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Hotel, Cars for Biden’s Thanksgiving Trip to Italy and Croatia Cost $307,118

Meetings in Zagreb, Thanksgiving in Rome

AP
November 25, 2015

Hotel rooms and car service for Vice President Joe Biden’s Thanksgiving trip to Rome and Croatia cost over $300,000, according to recently released government contracts.

The vice president, his wife, Jill, and other relatives are spending the holiday abroad. Biden is first making a stop in Zagreb, Croatia, for meetings, before heading to Italy on Wednesday.

The State Department issued four contracts for hotel rooms in Rome from Nov. 25 to Nov. 29, for a total cost of $208,582.

The government also spent $7,676 for "ambulance support" for Biden’s Rome trip.

For the Croatia leg of the trip, the government issued multiple contracts for car services.

Contracts were issued for car service in Croatia costing $23,997, along with $24,541 for Atlas vehicle rental, and $21,453 for taxi service.

Four additional contracts were issued for vehicle rentals in Croatia, in the amounts of $7,849, $862, $5,014, and $7,144.

The total tab for hotels and car contracts released for the trip thus far is $307,118.

The vice president will be in Rome from Wednesday evening until Sunday, with two meetings scheduled on Friday.

"In Rome, the Vice President will meet with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi," according to the White House press office. "Afterwards, the Vice President will hold a bilateral meeting with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States of the Holy See."

The New York Times reported that the Bidens and "some other relatives" are spending the holiday in Rome to avoid their usual family gathering in Nantucket because of the recent death of the vice-president’s son, Beau.