White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest
The following statement was issued on July 22, 2016.
President
Obama shares the goal of streamlining pensions given to former
Presidents as a means to reduce costs to taxpayers. He stands ready to
work
with Congress on legislation to get that done.
Unfortunately,
this bill as written would immediately terminate salaries and all
benefits to staffers carrying out the official duties of former
Presidents – leaving no time or mechanism for them to transition to
another payroll. As written, this bill would also impair Secret
Service’s ability to protect former Presidents by ending GSA’s role in
managing operations, equipment and office space. Under
this bill, GSA must immediately terminate leases, and remove furniture
from offices of former Presidents working to fulfilling their continued
public service responsibilities.
The
President’s decision to veto this bill was made after consultations
with the offices of each of the former Presidents, and is responsive to
concerns
they raised to us. We are working with Congress on the technical fixes
to resolve these issues. If Congress provides these technical fixes, the
President would sign the bill.
Source: The White House, Office of the Press Secretary
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