It’s only March, but Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is off on his third vacation the year.
Mr. Biden and wife Jill arrived at Kiawah Island off South Carolina on Thursday evening, with plans to stay five days, the Associated Press reported.
That follows last month’s trip to Snowmass, Colo., where the vice president vacationed over the President’s Day three-day weekend.
And before that, it was the Virgin Islands, White House Dossier reports. Mr. Biden and his family vacationed there from Jan. 4 through Jan. 8.
The Bidens are not planning any public events while they’re in South Carolina, the AP reported. Mr. Biden spent a weeklong vacation on Kiawah Island in 2009.
And he’s scheduled to return in May to headline the annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner, a fundraiser that the South Carolina Democratic Party is holding in Columbia.
Mr. Biden’s latest vacation is drawing fire from conservative pundits.
“Biden’s trip is the latest episode in a bout of rampant vacationing by the First and Second Families, who have been roaring out of Washington this year on taxpayer-funded excursions even as the deficit mounts and the sequester axes jobs,” Ken Koffler writes in the White House Dossier, a partisan watchdog.
The president and Mr, Biden do pay for some costs associated with their travel. But “the bulk of the costs, including flights aboard Air Force One and Air Force Two and security and staff needs, are billed to taxpayers,” Mr. Koffler added.
Supporters note that the president and vice president can’t simply hop in the car for a quick getaway weekend, pointing out the security entourage and transport requirements comes with their positions - much like former President George W. Bush during his frequent trips to his Texas ranch.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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