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."
Income equality?
Will they do it?
Nah. They'll fight tooth and nail like they always do.
sorry, my comment was meant for SeekandFind
I have been independent since carter/reagan. can’t remember what year that was.
Isn’t that nice?..........No cola increase for those on SS, medicare when up and my husbands SS went down down a little.
No his SS was not that big to begin with.
One wonders whatever happened to "shared sacrifice", eh what?
That has to be approved by Congress.
Will they do it?
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...(breathe)hahahahahahahahahah(breathe, breathe...Oh God my sides hurt!)hahahahahahaha.
They give him everything he wants and not one penny more all the time.
Agree! They are there to “serve”, not to be served.
It should be by direct vote of the public, each time it comes up.
Hardly half-a-vacation or Michelle-momma-and-the-girls...
Why would he stop after he leaves?
Correct me if I'm wrong but there are currently three former presidents. In January 2017 there will be four. Don't they have to increase the budget based on headcount alone?
I agree that a President making millions shouldn’t be paid this huge “pension” or whatever it is called. BUT - I wonder if then the liberals will turn it around and say “Well then SS benefits should be means-tested as well. Why are all these millionaires getting SS benefits!?”
.
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Oblivious to the fact that those millionaires paid into the system at the point of a gun with the assurance that they would get a SS benefit at the end.
“Leftys with gold plated health care seem to live almost forever (Soros, Castro, Carter, etc).”
Satan takes care of his own.
Until he doesn’t.
Whoa...easy there.
Since there will be 5 former presidents in 2017 versus 4 now, he could have tried to justify a 25% increase in spending under the Former Presidents Act.
This link shows how the money is currently allocated. It shows that all the ex-presidents receive the same pension, although there are more total expenditures for the more recent former presidents.
That has to be approved by Congress. Will they do it?
Very likely. The money is already authorized under the current law. They could adjust that law before they vote on the budget.
This actually is not a pay raise for Obama personally.
Heck. My husband and I own our own business and neither of us has taken a pay check in 5 years. We seem to be operating as a welfare program for our employees.
I have a sign around my office in the basement somewhere.
“This is a non-profit organization.
.
.
It wasn’t supposed to be, but....”
Never.
Unfortunately.
She will double-down on this deal and bring it over the $1,000,000 mark.
--then both of the money-grubbing bastids will add another mountain of tax-payer cash to to the ocean of green they will be swimming in.
This is reaching nightmare levels for a system that purports to be a democratic Republic.
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