TOPICS
TOPICS
Pay freeze affects nearly one-third of White House staff
According to salary data released by the White House, 30 percent of President Obama's employees will be paid $100,000 or more in 2009. They also fall under a staff salary freeze.
The day after he was sworn into office, Obama announced he would freeze the salaries of White House employees who make $100,000 or more. The order affects 146 of the 487 employees on the payroll. It is not yet clear whether Obama will lift the freeze for those workers for 2010.
Obama said at the time that the freeze was appropriate given the state of the economy, and used the same rationale when he proposed a 2 percent pay increase for civil service employees and a 2.9 percent raise for members of the armed forces in his draft budget in February. The House has approved a 3.4 percent pay hike for service members, and advocates of pay parity are pushing for civil servants to get the same raise.
The National Treasury Employees Union declined to comment on what implication the White House salaries might have on the debate over federal pay.
Just one of the White House staffers is making more than the top-paid members of the Senior Executive Service, who will earn as much as $177,000 in 2009. Among Obama's employees, 22 will be paid $172,200 this year.
The highest paid employee on the list is David Marcozzi, the White House director of public health policy, who makes $192,934. He is detailed to the White House from the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. According to the federal salary database run by Asbury Park Press, Marcozzi was a GS-15 receiving a base salary of $149,000 in 2008, more than the $124,010 salary for a GS-15, Step 10 employee on the 2008 General Schedule salary tables.
CORRECTION: The original version of this story overstated the salary of the highest-paid Senior Executive Service members.
COMMENTS
- Freezing salaries at $100,000? Let me compare how I fared as a local law enforcement officer and now as a fed LEO...Lets see, I now pay 8x more in health insurance, without dental & optical. I also have to pay larger life insurance premiums. Additionally, when I was previously able to retire at 50% of my salary after 20 years, now I have to leave at the age of 57 and collect 37% of my high three. Oh, did I also mention that I also have to pay for liability insurance in case I get sued? By the way, I work on a task force where the locals can make more than $100,000, with overtime that the FEDS are helping to fund...and their benefits are comparable to those of Congress...so $100,000 is relative...and only looks good on paper. Butter Side Down Posted July 29, 2009 9:25 PM
- One way to save money would be to ensure that members of Congress, all the way to the President, no longer get a free ride on healthcare. They pay NOTHING! kathy Posted July 10, 2009 1:35 PM
- Those of us who worked in the federal government during the Reagan Administration in the 1980s received a pay freeze one year (zero per cent COLA), and low COLAs in other years, despite rising costs of living. At the time, we were told it was done to help the nation's economy. We wouldn't have minded if everyone else also sacrificed for the common good, but when we looked around, we were the only ones who were doing so! The same principle applies now. I don't mind doing my part, and sharing the pain, but I don't think it's fair to be the only one to do so. ICEd Posted July 7, 2009 3:09 PM
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