Hilton Worldwide

COMMENTARY:
The news this week that the Justice Department had been caught spending $16 a piece for breakfast muffins and $8 for a cup of coffee for employees attending a conference in Washington two years ago was as stunning for its apparent extravagance as it was for the avalanche of criticism that quickly followed.

Within hours after The Washington Post, among other media outlets, pronounced word of the offense in a front page story Wednesday, based on a Justice Department auditor’s report, President Obama and Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew had ordered federal agencies to conduct a thorough review of how taxpayer dollars are being spent on conferences. Keep reading →