Obama’s Paycheck Exempted from ‘Sequester’
February 25, 2013
FILE - President Barack Obama at Fort Bliss in Texas on Aug. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama won’t have to worry about his paycheck if the spending sequestration included in the Budget Control Act that he signed into law in 2011 begins taking effect this Friday.
A report published last month by the Congressional Research Service--“Budget Sequestration and Selected Program Exemptions and Special Rules"--identifies certain programs that are exempt from sequestration and lays out special rules that govern the sequestration of others.
Section 255 of the Budget Control Act includes “Compensation for the President” as one of those exemptions (Page 19).
“Most exempt programs are mandatory, and include Social Security and Medicaid; refundable tax credits to individuals; and low-income programs such as the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Supplemental Security Income,” the report states.
“Some discretionary programs also are exempt, notably all programs administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs,” it said. “Also, subject to notification of Congress by the president, military personnel accounts may either be exempt or reduced by a lower percentage,” the report states. (The report states in a footnote that the White House notified Congress last year of President Obama's intention to exempt military personnel accounts from sequestration.)
Pensions for former presidents are also exempt, according to the report.
The report states that “the effect of sequestration on any give program is subject to the interpretation of the law’s provisions by the Office of Management and Budget”--which is part of the Executive branch.
Article 2, Section 1, Clause 7 of the Constitution says that the president's compensation shall not be increased or decreased during the time for which he is elected.
"The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected," says the Constitution, "and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them."
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