White House Staffers Receive Salary Hikes

Thursday, July 8, 2010 1:10 PM by Julie Borowski

Last week, the White House released the salary data of 469 of their employees. During Obama’s first day of office, he instituted a pay freeze for top White House staff members making more than $100,000 a year. Unfortunately, the pay freeze did not apply to all White House staffers. The released salary data ranged from $0 to $172,200 with low-level staffers receiving some notable salary hikes. It is interesting to note that the salary information does not separate full time and part time employees - The Daily Caller reports that only two full time employees make less than $40,000. In fact, the lowest paid full time White House employee makes $37,826. Back in 2008, staffers received far more modest salaries—a total of 85 staffers made below $38,000 annually.

Keep in mind, the national unemployment rate still hovers around 10 percent, with businesses facing the largest tax hike in history unlikely to start hiring anytime soon. While 625,000 people gave up looking for work this past month, they are still on the hook to fund the accelerating costs of federal salaries. Obama seems to have kept his promise of freezing pay for top staffers, but if Washington is truly serious about “tightening their belts” these pay freezes should apply to all White House staffers. As we saw with Congress last month, however, politicians are much more likely to pay lip service to the idea of cutting spending than actually institute reform when it comes to the tax dollars lining their own pockets.

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