The nerve! Obama requests big fat raise for retirement

There’s no such thing as “enough” for liberals; they always want more.

And we’re not talking about some Dickensian waif extending an empty bowl asking, “Please, Sir, may I have more?”

President Barack Obama is pushing to increase the number of tax dollars the federal government may spend on former presidents as one of the final things he takes care of before he becomes a former president.

Those expenditures include pensions, office allowances, and other federal benefits as disclosed by the Congressional Research Service in a report issued Wednesday.

Obama is seeking a nearly 18 percent increase in overall funds set aside to take care of himself.

“The President’s FY2017 budget request seeks $3,865,000 in appropriations for expenditures for former presidents, an increase of $588,000 (17.9%) from the FY2016 appropriation level. The increase in requested appropriations for FY2017 anticipates President Barack Obama’s transition from incumbent to former President,” the report reads.

“For FY2016, President Obama requested and received appropriations of $3,277,000 for expenditures for former Presidents–an increase of $25,000 from FY2015 appropriated levels.”

The Washington Free Beacon reported:

The Former Presidents Act, enacted in 1958, provides living former presidents with a pension, office staff and support, funds for travel, Secret Service protection, and mailing privileges. It also provides benefits for presidential spouses. Currently, former presidents are awarded a pension equal to the salary of cabinet secretaries, which totaled $203,700 for the 2015 calendar year and was boosted by $2,000 for the current calendar year.

 

Critics of the act claim that it substantially benefits individuals who are not in need of the assistance. They can, for example, go on to write books, give lectures and sit on corporate boards — and they often do.

President Bill Clinton’s federal stipend was $924,000 even though he received $132 million between 2001 and 2015 on the speaking tour, according to a CNN analysis.

Republican lawmakers have sought a way around this. The Free Beacon reported:

Republicans in the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would cap annual pensions for former presidents at $200,000. Additionally, the bills would cut each pension by a dollar for every dollar the former president earns over $400,000 in the private sector in a given year. The measure was approved by the House in January with bipartisan support.

 

“It’s pretty simple. You want a retirement and pension, it’s there. But if you’re going to go out and make enormous sums of money, then you don’t need taxpayer subsidies,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who introduced the bill in the House, told ABC News in an interview.

“The former presidents are making gobs of money speaking and writing books, more power to them, but that doesn’t mean they need more taxpayer dollars on top of that,” Chaffetz added. “It’s embarrassing that they take that money.”

All in all, actor-filmmaker Mel Brooks said it best: “It’s good to be king.”

Watch the video depicting other Obama wants via Fox News.

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