OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since early in the Reagan administration, is on pace to earn the highest annual pension in U.S. government history — an amount that surpasses the annual salaries of members of Congress and approaches the $400,000 yearly salary of the president.
According to reports this week, Fauci will bring home at least $350,000 after serving 55 years in government.
“Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com estimate Dr. Fauci’s annual retirement would exceed $350,000. Thereafter, his pension and benefits would continue to increase through annual cost-of-living adjustments,” Forbes reported.
Fauci, who is also President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, has reportedly been the highest-paid U.S. government official for the past two years, earning more money even than the top U.S. military commanders who defend the country.
The Blaze notes further:
Fauci raked in a reported 2020 salary of $434,312, out-earning the president of the United States. Fauci pulled in an annual salary of $417,608 in 2019, according to OpenTheBooks.com. Fauci has purportedly been paid at least $335,000 by the government every year since 2007.
“Anthony S. Fauci’s 2020 pay is 73% higher than the average medical officer across all agencies,” according to FederalPay.org.
Fauci – who turned 81-years-old on Christmas Eve – asserted this month that he will not retire until the end of the pandemic.
On Dec. 19, Fauci appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” where host Jonathan Karl lauded the NIAID head as “one of the hardest working human beings in America.”
“First of all, thank you for your service,” Karl glowingly praised Fauci, who has been accused by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., of funding the kind of research similar to that which is believed to have led to the creation of COVID-19, and then lying about it to Congress.
“But let me ask you. Do you feel a responsibility to stay doing what you’re doing until this — until this has truly gotten under control?”
Fauci replied, “Absolutely, Jon. There’s no doubt about it. This is the thing that I do. This is what I’ve been trained and experienced in doing my entire professional life.”
“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,” Fauci continued. “That’s – that’s our mission in life. In the middle of it, I’m not going to walk away.”
“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,'” Fauci proclaimed. “You can’t do that. You’ve got to finish it – and we’re going to finish this and get back to normal.”
Earlier this month, Paul said he has referred Fauci to the Justice Department for allegedly lying to lawmakers during sworn testimony.
In an interview with Fox Business, the Kentucky Republican admitted he does not “have a lot of hope” that Fauci is going to be charged by Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, who likely is not going to be “objectively looking” at the chief White House medical adviser’s congressional testimony.
“We’ve referred him to the Department of Justice, but then again, Merrick Garland is the one now going after parents that go to school board meetings,” Paul said.
“They have prosecuted other people. They have selectively gone after Republicans, but in no way will they do anything about him lying. But he should be prosecuted for lying,” Paul, who is a practicing ophthalmologist, added.
He added that “at the very least,” Fauci ought to be “taken out of position because I think he cost people lives through misinformation.”
“To arrive at the truth, the U.S. government should admit that the Wuhan Virology Institute was experimenting to enhance the coronavirus’s ability to infect humans,” said Paul in reference to National Institutes of Health grants given to an organization called EcoHealth Alliance, which worked in conjunction with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, specifically on coronavirus research.
