奇速英语

奥巴马演讲一场赚40万美元，美当局提议削减奥巴马退休金

Congress may seek to cut the pension(退休金) of Barack Obama following his decision to accept a $400,000 fee for a speech to Wall Street workers.

During his time in the White House, Mr Obama vetoed(否决) a bill that would have reduced the retirement funds of former presidents if they accept large amounts of outside income. Now that Mr Obama himself meets those condition, Republican sponsors of the bill have said they hope that President Donald Trump will sign(签署) the bill into law.

"The Obama’s attitude on this issue reveals," Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and sponsor of the 2016 bill told USA Today. "His veto was very selfish."

The bill would set presidential pensions at $200,000, plus the same for expenses. But those payments would be reduced dollar-for-dollar once their outside income is more than $400,000. When it was first introduced last year, Mr Obama vetoed the bill on the basis that it would force former presidents to fire their support staff.

Currently the General Services Administration must provide "suitable office space, furnished and equipped". The total cost of maintaining and staffing those offices currently ranges from $430,000 for former president Jimmy Carter to $1.1 million for former president George W. Bush, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. The 2017 spending bill approved by Congress this week contained nearly $3.9 million to fund all the former presidents until September 30.

Mr Trump has not commented on this. But during the campaign, he said he would take a close look at pensions for elected officials.