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Taxpayers fund Bill Clinton spending
Taxpayers fund Bill Clinton spendingBy Kenneth P. Vogel
The Clintons have made a $100-million fortune since leaving the White House, but a Politico analysis found that hasn’t kept Bill Clinton from taking full advantage of the publicly funded perks offered to ex-presidents.
In fact, his presidential retirement benefits cost taxpayers almost as much as those of the other two living ex-presidents combined.
The price tag for Clinton’s federal retirement allowance from 2001 through the end of this year will run $8 million, compared to $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush’s and $4 million for Jimmy Carter’s during the same period.
Since 2001, Clinton has received more of almost every benefit available to former presidents — from his pension to his staff’s salaries and benefits to supplies.
His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent tab both nearly surpassed the totals rung up for those purposes by Bush, Carter and the late former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan combined. As a group, they spent $484,000 on telephone service and $3.8 million on rent in the same span.
The figures come from congressional reports studying the presidential retirement program and from summaries of annual budget requests by the U.S. General Services Administration, which administers the program, created to allow former presidents to enjoy dignified retirements without having to take jobs that demean or commercialize the presidency.
Some of Clinton’s greater spending stems from the fact that he served eight years in office, qualifying him for a federal health insurance plan unavailable to one-term presidents, and that he selected office space in the high-priced Manhattan market.
Politico’s analysis comes on the heels of the release last week of seven years' worth of Clinton family tax documents. They showed that the Clintons pulled in $111 million in total income from 2000, their last year in the White House, through 2007.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2008/04/taxpayers-fund-bill-clinton-spending-009531#ixzz45dAk3DjP
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17 replies
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is NOT good 
Bill has been Campaigning separately across the country for Hillary. He is holding separate rallies and events in New York State. Is this part of his Post Presidential perks paid for by taxpayers or is her campaign paying for it? Also the unfair advantage Hillary has in this campaign. Few spouses of candidates for President could afford what Bill is able to do because of his special status and perks. 
From the article:
Congress passed the Former Presidents Act in 1958, after news spread of the financial struggles of former President Harry Truman. He wrote in his memoirs: “I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency.”
The act and subsequent legislation now entitle each former president to a pension, an office and staff, travel costs, mailing privileges and assorted other supplies, materials and services.
That’s to say nothing of lifetime Secret Service protection, which costs significantly more than discretionary retirement allowances. It was not included in Politico’s analysis because the agency doesn’t disclose its budget for protecting individuals. The Government Accountability Office in a 2001 report pegged the cost of protecting all former presidents from 1977 through 2000 to $370 million, yet protected parties typically have little say in the size and shape of their details.
Former presidents can decide whether to accept the act’s retirement benefits, as well as how much to request.
When a former president wants a given perk, his office informs the GSA, which submits a proposed budget to Congress using previous years’ expenses as a guide. Since 2001, no ex-president has declined all the benefits, though some have accepted fewer specific perks or turned them down outright.
The act and subsequent legislation now entitle each former president to a pension, an office and staff, travel costs, mailing privileges and assorted other supplies, materials and services.
That’s to say nothing of lifetime Secret Service protection, which costs significantly more than discretionary retirement allowances. It was not included in Politico’s analysis because the agency doesn’t disclose its budget for protecting individuals. The Government Accountability Office in a 2001 report pegged the cost of protecting all former presidents from 1977 through 2000 to $370 million, yet protected parties typically have little say in the size and shape of their details.
Former presidents can decide whether to accept the act’s retirement benefits, as well as how much to request.
When a former president wants a given perk, his office informs the GSA, which submits a proposed budget to Congress using previous years’ expenses as a guide. Since 2001, no ex-president has declined all the benefits, though some have accepted fewer specific perks or turned them down outright.