President Barack Obama will return 5 percent ofhis salary to the U.S. Treasury in a show of solidarity with federal workershurting from $85 billion in government-wide spending cuts.
Hundreds of thousands of workers could be forced to takeunpaid leave if Congress does not reach an agreement soon to undo the cuts,which came as punishment for the inability of the Obama administration andCongress to come up with another way to address the country's gaping debt.
The 5 percent that Obama will hand back mirrors the 5percent cut that domestic agencies took when the reductions went into effect.The Pentagon's budget took an 8 percent hit. Every federal agency is grapplingwith spending cuts, which the White House has warned could affect everythingfrom commercial airline flights to classrooms.
A 5 percent cut from the president's salary of $400,000 peryear amounts to $20,000.
Obama will return a full $20,000 to the Treasury, said aWhite House official who was not authorized to discuss the decision publiclyand spoke on condition of anonymity.
"The salary for the president, as with members ofCongress, is set by law and cannot be changed," Obama spokesman Jay Carneysaid late Wednesday. "However, the president has decided that to share inthe sacrifice being made by public servants across the federalgovernment."
Wednesday's notice followed a similar move a day earlier byDefense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who committed to taking a salary cut equal to 14days' pay — the same level of cut that other Defense Department civilians arebeing forced to take.
Obama isn't the first president to give up part of hispaycheck.
John F. Kennedy donated his presidential salary to variouscharities, according to Stacey Chandler, an archivist at the John F. KennedyPresidential Library. George Washington, the first president, tried to refuse apresidential salary, but Congress required that the position pay $25,000.
Obama's salary is set by law, so he must acceptthe funds and then write a check to the Treasury each month for the portion heplans to give up. Obama's decision, first reported by The New York Times, won'taffect the other perks afforded the president, from a mansion staffed withservants to the limousines, helicopters and Boeing 747 jumbo jet.