Republican mocks White House salaries

A Republican congressman on Wednesday criticized the White House for paying staffers too much in salary.

“I guess there’s just so much greatness when you’re associated with this White House that you deserve to be paid more,” Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) said.

“And don’t forget the 34 czars that are out there dictating policy,” he said. “Let’s face it, when you’re a dictator, you need to be paid more.”

Gohmert made clear his remark was meant to be sarcastic. However, he criticized the White House for paying 141 aides more than $100,000 per year. A report from the White House released Friday listed the salaries of 454 employees and showed that no staffer is paid less than $40,000.

“It sounds like the only thing that’s truly shovel-ready is all the bull that they’ve been feeding to us over the last two and a half years,” Gohmert said on the Fox News Business channel. “That needs to be shoveled out in a hurry.”

Gohmert also slammed a White House stimulus report released last Friday that asserted the stimulus created as many as 3.6 million jobs in the first quarter of 2011.

“Who would ever dream that paying people $175,000 in the White House would be a bargain compared to how much they’re paying to create private sector jobs,” Gohmert said. “[President Obama] has squandered so much money that you’ve heard the sucking sound coming from the private sector.”

Republicans claim the stimulus paid out $278,000 for every job it created. The White House called that a “false analysis.”

–This article was corrected at 3:23 p.m. on July 8.