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Fauci on track for ‘the largest federal retirement package in U.S. history,’ Forbes reports

December 30, 2021 | | Print Article

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If and when Dr. Anthony Fauci retires, he’s reportedly set to benefit from “the largest federal retirement package in U.S. history,” according to a Forbes report published Tuesday.

An analysis by OpenTheBooks.com, a nonprofit that tracks federal spending, found that his initial annual retirement would exceed $350,000 and then climb even higher because of annual cost-of-living adjustments.

Why so high? Because believe it or not, but as a 55-year government bureaucrat, the 81-year-old doctor commands the highest salary in the federal government.

“For the second year in a row, Fauci was the most highly compensated federal employee and out earned the president, four star generals, and roughly 4.3 million of his colleagues,” according to Forbes.

“As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Fauci earned $434,312 in 2020, the latest year available, up from $417,608 in 2019.”

This salary would appear to explain why he’s always been so hung ho about promoting pandemic restrictions, including lockdowns and vaccine mandates, and about demonizing anyone who dares to dissent.

“You don’t want to be complacent. You always want to be ahead of the curve. … I like to be criticized [as], ‘Oh you’re being too overactive’ — that’s good for me,” he’d said back in March of 2020, as reported then by MarketWatch.

As someone with so much wealth, he could have likely been locked down for years without experiencing any financial strain.

Because Fauci has been a bureaucrat for so long, he gets the benefit of earning “80 percent of [his] high-3 average salary, plus credit for [his] sick leave,” according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

This rule only applies to those who’ve served in government for over 41 years, 11 months.

(Source: OPM)

Apparently, it literally pays to be in government …

Keep in mind the numbers used by OpenTheBooks.com to conduct its analysis were based on old data up to 2020.

Forbes notes that last month it “filed a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to determine Dr. Fauci’s currently unpublished 2021 salary, job description, royalties, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and employment contract.”

A judge signed off on the case and ordered the federal government to begin releasing the relevant information starting on Feb. 1st, 2022.

“So, at this point, we can use only the last three published years of his salary — 2018: $399,625; 2019: $417,608; and 2020: $434,312 — to calculate his potential retirement earnings,” Forbes notes.

“If he’d left federal service at the end of FY2020, figuring 80% of his highest three-year average, would mean a federal pension of $333,745 a year, plus cost-of-living increases (($1,251,545/3) x 80% = $333,745).”

But assuming his 2021 and 2022 salaries are the same or likely even higher, his retirement pay “would be closer to $347,500 a year. (($1,302,936/3) x 80%),” according to Forbes.

Either way, that’s a lot of money, particularly for someone whom congressional Republicans have argued deserves to be prosecuted for lying to Congress:

Not to mention someone who has faced rampant criticism because of his incessant flip-flopping and widely panned pandemic recommendations.

FYI, his critics also include fellow doctors.

“This octogenarian’s retirement, paid for by us, is but a pittance compared to the devastation his malevolent policies have inflicted on the lives and liberties of the American people. I can think of no greater villain or failure in U.S. history,” Dr. Kristin Held, a doctor based out of Texas, tweeted Tuesday.

The only possible good news for his legions of critics is that he doesn’t intend to retire soon, meaning he won’t be benefiting from the retirement package yet.

Asked recently by ABC’s Jonathan Karl about the prospect of retiring, Fauci said that he refuses to “to walk away from this until we get this under control.”

By “this,” he meant the pandemic.

“I mean, that’s the purpose of what we do. That’s – that’s our mission in life. In the middle of it, I’m not going to walk away. You know, we’re in a war, Jon. It’s kind of like we’re halfway through World War II, and you decide, well, I think I’ve had enough of this. I’m walking away. You can’t do that,” he said.

This is of course a double-sided sword for his critics, because while this means he won’t be collecting his retirement, he’ll still be receiving pay from the federal government. Worse, he’ll still be influencing government policy.

Despite all the criticism faced by Fauci from congressional Republicans and doctors like Held, he does still have his groupies — and according to them, if anything he “deserves way more” …

Vivek Saxena
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