白宮公佈460名僱員薪水奧巴馬幕僚工資堪比副總統

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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.據英國路透社6月28日報道，美國總統奧巴馬的22位高級顧問年薪17.22萬美元，在白宮裏薪資算頂級水平，但有一位官員的薪資比這還高30%。

這個人不是白宮辦公廳主任丹尼斯•麥克唐納；不是奧巴馬的高級顧問兼密友瓦萊麗•賈勒特；不是白宮移民改革計劃監察員塞西莉亞•穆諾茨，也不是總統國土安全及反恐事務顧問莉薩•莫納科。

白宮460人中收入最高的是美國國家經濟委員會高級顧問賽斯•惠勒，他負責制定奧巴馬的住房金融政策。6月28日發佈的白宮年度報告曬出了3790萬美元工資單，其中惠勒的工資是22.5萬美元。

白宮官員解釋稱，惠勒是從美聯儲調過來的，那裏的工資標準更高。

這也意味着惠勒比自己的上司吉恩•斯珀林掙得還多。斯珀林是美國國家經濟委員會主任，年薪17.22萬美元，爲白宮最高工資。

此前，惠勒在美聯儲擔任金融穩定政策與研究辦公室主任。他是前摩根斯坦利的銀行家，在布什政府時期，他爲美國前財政部長漢克•鮑爾森工作。他還是奧巴馬政府抵押貸款協議修改計劃的關鍵起草者，幫助制定了住房可償付調整計劃。

“他的薪資反映了美聯儲薪酬標準的特殊性。” 小布什政府時期在財政部任職的菲利普•施瓦格說：“值得注意的是，美國國家經濟委員會政治性很強。讓一位美聯儲職員從事政治工作，這非常有趣。”

自由派智庫，美國進步中心住房金融與政策主任戈登稱，在銀行業監管部門工作的美國聯邦僱員，包括美聯儲，享有的工資標準比其他部門要高。“我敢肯定，惠勒若回摩根史坦利工作，掙的會是這裏的10倍。”

惠勒的前任是吉姆•帕羅特。帕羅特從美國住房和城市發展部調至白宮，去年年薪爲14.4385萬美元。他今年1月離開白宮，最近進入了美國城市研究所（Urban Institute）。

惠勒的工資接近美國副總統喬•拜登的工資。拜登今年將拿到23.07萬美元，奧巴馬年薪則是40萬美元。

戈登稱，在奧巴馬執政期間，有四人擔任過住房顧問，每位顧問輪換期間職位長時間閒置。他希望白宮從現在開始在住房問題上發揮更積極的作用。

“我們的住房系統依舊一團糟。”戈登說道。 “不要因爲人們聽到房價回漲就以爲問題解決了。很多潛在問題依然存在。”

關鍵問題之一是改革住房抵押貸款融資公司房利美和房地美。因次貸危機導致他們無力償債，2008年美國政府接管了這兩家公司。房利美和房地美承擔了美國一半住房貸款，政府接管以來接受了1875億的政府援助。