Ax Aims at Presidential Perks

Ax Aims at Presidential Perks

CNSNews.com
Saturday, March 10, 2001

When Bill Clinton went shopping last month for Manhattan office space and wound up proposing to spend $811,000 a year, Rep. Ernest Istook Jr., R-Okla., did more than raise an eyebrow.

The new chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over such post-presidential perquisites wrote a letter to the General Accounting Office "telling them their credibility would be in jeopardy if they were to approve that lease." That's because Congress had previously approved a smaller budget for Clinton's office space, which had been submitted by Clinton himself.

"Until Clinton pushed the envelope with the $800,000-a-year penthouse, no one had really examined this to see what the limits" were for office space, said Micah Swafford, Istook's press secretary. "We have heard from people all over the country since this has come to light."

Clinton has since decided to pursue less costly office space in Harlem, but Istook still wants to move forward with restrictions on the perks enjoyed by ex-presidents.

The next step, said Swafford, is for Congress to come up with specified limits on what taxpayers will spend on office space for former presidents. "The congressman is looking into the possibility of establishing some type of standards for presidential office space ... just like there are for congressmen" for district offices.

Joining the effort to rein in the perks is National Taxpayers Union, a advocacy group, which called Clinton's actions "an abuse of the public purse and the public's trust" and demanded that Congress pass specific reforms.

"Former presidents have no official duties, so why should they be able to incur official expenses on the taxpayers' tab?" asked Pete Sepp, NTU vice president for communications.

Presidential pensions were established before the days of high speaking fees and book advances, so "in typical Washington fashion, a program designed to help lift ex-presidents out of poverty now helps to land them into the lap of luxury," Sepp said.

In a letter to Istook, the NTU called for lowering presidential pensions, setting a time limit on how long former presidents could receive taxpayer-funded perks, and weeding out any unnecessary expenditures on presidential libraries and collections. The NTU wants pensions postponed until retirement age and suggests that Congress lower pension payments to past presidents by replacing the percentage formula for cost-of-living adjustments with the average dollar amount increase provided to Social Security recipients annually.

Among the perks former presidents receive are expenses for staff, office equipment and Secret Service protection. Taxpayers have reportedly spent $850 million on former presidents and their families over the past 25 years.

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