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Stock the Mini-Bar Right And You Could Erase the National Debt

Jan 21, 2009
By .
Effluvia

Things I learned today that I did not know before: the President gets billed for food and incidentals for himself and his family unless they are for state functions.

President Obama may have his own executive chef now, but when his family and personal guests eat what’s coming out of the kitchen, he’ll have to foot the bill himself. Luckily for him, though, the government picks up the tab if he’s having a state function at the White House, which could get pricey since the White House’s website touts that its five chefs can crank out dinner for 140 or hors d’oeuvres for over a thousand people.

Does someone really keep track? Apparently, the White House functions like a luxury hotel in this regard. At the end of each month, the president receives a bill for his food and incidental expenses.

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Nancy Reagan was famously taken aback by this practice when an usher presented her first bill in 1981, saying, “Nobody ever told us the president and his wife are charged for every meal, as well as incidentals like dry cleaning, toothpaste, and other toiletries.”

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In a fascinating article in this month’s National Geographic, former White House chief usher Gary Walters said that he couldn’t remember any first families not complaining about the high prices of the food.

On the one hand, I approve of government employees paying their own costs. On the other hand, I'm inclined to cut someone some slack when they are functional prisoners. Paying for four (or eight) years of hotel food and service would be pricey — which only serves to emphasize the practical impossibility of anyone but the rich achieving the office of the President.

Last 5 posts by Ken

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6 Comments

  1. shg  •  Jan 22, 2009 @4:57 am

    This I didn't know. Does it mean that the first family can instruct the chef to make only PB & J for lunch to save costs? Should they opt for tap water rather than Evian? When they take a Senator to lunch, would the President do better to go to the hot dog stand on the corner rather than the dining room?

    This seems awfully chintzy. It just seems that the President of the United States has a tough enough job without having to spend time thinking of ways to save a few bucks on the food budget, or worrying about whether he got shorted on the sliced baloney from the Piggly Wiggly.

    Let's air this one out and decide that we're going to give the President a free food ride. Hey, we're paying for the chef anyway. And I would say this for any president, Republican or Democrat. I swear I would.

  2. Patrick  •  Jan 22, 2009 @5:25 am

    On the other hand, eight satellite dishes and a "total entertainment package" sounds pretty sweet. Presidents clean up after retirement.

  3. Mark Bennett  •  Jan 22, 2009 @7:50 am

    I'm with Greenfield. The cost of feeding a family of four in the White House must be minuscule compared to the cost of maintaining the rest of the Presidency.

    If we can't comp the whole family's meals, at least the kids could eat free on Wednesdays and Sundays.

  4. TJIC  •  Jan 22, 2009 @3:51 pm

    There's a cycle in government: folks get outraged about fraud and waste, so easy to implement (but trivial and stupid) controls are put in place.

    End result: the president gets billed $10 for every muffin he eats, while Teddy K makes sure that Boston gets an unneeded $50 billion tunnel paid for by federal taxpayers.

  5. dbt1949  •  Jan 22, 2009 @5:16 pm

    I was under the impression the president was given an allowance for food and other incidentals.
    But then my high school civics class was before James Monroe. (who as we all know eventually is related to Marilyn.)

  6. Eduardo  •  Jan 26, 2009 @2:05 pm

    Ken, are you suggesting that Obama… is… RICH?!