http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/...p-5-of-salary-in-wake-of-sequester-cuts?lite= Obama to give up 5% of salary in wake of 'sequester' cuts By Kristen Welker, White House Correspondent, NBC News President Obama will return 5 percent of his salary to the U.S. Treasury when other federal workers are being furloughed as part of the mandatory budget cuts that took effect earlier this year, NBC News has confirmed. The New York Times, which broke this story, adds: The voluntary move would be retroactive to March 1 and apply through the rest of the calendar year, the official said. The White House came up with the 5 percent figure to approximate the level of automatic spending cuts to non-defense federal agencies that took effect that day. “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,” [an administration] official said. A White House aide tells NBC's Chuck Todd that the salary for the president, as with members of Congress, is set by law and cannot be changed. However, the president has decided that to share in the sacrifice being made by public servants across the federal government, he will contribute a portion of his salary back to the Treasury. Guidance on how this will work: The president will contribute 5 percent of his full annual salary by writing a check to the Treasury every month. This will be effective March 1, but the president will cut the first check this month.
IMO Obama will use this as part of his rhetoric rather than any actual tangible effect. Smart move though, politically and popularity-wise.
Yes giving thousands of dollars even tens of thousands of dollars from one guy won't have a tangible effect when the problem is billions of dollars. But it is a good move politically.
Remind me again...how many days of vacation did GWB take? As to the actual topic...political stunt is political.
Yeah that was a real sacrifice. Giving up golf for a few weeks is like putting yourself in a war zone.
I'm not sure why people are upset that a clearly intended to be a symbolic gesture of solidarity re: the sequester is merely symbolic and has no policy impact.
You are right...but are you going to act shocked by PR moves? I know I am talking to a wall here, but what should he do, raise his salary?
Presidential PR move. Do I agree with Obama on most things? No, but I gotta admit, dude is a very talented fella.
The president makes about 400K a year, so 5% is $20k a year. He will make that much back the first 5 minutes of his first speech out of office. If you make 50k a year, that would be about $2500. Just about how much Obamacare will cost you
The difference between the two in the way they took vacation is substantial. Bush went to his ranch or Camp David. It was significantly less expensive. I don't actually think the vacation issue is that big of a deal, but the Obama vacations are significantly more expensive.
Is there some sort of offical tally that proves this? I'm sure it costs more to go to Hawaii than it does Texas, but he should only be faulted for that if he was visiting Hawaii without there being any history there.
No, but it really doesn't matter; the marching orders have been rec'd and the OBAMA HAZ TOO MUCH VACATIONZ! meme is trending throughout the wingnutosphere. This is really going to make a difference come November, and contributes to a recent run of EXCELLENT NEWS for <strike>JOHN MCCAIN</strike> <strike>MITT ROMNEY</strike>
