Senate prohibits defense contractors’ salaries from exceeding the president’s

The Senate on Thursday afternoon cleared an amendment that would limit the taxpayer reimbursement for defense contractor salaries to the amount of the president’s salary — currently $400,000.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) the bill’s chief co-sponsor, argued along with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Thursday that it is inappropriate for an employee serving the executive branch to make more than the commander in chief.

“Taxpayers should not be on the hook for exorbitant government contractor salaries,” Boxer said.

Grassley also spun it as a “good government” amendment.

“We can’t afford to waste increasingly limited defense dollars,” he said. “This amendment goes after an unnecessary expenditure by containing runaway spending in a type of contract used extensively by the Department of Defense.” 

A news release from Boxer’s office noted that the cap passed under the amendment is still double the $200,000 salary that the president’s Cabinet secretaries earn.  

The amendment cleared the upper chamber by unanimous consent Thursday, en bloc, with several other amendments.