Seven former White House chiefs of staff support a congressional plan to double the salary of the president. Haig is probably right. The president receives much less than a person with the same sort of executive responsibility in the private sector. And the last time we increased the president's salary was back in 1969. In fact, a recent survey found that 49 percent of Americans favored a salary increase when told that the last increase was in 1969.
Federal salaries depend upon the president's salary.
Most of those salaries are topped out because of the cap on the president's salary. Unless Congress increases the president's salary, it can't really increase the others. So this isn't so much about increasing the president's salary. It's about increasing the rest of the federal salaries. The president may deserve a pay increase, but that is only a small part of what this whole debate is about.