After 55 years of service as a federal employee, the 81-year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci’s retirement pension would reportedly exceed $350,000 per year if he were to throw in the towel anytime soon.
According to Forbes’ auditors with OpenTheBooks.com, Fauci has become the “most highly compensated federal employee,” out-earning the president, four-star generals, and “roughly 4.3 million of his colleagues.”
“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,” reported Forbes.
Fauci received a “permanent pay adjustment” in 2004 under President George W. Bush for his biodefense work. Federal employees with his tenure can retire with up to “80 percent of [their] high-3 average salary, plus credit for [their] sick leave,” according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Forbes calculated Fauci’s retirement based on his 2018, 2019, and 2020 earnings after filing a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. Between 2018 and 2020, Fauci earned $1.252 million as a federal employee. Per Forbes:
Documents released to our non-profit organization OpenTheBooks.com reveal that Dr. Fauci was approved for a “permanent pay adjustment” in excess of his regular salary in December 2004, to “appropriately compensate him for the level of responsibility… especially as it relates to his work on biodefense research activities.”
From 2004 through 2007, Fauci received a 68-percent pay increase from $200,000- to $335,000-a year. This award was permanent and carried forward through 2020.
Either way, Fauci has made it clear he has no plans to retire anytime soon, at least not until the coronavirus pandemic concludes.
“There’s no way I’m going to walk away from this until we get this under control. 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,” he told ABC’s Jonathan Karl earlier this month.
Fauci likened the pandemic to World War II, adding that we are only “halfway.”
“It’s kind of like we’re halfway through World War II, and you decide, well, I think I’ve had enough of this,” he said. “You can’t do that. You’ve got to finish it — and we’re going to finish this and get back to normal.”
In November, Fauci also told CBS Face the Nation that he would not retire until the pandemic was in the “rearview mirror.”
“I’m going to keep doing that until this COVID-19 outbreak is in the rearview mirror, regardless of what anybody says about me, or wants to lie and create crazy fabrications because of political motivations,” he said.
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