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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

First Obama, now Kerry and others

President Barack Obama speaks at the Denver Police Academy in Denver, Colo., with local law enforcement officials and community leaders attending following a meeting to discuss the state's new measures to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)
President Barack Obama speaks at the Denver Police Academy in Denver, Colo., with local law enforcement officials and community leaders attending following a meeting to discuss the state's new measures to reduce gun violence, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press)

Yesterday, it was announced that President Obama was taking a voluntary 5% pay cut.

Now it's John Kerry's turn, as well as two other cabinet secretaries.

WASHINGTON — Three Cabinet secretaries became the latest senior administration officials to give back part of their salaries, in the spirit of government spending cuts.

The announcements that Secretary of State John Kerry, the richest Cabinet member, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will voluntarily reduce their pay came a day after President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said they'd return 5 percent of their paychecks to the Treasury.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Kerry, however, will give his 5 percent to a charity for department employees. She said he already makes significant charitable donations. More here.

What, if anything, do these gestures mean to you?

 

 



Huckleberries Online

D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.