Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated that he has no plans to retire anytime soon, but if he were to resign as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he would be eligible for the highest federal retirement package in American history.
Fauci’s 55 years of federal government service, according to Forbes auditors at OpenTheBooks.com, qualifies him for an annual retirement payment of more than $350,000, which would increase with annual cost-of-living adjustments.
Fauci is currently the federal government’s highest-paid employee, earning $434,321 in 2020, more than the president, the military’s highest-ranking commanders, and the roughly 4.3 million federal employees combined.
“There’s no way I’m going to walk away from this until we get this under control,” Fauci told ABC’s Johnathan Karl earlier this month when asked about possibly stepping away from the job.
“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.” A request for comment from Fox News was not immediately returned by Fauci’s office.
After arguing for tight lockdown measures during the coronavirus outbreak, Fauci has become one of the most divisive political personalities in the country, drawing the ire of conservatives who accused him of inconsistent positions.
Republicans have chastised Fauci over his agency’s ties to taxpayer monies that sponsored gain-of-function studies on bats infected with coronaviruses at a lab in Wuhan, China, most notably Sen. Rand Paul, a medical doctor.
As per Yahoo, former Trump trade advisor Dr. Peter Navarro said last year regarding his experience in government with Fauci, “Dr. Anthony Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public, but he has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on.”
