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It is my understanding that there are a number of benefits bestowed to presidents when they leave office. These include a lucrative pension, $1 million travel budget per year, personal protection etc. Can someone clarify what these benefits are and whether or not presidents lose them if they are impeached and removed from power.

CDJB
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Beginner Biker
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    Then there's the question of whether Pence will get these benefits if he's the President for 20 minutes. – J.G. Jan 09 '21 at 16:17
  • @J.G. https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/61618/would-mike-pence-become-president-if-trump-was-impeached-and-removed-from-office – KingLogic Jan 10 '21 at 02:07

1 Answers1

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The benefits granted to former presidents are set out in the appropriately-named Former Presidents Act passed in 1958. This act entitles former presidents to a rate of pay equal to that of a head of an executive department for the rest of their life (paragraph a), office staff (paragraph b), office space (paragraph c), a spousal allowance after the former president's death (paragraph e), and an annual allowance of up to $1 million of travel and security related expenses for themselves, and $500 thousand for their spouse (paragraph g).

However, paragraph f of the above Act defines a former president as:

a person--

  1. who shall have held the office of President of the United States of America;
  2. whose service in such office shall have terminated other than by removal pursuant to section 4 of article II of the Constitution of the United States of America; and
  3. who does not then currently hold such office.

Therefore, if impeached and removed from office, a president would not receive any of the above benefits.

On the other hand, Secret Service protection for life after leaving office is granted by 18 U.S. Code § 3056, which contains no such provision. Even if impeached and removed from office, it seems that an ex-president would still receive this protection, if not declined.

The right to a state funeral is not enshrined in law, only policy. The military pamphlet found here mentions those eligible for a state funeral, and makes no mention of impeachment and conviction disqualifying a former president from this entitlement. State funerals must be ordered by presidential proclamation, so in this sense, there doesn't appear to be anything legally guaranteeing or denying a state funeral to a former president removed from office in this way.

Nevertheless, after their death, they are entitled to have U.S. flags on federal buildings flown at half-staff for thirty days, in accordance with 4 U.S. Code § 7 (m).

CDJB
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    Technically this means that a President could resign at the very last moment and still keep their benefits, since their office would be terminated voluntarily, similar to what Nixon did. – JonathanReez Jan 10 '21 at 00:44
  • How do those amounts account for inflation? – DKNguyen Jan 10 '21 at 02:40
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    @DKNguyen unless the law itself included a provision for inflation, it wouldn't adjust except by passing a new law overriding the old amounts. And inflation wasn't a big concern in 1958. There's no possible way that the amounts set in 1958 would still be appropriate today, so it's definitely a mystery. – Mark Ransom Jan 10 '21 at 05:19
  • What about funeral benefits (i.e. state funeral) for a former President? – DrSheldon Jan 10 '21 at 07:01
  • @MarkRansom Subsection (g), providing $1.5 million annually for travel and security to former Presidents+spouses not under Secret Service protection, was added in a 1995 act that also limited Secret Service protection for former Presidents after Clinton to 10 years. In 2013, lifetime Secret Service protection was reinstated, applying retroactively to G. W. Bush, but subsection (g) remains. I think the only way to get that money now is to decline Secret Service protection. – benrg Jan 10 '21 at 07:15
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    What happens if the Senate doesn't get round to voting on the impeachment until after 12 noon on the 20th, so that his service in office ends normally but he is then retroactively convicted? – Mike Scott Jan 10 '21 at 07:20
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    @DrSheldon added a section on this :) – CDJB Jan 10 '21 at 07:30
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    @MikeScott by my reading, the president would not have been removed from office by the impeachment process, so they would remain a former president by the definition used in para f. – CDJB Jan 10 '21 at 07:40
  • So a US president could resign after 1 minute in the office and still get all the benefits? Sounds like a nice plan for a rich and safe retirement with lots of traveling. – Michael Jan 10 '21 at 09:23
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    @Michael pretty sure the cost of being elected is higher than the life-time payout of that fund. – Erik Jan 10 '21 at 11:21
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    @Erik How much do they actually pay out of pocket to fund their campaign though? Isn't it mostly funded by errr...fundraising? – DKNguyen Jan 10 '21 at 18:47
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    All the plans for gaming this law surely miss the fact that congress can change the law (and maybe even make the change retroactive) if they're sufficiently annoyed by the gaming. If congress doesn't want [unnamed hypothetical President] to get the benefits, it is in their power to do so. – Wossname Jan 10 '21 at 21:17
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    @Erik ... Politicians at the federal level in the US do not pay out of pocket to fund their campaigns. The corporate class, through SuperPacs, fund these campaigns and write it off as an expense. It's a corporatocracy, not a democracy. – Beginner Biker Jan 11 '21 at 00:08
  • @MikeScott One of the biggest advantages of impeaching after the fact is it can stop him from running again. – Styxsksu Jan 11 '21 at 14:57
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    @Styxsksu Technically, I’m not sure that it can stop him from running. It can stop him from winning. – Mike Scott Jan 11 '21 at 15:07
  • @MikeScott at what point between "running" and "winning" would an ineligible candidate be stopped? – Will Jan 11 '21 at 17:22
  • @Will Inauguration, I would imagine. Whether the runner-up, Vice President elect or Speaker of the House would become President, I’m not sure. – Mike Scott Jan 11 '21 at 18:24
  • @Styxsksu, the Senate would have to be explicit about Trump not being able to hold public office again. If they just remove him from office, he could run again. https://www.politifact.com/article/2019/nov/06/could-donald-trump-be-impeached-removed-and-then-r/ – computercarguy Jan 11 '21 at 19:59
  • @MikeScott for an inauguration Congress would have to certify the results. That certification would surely be open to a SCOTUS challenge. Realistically there are obstacles way further back down the line affecting the individual electoral votes that Congress would be counting, and almost certainly they wouldn't make it onto enough ballots to be reasonably considered to be "running". Anyhow, I think my point is if the outcome you're inviting people to cast votes for is constitutionally out of the question I'm not sure it counts as running anyway. – Will Jan 11 '21 at 21:42