白宮公布460名雇員薪水 奧巴馬幕僚工資堪比副總統(tǒng)

Twenty-two of PresidentBarack Obama'stop advisers make the top White House salary of $172,200 per year - but there is one official who earns 30 percent more.

It's not Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Not Obama's senior adviser and close friend Valerie Jarrett. Not Cecilia Munoz, who is overseeing White House efforts on immigration reform, nor Lisa Monaco, who advises Obama on homeland security and counterterrorism.

The best-paid person of the 460 people who work at the White House is Seth Wheeler, a senior adviser at the National Economic Council, who is crafting Obama's strategy on housing finance.

One of the newest appointees, Wheeler earns $225,000, according to the annual White House report on its $37.9 million payroll released on Friday.

Wheeler has been detailed to the role from the Federal Reserve where the pay scale is higher, a White House official explained.

It also means he earns more than his boss, Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, who earns the White House limit of $172,200.

At the Fed, Wheeler was chief of staff for the Office of Financial Stability Policy and Research.

He is an ex-Morgan Stanley banker who worked for former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson during the Bush Administration, and was a key architect with the Obama administration's mortgage modification program, helping craft the signature housing aid program known as the Home Affordable Modification Program.

"His pay reflects the anomaly of the Fed pay scale," said Phillip Swagel, who served in the Treasury Department under President George W. Bush.

"It is noteworthy that the NEC is pretty political so it's fascinating that they have a Fed employee in a political position," Swagel said.

Federal employees who work for banking regulators, including the Fed, have higher pay scales than employees of other federal departments, said Julia Gordon, director of housing finance and policy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

"I'm sure if he went back toMorgan Stanley, he'd be making 10 times that," Gordon said.

Wheeler replaces Jim Parrott, who had been detailed to the White House from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and earned $144,385 last year. Parrott left the White House in January, and recently joined the Urban Institute.

Wheeler's salary approaches that of Vice President Joe Biden, who this year is poised to earn $230,700. Obama's salary is $400,000.

HOUSING SYSTEM 'IN SHAMBLES'

The housing advisor position has been held by four different people during the Obama administration, punctuated by lengthy vacancies between advisers, said Gordon, who hopes the White House now begins to takes a more active role on the issue.

"Our housing system is still in shambles," Gordon said.

"Just because people hear that prices are going back up doesn't mean we've fixed anything. A lot of the underlying problems are still there."

One of the key issues is reforms for mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were seized by the government in 2008 as the housing crisis threatened their solvency.

The companies own or guarantee half of all U.S. mortgages and have been propped up with $187.5 billion in taxpayer funds.

Democrats and Republicans want to reduce the government's role and put more of the risk of lending onto the private sector, but they disagree on how far to go.

據(jù)英國(guó)路透社6月28日?qǐng)?bào)道，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)奧巴馬的22位高級(jí)顧問(wèn)年薪17.22萬(wàn)美元，在白宮里薪資算頂級(jí)水平，但有一位官員的薪資比這還高30%。

這個(gè)人不是白宮辦公廳主任丹尼斯•麥克唐納;不是奧巴馬的高級(jí)顧問(wèn)兼密友瓦萊麗•賈勒特;不是白宮移民改革計(jì)劃監(jiān)察員塞西莉亞•穆諾茨，也不是總統(tǒng)國(guó)土安全及反恐事務(wù)顧問(wèn)莉薩•莫納科。

白宮460人中收入最高的是美國(guó)國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)委員會(huì)高級(jí)顧問(wèn)賽斯•惠勒，他負(fù)責(zé)制定奧巴馬的住房金融政策。6月28日發(fā)布的白宮年度報(bào)告曬出了3790萬(wàn)美元工資單，其中惠勒的工資是22.5萬(wàn)美元。

白宮官員解釋稱，惠勒是從美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)調(diào)過(guò)來(lái)的，那里的工資標(biāo)準(zhǔn)更高。

這也意味著惠勒比自己的上司吉恩•斯珀林掙得還多。斯珀林是美國(guó)國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)委員會(huì)主任，年薪17.22萬(wàn)美元，為白宮最高工資。

此前，惠勒在美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)擔(dān)任金融穩(wěn)定政策與研究辦公室主任。他是前摩根斯坦利的銀行家，在布什政府時(shí)期，他為美國(guó)前財(cái)政部長(zhǎng)漢克•鮑爾森工作。他還是奧巴馬政府抵押貸款協(xié)議修改計(jì)劃的關(guān)鍵起草者，幫助制定了住房可償付調(diào)整計(jì)劃。

“他的薪資反映了美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)薪酬標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的特殊性。” 小布什政府時(shí)期在財(cái)政部任職的菲利普•施瓦格說(shuō)：“值得注意的是，美國(guó)國(guó)家經(jīng)濟(jì)委員會(huì)政治性很強(qiáng)。讓一位美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)職員從事政治工作，這非常有趣。”

自由派智庫(kù)，美國(guó)進(jìn)步中心住房金融與政策主任戈登稱，在銀行業(yè)監(jiān)管部門(mén)工作的美國(guó)聯(lián)邦雇員，包括美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)，享有的工資標(biāo)準(zhǔn)比其他部門(mén)要高。“我敢肯定，惠勒若回摩根史坦利工作，掙的會(huì)是這里的10倍。”

惠勒的前任是吉姆•帕羅特。帕羅特從美國(guó)住房和城市發(fā)展部調(diào)至白宮，去年年薪為14.4385萬(wàn)美元。他今年1月離開(kāi)白宮，最近進(jìn)入了美國(guó)城市研究所(Urban Institute)。

惠勒的工資接近美國(guó)副總統(tǒng)喬•拜登的工資。拜登今年將拿到23.07萬(wàn)美元，奧巴馬年薪則是40萬(wàn)美元。

戈登稱，在奧巴馬執(zhí)政期間，有四人擔(dān)任過(guò)住房顧問(wèn)，每位顧問(wèn)輪換期間職位長(zhǎng)時(shí)間閑置。他希望白宮從現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始在住房問(wèn)題上發(fā)揮更積極的作用。

“我們的住房系統(tǒng)依舊一團(tuán)糟。”戈登說(shuō)道。 “不要因?yàn)槿藗兟?tīng)到房?jī)r(jià)回漲就以為問(wèn)題解決了。很多潛在問(wèn)題依然存在。”

關(guān)鍵問(wèn)題之一是改革住房抵押貸款融資公司房利美和房地美。因次貸危機(jī)導(dǎo)致他們無(wú)力償債，2008年美國(guó)政府接管了這兩家公司。房利美和房地美承擔(dān)了美國(guó)一半住房貸款，政府接管以來(lái)接受了1875億的政府援助。

民主黨和共和黨想削減政府作用，把更多的借貸風(fēng)險(xiǎn)放在私營(yíng)部門(mén)，但雙方在削減的程度上仍存爭(zhēng)議。