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What is the breakdown of costs for Biden's Delaware trips?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows multiple, overlapping tallies of the costs tied to President Biden’s trips to Delaware: Judicial Watch’s partial Secret Service records list $2.25 million in Secret Service travel costs through August 2021 (including detailed hotel, car rental and air/rail line items) [1], while media analyses and Freedom of Information disclosures and reporting have produced higher aggregates — commonly cited figures are about $3 million for early 2021 Secret Service costs [2] [3] and at least $11 million when Air Force One/Marine One operating costs and other travel-support costs are included in later estimates [4] [5]. Local Delaware government reporting shows counties sought and received reimbursements (e.g., New Castle County received $930,859.47 for FY2021 protection costs) that reflect another slice of the bill [6].
1. What the Secret Service records show — hotels, cars, air/rail
Judicial Watch obtained Secret Service travel records that itemize costs for trips to Delaware and other domestic locations through August 8, 2021, and reports $2,252,600.50 in Secret Service travel costs; individual trip breakdowns list hotels, car rentals and air/rail travel — for example, one multi-trip block (Jan 20–Jun 4, 2021) shows $1,125,646.50 in hotels, $10,893.40 in car rentals and $159,966.28 in air/rail for a $1,296,506.18 subtotal [1]. Other specific trip totals in those records include $203,189.91 and $219,157.39 for individual Wilmington visits [1].
2. Shorter, earlier tallies and the “$3 million” figure
Early media accounts and compilations amplified Secret Service totals and reported nearly $3 million in Secret Service expenses for a set of 25 or 77 days in 2021; The New York Post and secondary outlets circulated that $3 million figure, which has been cited by conservative commentators and websites as the Secret Service-only subtotal for many of Biden’s early Delaware visits [2] [3]. Those pieces stress that the Secret Service line items are only part of the cost picture [2].
3. Why estimates jump to ~$11 million — adding aircraft and other support
Analyses that reach a figure of about $11 million (commonly attributed to Fox News and repeated in subsequent reporting) expand beyond Secret Service lodging/car/rail spending to include Air Force One and Marine One operating costs, additional helicopter activity, DoD support and other travel-related costs; one report summarized that Air Force One operating expenses and Marine One use pushed the total much higher and estimated roughly $11 million through November 2022 [4] [5]. Credit/assumptions vary: some outlets use published per-hour operating costs for Air Force One and count number of flights to build their totals [7].
4. Local/state costs and reimbursements — another piece of the ledger
Delaware localities also bear and track costs: Delaware Online documented that New Castle County requested and received federal reimbursements — $930,859.47 for the fiscal year ending 2021 and $739,222.96 for the next year — reflecting local overtime and protection costs tied to presidential visits; Sussex County has handled paramedic staffing differently and has not always sought reimbursement [6]. Reporting also flagged uncovered local fuel bills (about $400,000 referenced for one year) and strains on troopers and local resources [8].
5. Conflicting emphases, incomplete records and political frames
The various totals reflect different scopes and data sources: Judicial Watch’s FOIA-obtained Secret Service records [1] provide granular trip-level line items but cover only some records through mid‑2021; conservative outlets and opinion pieces emphasize the Secret Service-only totals or compare them to past presidents [2] [3], while other analysts add Air Force One/Marine One operating costs to reach the larger ~$11 million figure [4] [5]. Several pieces note that the Air Force and Secret Service have not released comprehensive operating-cost records for all travel components, creating unavoidable gaps in any full accounting [1] [2].
6. What reporting does not (yet) show — limits in current disclosures
Available sources do not provide a single, government‑issued comprehensive ledger that aggregates Secret Service lodging/car/rail spending, Air Force/Marine One operating hours and costs, DOD support, and local overtime/fuel outlays for the entire span of Biden’s presidency; Judicial Watch’s records cover part of 2021 and media estimates thereafter use different methods and assumptions to estimate aircraft operating costs [1] [7]. Where sources say records are missing — e.g., the Air Force’s operating-cost responses — reporting cites that absence as a reason estimates diverge [1] [2].
7. Bottom line for readers
If you want a narrowly defined, document-backed subtotal: use the Judicial Watch/Secret Service disclosures for line-item Secret Service travel costs ($2.25 million through Aug. 2021 with detailed hotel/car/air entries) [1]. If you want a broader, policy-level estimate that includes aircraft operating hours and other support, contemporary media analyses have produced figures in the single-digit to low-double-digit millions (commonly cited as ~$11 million through late 2022), but those depend on assumptions about aircraft-hour costs and incomplete federal disclosures [4] [5] [7].