The president’s staff costs a lot of money. That shouldn’t be a surprise. But just how much money does the taxpayer fork over each year to keep the White House operation humming?

In Joe Biden’s case, nearly $50 million a year – more than his immediate predecessors, Donald Trump and Barack Obama. According to OpenTheBooks.com’s  Adam Andrzejewski, the president’s payroll report to Congress shows:

There are 190 more employees on White House staff under Biden than under Trump (377) and 80 more than under Obama (487) at this point in their respective presidencies.

$9.6 million increase in payroll spending vs. the Trump FY2017 payroll. In 2017, the Trump White House spent $40 million for 377 employees, while the Biden payroll amounts to $49.6 million for 567 employees. All spending amounts are inflation adjusted.

Hires include 320 female staffers ($28.9 million salaries) vs. 240 male staffers ($20.8 million salaries). In terms of top staffers — Special Assistants — there are 52 female ($6.3 million salaries) vs. 10 males ($1.2 million).

Currently, there are 12 staffers dedicated – at least in part – to Dr. Jill Biden vs. five staffers who served Melania Trump in her first year (FY2017).

Counts of the “Assistants to the President” – the most trusted advisors to the president – are the same (22) in for the Biden administration and the Trump and Obama administrations. This year, these advisors make $180,000.

Should presidents get the best people they can to advise them and carry out essential White House operations? Of course. But that doesn’t mean hiring a gaggle of “czars” to do it:

Starting in 2009, President Obama came under fire for hiring special initiative czars. From 2017-2020, we found no evidence of “czars” on Trump’s payroll.

However, Biden has czar(ed) up – naming at least 21 czars to date, with plans to fill 55 positions. These include:  National Climate Advisor Regina McCarthy ($180,000) and a Special Envoy for Climate, John Kerry – who is listed in press accounts, but doesn’t appear in the payroll data. Others include Jeff Zients ($36,000), the COVID-19 czar.

A czar-filled staff leads to czar-like spending…which our debt-laden government can neither afford nor sustain.