do that,” he told reporters.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, took heat in 2007 when she started flying an Air Force jet that could go nonstop back to her congressional district in California.
Her Republican predecessor from Illinois, Denny Hastert, had begun using an Air Force jet as speaker because of the increased security after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
House Deputy Sergeant of Arms Kerri Hanley said officials there had approved the decision of Boehner, the presumed new speaker in the new Congress, to fly commercially, both to his district and to other locations in the country.
“Based on the current security assessment, the sergeant of arms is comfortable with him traveling commercially,” Hanley said.
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