Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Obama’s army of public relations staffers costs U.S. taxpayers $500M per year

Via Billy

President Barack Obama shares a laugh as he makes a surprise visit into the Brady Press Briefing Room in Washington, Friday, May 30, 2104, to announce that White House press secretary Jay Carney, right, will be stepping down later next month. The president announced Carney's departure in a surprise appearance at in the White House press briefing room Friday. He said principal deputy press secretary Josh Earnest will take over the job. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Obama hired hundreds of additional public relations employees to sell his administration’s policies, at a total cost to taxpayers of nearly half a billion dollars a year, the government’s chief watchdog reported Wednesday.

Mr. Obama added some 667 PR staffers between 2008, the last full year under his predecessor, and 2011, when staffing levels peaked at 5,238 — a spike of 15 percent during those years. The number has since slipped, but there were still nearly 5,100 PR staffers in the administration in 2014, according to figures from the Government Accountability Office.

That doesn’t include the more than $100 million spent each year to hire private spinmeisters to supplement the government’s PR efforts. And yet more money — nearly $800 million in 2015 — is spent each year on contracts with outside advertising firms hired to prop up the administration’s policies.

“With increasing pressures on limited federal resources, it is crucial to know how much is spent across the federal government on public relations activities and which federal agencies are spending the most,” said Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, who requested the report.

2 comments:

  1. Sounds to me that Congress isn't doing their job. "Do Nothings" as usual!

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    Replies
    1. About as bad as the Southern states' legislatures after the Late Unpleasantness. :)

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