Obama to give back 5% of his salary

[FaxModem1]

CNN

Obama will give up portion of his salary
Posted by
CNN White House Producer Becky Brittain

(CNN) - President Barack Obama will put 5% of his paycheck back into the federal government's coffers in a show of unity with furloughed federal workers, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.

Obama, whose $400,000 annual salary is set in law and can't officially be changed, will write a check made out to the U.S. treasury every month beginning in April. Since the mandatory across-the-board spending cuts went into effect March 1, his payment for last month will be paid retroactively.

"The President has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government that are affected by the sequester, he will contribute a portion of his salary back to the Treasury," Carney said in a statement. "He instructed his staff he wanted to do this when the sequester took effect."

On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced he was giving up the portion of his salary that would have been cut if he had been subject to the same work furlough as thousands of department personnel under the mandatory federal budget cuts. Hagel, who earns $199,700 annually, will write a check to the Treasury for up to 14 days of salary, according to Pentagon press secretary George Little.

As a Cabinet official confirmed by the Senate, Hagel is not subject to the furlough. But Little said Hagel decided to give the equivalent of his furloughed pay to show his support for his workforce. Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter had already announced he was doing the same thing in the weeks before Hagel was confirmed.

On Monday, Carney announced that nearly 500 furlough notices have gone out to administration employees in reaction to the forced government spending cuts known as sequestration.

"The White House is one of eleven components of the Executive Office of the President which is indeed, as we have said, subject to the sequester," Carney said. "Within the Executive Office of the President, several offices have sent furlough notices to their staff, including to 480 employees of the Office of Management and Budget."

According to estimates released when the budget cuts went into effect on March 1, OMB must cut $7 million from the $89 million remaining in its annual budget. Other departments within the EOP have thus far been successful in reducing spending in ways that have avoided the need for furloughs, Carney said, but "additional furloughs as well as pay cuts remain possibilities for additional White House employees."

Thoughts?

[Flagg]

I like the sentiment but why not the 20% that federal workers are going to be docked due to furloughs?

[The Xeelee]

Useless. This puts not hardship on him like it will others.

[DieselJester]

Either way, its good to see a politician doing that for once. Do any of you see any member of Congress following suit?

[Broomstick]

I have more respect for someone who is willing to do whatever is asked of his subordinates. Instead of hiding behind the dodge of "my salary can't legally be changed" these guys have voluntarily given up some income.

Now let's twist the collective arms of Congress to do the same.

[DieselJester]

Actually, it looks like one senator already has followed suit. I stand corrected:

http://www.kinyradio.com/juneaunews/lat ... _news.html

Begich furloughing staff amid budget cuts
BECKY BOHRER,Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Sen. Mark Begich's office says Begich is furloughing more than half his staff and giving up part of his salary due to automatic budget cuts known as the sequester.

Begich is the lone member of Alaska's congressional delegation to furlough staff amid the cuts. Begich also has the highest number of staff among the three-member delegation.

Spokeswoman Heather Handyside said 26 of Begich's 41 staff will be furloughed for at least two days. Staff have until the end of September to take their furloughs.

Handyside said that if staff are furloughed for two days, Begich will give back two days' worth of his $174,000 salary.

Begich, in a statement, said there's no reason that members of Congress shouldn't feel the financial pinch, like anyone else.

[spaceviking]

Useless. This puts not hardship on him like it will others.

Are you trying to sound like a fortune cookie?

[Rogue 9]

Hilarity: One of my coworkers (mis)heard this on the radio this morning when the anchor said he was giving back part of his salary to "share the sacrifice" of government furloughs, and excitedly started telling everyone how evil the President is because he was giving 5% of his salary to a foreign country.

[Scrib]

Meaningless theatrics. I hardly think that the President is feeling the same pinch as other federal workers,especially at five percent. But it's Obama, his political moves end up being touching for some reason.

[Mr Bean]

Meaningless theatrics. I hardly think that the President is feeling the same pinch as other federal workers,especially at five percent. But it's Obama, his political moves end up being touching for some reason.

Yeah give back 50% and we can talk. Otherwise I'd call this insulting. A empty gesture can be worse than no gesture at all. If I thought Obama gave a shit about government workers his freeze on government pay while leaving contractor pay untouched could have convinced me otherwise.

[The Xeelee]

Useless. This puts not hardship on him like it will others.

Are you trying to sound like a fortune cookie?

No I am trying to sound like someone who thinks this isn a dick move. It is easy to give up 5% of your salary when you are already wealthy. This is an empty political gesture.

[Lagmonster]

No I am trying to sound like someone who thinks this is a dick move. It is easy to give up 5% of your salary when you are already wealthy. This is an empty political gesture.

