President Biden’s White House staff is the largest since former President Richard Nixon’s, with turnover at 77% since taking office in 2021.
The White House has 565 staff members, costing about $61 million, up slightly from the record 560 people Biden hired during his first year in office. A report from Open the Books.
According to the report, Biden is the first president since Nixon to boast a staff of more than 500 people, a staff so large that Time magazine in 1971 described it as growing at an “ashamed rate.”
Biden repeatedly dodged questions about whether he would undergo a neurological exam, saying, “Nobody’s saying I have to.”
President Joe Biden. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
First lady Jill Biden’s staff is expected to swell to 24 people by 2024, matching the number of oft-criticized former first lady Michelle Obama in 2009 and more than double the number of former first lady Melania Trump’s maximum staff of 11.
The first lady’s staff, which includes foreign policy, education and health advisers, cost $2.5 million, the report said.
The number of staffers Biden will employ far exceeds those employed by his predecessors at the same time during their presidencies, with former President Donald Trump employing 413 staffers in fiscal year 2020 and former President Barack Obama employing 468 staffers in fiscal year 2012.
Former President Donald Trump. (Donald Trump 2024 Election Campaign)
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Meanwhile, the president’s current total salary of $60.8 million also exceeds the peaks of both the Trump and Obama administrations, with Obama’s peak salary being $58.3 million after adjusting for inflation and Trump’s being $52.2 million after adjusting for inflation.
Biden’s highest paid staffer is Michelle Baran, general counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, with an annual salary of $251,258. The second highest paid is Farah Ahmad, special adviser for economic development, with an annual salary of $191,900.
Former US President Barack Obama. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
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But Biden has also seen overwhelming personnel turnover since taking office in 2021, with 435 of his original 560 employees having left the department since figures were first reported.
Reached by Fox News Digital for comment, a White House spokesperson confirmed that staffing has increased by 9 percent since last year, but said the increase is “largely due to the creation of policy-focused teams, including the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.”
“The White House filled vacancies in various departments and agencies last year, but these vacancies were not reflected in the July 1, 2023 report,” the spokesman added.
