Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm abused American taxpayers with her 2023 publicity-stunt trip road trip in an electric vehicle, an inspector general said Wednesday, dinging her team for overselling their actual expenses on some travel vouchers and choosing expensive hotels when cheaper ones were available.

All told, 36 of the 42 travel vouchers submitted for the trip exceeded the government’s daily allowance for expenses, the inspector general said.

Some travelers also failed to use their government-issued charge cards, costing Uncle Sam the 2% rebate rate usually paid out on government expenses.

The actual loss in rebates — $51 — may have been small, but Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who asked for the audit, said it was the symbolism of waste.

“This publicity stunt not only illustrates how out of touch the Biden administration is with the consequences of its policies, but came at the expense of American taxpayers,” said Mr. Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

Ms. Granholm led a caravan of electric vehicles on a four-day trip through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee in the fall of 2023. She wanted to highlight the massive amount of taxpayer funding that President Biden is pouring into his green energy plans, including promoting use of electric vehicles.

The trip was somewhat embarrassing at the time, as her caravan ran into problems finding enough charging stations while on the road. In one incident, police were called on one of her staffers who had blocked a charging station to try to reserve it for Ms. Granholm’s arrival.

The aftermath of the trip was also rough after Mr. Comer began to look into the expense and whether Ms. Granholm’s team broke expensing rules for the $124,823.94 in travel vouchers submitted.

The inspector general said Mr. Comer was onto something.

Nearly every voucher went above the government’s allotted per diem rate, for a total of $9,487.50 over budget.

That included one traveler who was reimbursed $339 for a stay in Atlanta, more than double the per diem rate.

“Travelers could have chosen different nearby hotels to reduce travel costs at the government’s expense; however, department officials mentioned difficulties finding hotels with functioning EV chargers onsite or nearby,” the inspector general said.

Officials are allowed to exceed per diem rates when “mission requirements” demand it, investigators said. But they said they found plenty of options that would have worked, if Ms. Granholm’s team had worked a little harder on behalf of taxpayers.

“We found that there were nearby hotels at each location where travelers could have inquired about government per diem rates or lower than those of the selected hotels with EV chargers. In fact, we identified numerous alternative hotels in each of the four states which were less than a mile away from the chosen hotels,” the inspector general said.

Christopher Davis, Ms. Granholm’s chief of staff, said the trip was complicated and required sacrifices.

“As the department explained to the OIG, plans change often, quickly and at the last minute. Flexibility is paramount and time is at a premium, while at the same time some security and logistical considerations are non-negotiable,” Mr. Davis said in the department’s official response to the report.

Mr. Davis acknowledged that travelers regularly exceeded the per diem rate. But he said it was permissible because the decisions furthered the trip’s objectives.

He did confirm that employees tipped too much on some meals, going beyond the 15% rate. The damage was $22.49. Mr. Davis said the department has warned those employees of the 15% rule.

As for the employees who didn’t use their government-issued charge cards, Mr. Davis said they seem to have forgotten them at home. He said they took “appropriate” action — though he admitted the government lost out on $51 in rebates.

Mr. Davis said the department would agree to both of the inspector general’s recommendations to conduct refresher training and prod bean counters to conduct stricter scrutiny of travel expenses.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.