(LibertySociety.com) – As President Joe Biden’s term in office comes To an end, he boasts the largest White House staff since Richard Nixon was in office.
A recent report published on Tuesday, July 2, analyzed the total number of staff at the White House as well as the Biden administration’s turnover rate for those positions. At 565 staffers, the number is slightly higher than when Biden first took office in 2021 and costs the White House almost $61 million.
Since Nixon, Biden is the first president to have a staff of over 500. At the time of Nixon’s White House, Time magazine reported in 1971 that the roster grew with “startling rapidity.” The First Lady’s staff in particular has grown this year, totaling 24 members. Former First Lady Michelle Obama had the same amount, while former First Lady Melania Trump only had 11 staff members. Jill Biden’s entire team costs $2.5 million to pay and includes foreign policy, healthcare, and education advisers.
The Biden administration has also seen a larger turnover since he entered the White House in 2021. Four-hundred and thirty-five of the original 560 employees working for Biden have left their positions.
When Trump left office, his total White House staff numbered 413 in 2020, and former President Barack Obama had 468 members on his staff in 2012. Trump’s highest payroll year amounted to $52.2 million (adjusted for inflation) and Obama’s at $58.3 million. Biden outstripped both former presidents with a $60.8 million payroll.
When asked for comment by reporters, a White House spokesperson said the nine percent increase was mostly driven by “a certain policy focus” that determined how the team was built, noting specifically the Office of Pandemic Preparedness % Response Policy created in 2021 and the Office of Gun Violence Prevention established in September of last year.
The spokesperson also said that the White House “filled vacancies across various departments” that wasn’t reflected in the recent report.
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