Boehner Gets $2K a Month for 'Expenses'

Apparently, being speaker of the house is an expensive gig, because John Boehner is getting a $2,083.33 check to cover unspecified expenses every month—up from the $833 he received as minority leader, Roll Call reports. The figure is exactly the same every month, so it doesn’t appear to be a reimbursement for specific expenditures, and Boehner’s office won’t specify how it’s spent. A spokesman said it was “used in appropriate ways for expenses related to his official duties.”

The $833 Boehner pulled in as minority leader was equal to what then-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was receiving. But Hoyer later slashed his check to $527, and then stopped accepting it entirely, saying it was “the appropriate thing to do.” That appears to leave Boehner as the only member of the House receiving a check directly. When Nancy Pelosi was speaker, she usually expensed specific events, and the payments weren’t made directly to her. (More John Boehner stories.)