If you drop a quarter into a Salvation Army bowl, did you notice that they say thank you, rather than kicking you in the nuts and calling you a dickhead for making a shallow gesture of charity, and demanding you immediately cut them a check for a significant portion of your salary 'if you really want to show you care'?

[Stark]

They don't call the TV station for reporters, either. :V

[The Xeelee]

No I am trying to sound like someone who thinks this is a dick move. It is easy to give up 5% of your salary when you are already wealthy. This is an empty political gesture.

If you drop a quarter into a Salvation Army bowl, did you notice that they say thank you, rather than kicking you in the nuts and calling you a dickhead for making a shallow gesture of charity, and demanding you immediately cut them a check for a significant portion of your salary 'if you really want to show you care'?

But doing so doesnt get you anything, you do it out of kindness, he has done this for purely political reasons, and trying to pass it off as selfless. It's not that it's "only" a small amount to him, it's that he's trying to pass it off as bein in solidarity with the others who's pay is getting cut.

[Lagmonster]

But doing so doesnt get you anything, you do it out of kindness, he has done this for purely political reasons, and trying to pass it off as selfless. It's not that it's "only" a small amount to him, it's that he's trying to pass it off as bein in solidarity with the others who's pay is getting cut.

Okay, so, you're cynical of the honesty of his motivations. That's different from saying what he did was 'a dick move'. A 'dick move' would be him brandishing a single penny, and offering to stick it up the ass of any whiner who didn't like his pay cut.

Which, admit it, as altruistic as I'm sure you are, you would SO grin if you watched him do that on live television.

[gigabytelord]

Which, admit it, as altruistic as I'm sure you are, you would SO grin if you watched him do that on live television.

I know I sure as hell would.

[Patroklos]

If I remember correclty Cheney gave away something like 77-78% of his income to charity when VP. Granted that still left him with a over a million a year in his pocket, but thats still a hell of a lot of money and a much better number to play with if you are trying to make headlines. Thats all of Cheney's income though, this 5% is only Obama's state salary, he donated 14% of his overall income to charity in 2010 (which still left him with over a million in income just like Cheney).

I saw some sources that had Clinton at around 10% a year when he was president, Bush was slightly lower. Neither Clinton or Bush had nearly the level of income Obama does (primarily due to his books), so their take home after giving was far less than Obama.

So 5% is a joke as far as the stated purpose and he could have given back far more and still been a 1%er, but add in his charitable giving he is not exactly hording his dollars for money bin swimming even if he is not the most generous PRES/VP in history.

[Scrib]

No I am trying to sound like someone who thinks this is a dick move. It is easy to give up 5% of your salary when you are already wealthy. This is an empty political gesture.

If you drop a quarter into a Salvation Army bowl, did you notice that they say thank you, rather than kicking you in the nuts and calling you a dickhead for making a shallow gesture of charity, and demanding you immediately cut them a check for a significant portion of your salary 'if you really want to show you care'?

The Salvation Army is taking what it can because it's a charity not to make a political statement/ I can see how people can find it silly that the President cutting 5% of his salary is supposed to be a sign of him being one with them. It's not the same at all.

[Flagg]

He's also not donating the money to some charity who does god knows what with it, he's giving it to the treasury to do god knows what with it.

[Broomstick]

The point wasn't to give to charity, it was to reduce his paycheck by the same percentage some other Federal workers were being asked to do so (the ones getting furlough days, obviously not the ones getting pink slips). If you think that's an insignificant amount well, the other workers getting furlough days aren't losing anything more than that, either. The point was to make the same sacrifice, not a greater one.

[The Xeelee]

The point is it isn't proportionately the same, it is less. It makes a lower impact on him than it does on the others.

[Broomstick]

If the furloughed employees are losing 5% of their annual salary and Obama is giving back 5% of his salary how is that "proportionally less"? You did pass basic math, didn't you?

[spaceviking]

Useless. This puts not hardship on him like it will others.

Are you trying to sound like a fortune cookie?

No I am trying to sound like someone who thinks this isn a dick move. It is easy to give up 5% of your salary when you are already wealthy. This is an empty political gesture.

I was referring to the awkward phrasing.

[Zaune]

If the furloughed employees are losing 5% of their annual salary and Obama is giving back 5% of his salary how is that "proportionally less"? You did pass basic math, didn't you?

I think the point he's trying to make is that Obama can afford to lose 5% of his annual salary a whole hell of a lot less than your average federal employee can. Come to think of it, I suspect a lot of the people these budget cuts are affecting weren't even making 5% of his annual salary to start with!

[Losonti Tokash]

Well, clearly the president should have not given up any of it all, rather than attempting a show of solidarity with workers who are being adversely affected by idiotic budget cuts he's been trying to prevent.