President Joe Biden’s White House staff has grown to historic highs, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, according to a new report.
An analysis from OpenTheBooks of the recently released White House payroll found the Biden White House staff spending has hit new highs.
“During President Joe Biden’s four years, he spent $225 million on the largest White House payroll since at least 1971, based on headcount,” the report said.
Those costs include $60.8 million for 565 employees. The group noted a 77% turnover rate since 2021 and that First Lady Jill Biden increased the size of her office from 20 to 24 employees, a number not matched since First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009.
In 2020, First Lady Melania Trump had 11 staffers.
“The White House contains more staff than at any time since the Nixon era, when TIME Magazine said headcount with growing with ‘startling rapidity,'” OpenTheBooks Founder and CEO Adam Andrzejewski said in a statement. “At $60.8 million, this White House staff is the most expensive since OpenTheBooks.com began tracking the numbers in 2009.”
Notably, Biden’s staff outpaces his recent predecessors of both parties.
“Biden employs 152 more staffers than Trump (413) (FY2020) and 97 more than Obama (468) (FY2012) at the same point in their respective presidencies,” the group said.
The federal government as a whole has grown under Biden’s watch, not just the White House.
“During Biden’s first three years, more than 40,000 bureaucrats were added to the federal payroll across the 123 executive agencies, outside of the Department of Defense, U.S. Post Office, and intelligence services,” the report said. “In the first nine days of his presidency, Biden issued many executive orders expanding the size, scope, and power of the federal bureaucracy.”
