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COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES
WASHINGTON D.C. 20548
B-200513 January 7, 1981
Daniel Malachuk, Jr.
Deputy Special Assistant
for Administration
White House Operations
Dear Mr. ralachuk:
Your letter of September 16 invites our coments on your(proposal
to be Treasury Department to change lke administration of -*e Compen-
sation of the President account] , You/propose that payments from the
expense subaccount portion of-The compensation account be certified
directly by the White House Administrative Office rather than by the
Comptroller General as has been the case historically;. Because your
proposal would merely apply administrative procedures whtvch are present-
ly utilized in the certification of payments frcn other White House ac-
counts, including those set forth in 3 U.S.C. S 105(d) (Supp. III, 1979),
and because we are aware of no statutory requirements to the contrary,
This Office does not object to your proposal.j
The President's salary and expense accounts are currently both
appropriated by Congress in the Compensation of the President account
pursuant to section 102 of Title 3, United States Code (1976), as
amended. See, for example, the Executive Office Appropriation Act,
Title III of the Act of September 29, 1979, Pub. L. No. 96-74, 93 Stat.
563.
LThis Office currently certifies payments from bothi the salary and
expense accounts. W hile legislation provides for the amunt, taxability
and timing of payments made from the compensation account, the actual ad-
ministration of the account is more a matter of historical practice than
legal prescription. We are not aware of any statutory mandate as to the
actual method of payment from the President's Compensation Account.
,.The Comptroller General assumed the responsibility for certifying
the President's compensation payments as one of the duties performed
by his predecessor, the First Comptroller of the Treasury, and trans-
ferred to the Comptoller General by section 304 of the Budget and Ac-
counting Act of 1921. 31 U.S.C. § 44 (1976). In 1949, the expense
account was authorized as a permanent subaccount of the compensation
account provided for in 3 U.S.C. § 102 when Congress both increased the
President's salary and provided him with an additional expense allowance
of $50,000 for which no accounting shall be made by him. In 1951, the
so that the nrtion not exp?.rded for official expenses could be retained
by and taxed to the President as incone. Act of October 20, 1951, ch.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobabjye0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)