Posted on 03/18/2016 10:50:13 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
While Americans are suffering in the Obama economy, President Barack Obama is seeking to increase the money available to him after he leaves the White House.
The Congressional Research Service reports that for requests for both 2016 and 2017 fiscal years, Obama's proposed federal budget would expand funding through the Former Presidents Act. In 2017 alone, Obama wants nearly an 18% hike in expenditures… $588,000. That means $3.865,000 in appropriations will be available to spend on former Presidents!
The 2016 proposed budget includes an additional $25,000 increase.
The Former Presidents Act, enacted in 1958, provides living former presidents with a pension, office staff and support, funds for travel, Secret Service protection, and mailing privileges. It also provides benefits for presidential spouses. Currently, former presidents are awarded a pension equal to the salary of cabinet secretaries, which totaled $203,700 for the 2015 calendar year and was boosted by $2,000 for the current calendar year.
Critics of the act argue that it financially supports former presidents who are not struggling. Many of them, alternatively, have gone on to profit from writing books about their time in the White House or delivering paid speaking engagements.
Former President Bill Clinton, for example, earned $132 million for delivering paid speeches between February 2001 and March 2015, according to an analysis from CNN. Clinton received $924,000 in taxpayer dollars last year by way of the Former Presidents Act.
Republicans in the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would cap annual pensions for former presidents at $200,000. Additionally, the bills would cut each pension by a dollar for every dollar the former president earns over $400,000 in the private sector in a given year. The measure was approved by the House in January with bipartisan support.
"It's pretty simple. You want a retirement and pension, it's there. But if you're going to go out and make enormous sums of money, then you don't need taxpayer subsidies," Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), who introduced the bill in the House, told ABC News in an interview.
"The former presidents are making gobs of money speaking and writing books, more power to them, but that doesn’t mean they need more taxpayer dollars on top of that," Chaffetz added. "It's embarrassing that they take that money."
That has to be approved by Congress.
Will they do it?
....because he never has enough of YOUR money.
Poor baby. His wife and daughters have grown accustomed to wearing those $20,000 gowns and expensive vacations. He’s got to figure out some way of paying for all that after he’s off the government teat.
Poor baby. His wife and daughters have grown accustomed to wearing those $20,000 gowns and expensive vacations. He’s got to figure out some way of paying for all that after he’s off the government teat.
At least the GOPe controls the House and Senate so they can block this outrageous budget request. /s
WHEN WILL THIS GUY BE IMPEACHED?????
They should get $0.
You don’t run for President to secure a retirement plan.
Once you served, your usefulness is over. We don’t need all these former Kings running around creating problems.
I’m all for it. I’ll go 10x that. But any income the Obama’s make (books, speeches, lobbying, etc) reduces that amount. And if they make even more they have to start paying secret service and any other benefits they get.
Or better yet, don’t allow presidents or spouses to make any more money ever. Pay for them to live the kingly life the Obama’s want but don’t allow them to sell the status they got from being president.
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Suckers.
I wish the Bushes would say that they don’t want it, but I won’t hold my breath waiting for them to criticize 0bama.
Obama - the grift that continues to swindle... Worse than Jimmy Carter; not only do we have to hear his inane utterances for the next few decades, we have to pay him with cash to torture us.
Hey now. As long as moochie gets to keep her 22 “servants”, uh, I mean coordinaters/aids/social media controllers.
They sure will. The communists empire of Democrats and Republicans will enhance their pockets whenever they can. Raise King Obama means that to follow they will raise there own pockets. And that will happen before King Obama leaves office.
Trump for President.
This is kind of like a national divorce settlement. The taxpayers are then required to pay support to these freeloaders in order that they can continue in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
This should only be available to presidents who are no longer capable of making an income on their own. Clinton gets $500,000 every time he opens his mouth and he is probably on a thousand board of directors of companies getting a six figure salary just for having his name on the prospectus sheets.
This law was originally designed to keep presidents out of the poor house, not to keep them in luxury.
It can’t be: he’s the commander in chief and retirees were told there was no inflation so their pay remains this year the same as last year.
He told social security there was no inflation, so their pay remains the same.
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING
This guy is one of the worst humans on the planet. I have lived through some bad presidents but this one takes the cake.
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