Obama’s pay for speech may lead to pension limits
Former president had vetoed $400,000 curb in his final year
Last year, thenpresident Barack Obama vetoed a bill that would have curbed the pensions of former presidents if they took outside income of $400,000 or more.
So now that Obama has decided to accept $400,000 for an upcoming Wall Street speech, the sponsors say they’ll reintroduce that bill in hopes that President Trump will sign it.
“The Obama hypocrisy on this issue is revealing,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and sponsor of the 2016 bill. “His veto was very self-serving.”
Chaffetz and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the sponsor of the companion Senate bill, say they will re-introduce the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act this month. The bill would cap presidential pensions at $200,000, with another $200,000 for expenses. But those payments would be reduced dollar-for-dollar once their outside income exceeds $400,000.
The issue isn’t partisan — or at least, it wasn’t last year. The bill passed the House and Senate with no opposition, and no veto threat. So when Obama’s veto came — on the last day for him to sign or veto the legislation — it took lawmakers by surprise.
At the time, Obama argued that the bill would have “unintended consequences” and “impose onerous and unreasonable burdens” on former presidents.
Republican leaders did not call up the bill for an override.
Democrats say they won’t necessarily oppose changes.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the top Democrat on Chaffetz’s committee, was a co-sponsor of the original bill. “Cummings definitely supports the concept, and if we can work out the technical issues with the bill that arose late in the last Congress, we expect he would strongly support it again,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Hoffman Werner.
Under the Former Presidents Act, the nation’s five living former presidents — Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama — get a pension equal to the salary of a current Cabinet secretary: $207,800 in 2017. They also get $150,000 to pay staff, and “suitable office space, appropriately furnished and equipped.” In 2015, the entire benefit package ranged from $430,000 for Carter to $1.1 million for George W. Bush.
With Obama joining the club, the 2017 spending bill approved by the House Wednesday contained nearly $3.9 million for all the former presidents — a $588,000 annual increase.
Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said the former president had no comment on the legislation.
Obama has already shown he has considerable potential to raise money. He and his wife Michelle have signed a publishing deal for separate books, which the Finan
cial Times reported was worth at least $65 million. And the Wall Street speech will reportedly net him another $400,000.
“President Obama will deliver speeches from time to time,” said Eric Schultz, a former White House spokesman who continues to advise Obama. “Some will be paid, some will be unpaid.”