SequesterObama, Hagel take pay cut to help sequester-affected federal employees
President Barack Obama is following in the footsteps of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by taking a 5 percent pay cut to support federal workers who will be furloughed. Obama’s move will be backdated to 1 March, the first day of the sequester. The president’s yearly salary is $400,000, meaning that the cut will equal $20,000. Other senior administration officials, and some members of Congress and their staffs, have also announced that they will return a portion of their salary to the Treasury.
President Obama accepts a sequestration-necessitated pay cuy // Source: arabsolaa.com
President Barack Obama is following in the footsteps of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel by taking a 5 percent pay cut to support federal workers who will be furloughed.
Obama’s move will be backdated to 1 March, the first day of the sequester. The president’s yearly salary is $400,000, meaning that the cut will equal $20,000.
Because the president’s salary is set by Congress, his actual paycheck cannot be reduced. Instead, Obama will return the money to the Treasury to honor his commitment..
In addition to Obama and Hagel, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Deputy Secretary Maurice Jones will also cut their salaries to help out.
USA Todayreports that almost 700,000 government workers, including employees of the Transportation Security Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Aviation Administration, and Customs and Border Protection, face mandatory two-week furloughs this summer.
Some members of Congress have also announced that they will take self-imposed pay cuts. Their salaries are exempt from the sequester, making the reduction voluntary.
Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) said that he will return a portion of his $174,000 salary to the Treasury.
“We need to be making responsible cuts wherever we can, and there is no reason that members of Congress shouldn’t feel the pinch like everyone else,” Begich said in a statement.
According to Begich, more than half of his staff will also take reductions in pay this year and his office also began furloughs last month. Begich also plans on meeting with Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) in order to cut “billions” more in federal spending, and “I hope my colleagues come back from the holidays ready to get to work.”
The Senate also approved an amendment to establish a reserve fund to lessen the impact of the sequester by giving members of Congress the option to donate 20 percent of their salaries to the fund.
