Like the rest of our gargantuan government, the First Lady's staff has ballooned into an expensive mess. Now there are reports that President Trump may consider cuts there.
As President Donald Trump searches for ways to cut costs at the White House, he has set his sights on the first lady’s office.
Trump is considering reducing the number of jobs in that office, which has grown to up to 20 employees in recent administrations, according to three people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly about the deliberations.
Anita McBride, who served in the last three Republican White Houses, including as chief of staff to former first lady Laura Bush, said any potential cutbacks might be consistent with the limited number of projects that first lady Melania Trump had indicated she wanted to pursue.
Melania Trump has been slow to staff her East Wing office as she continues to live in New York with their 10-year-old son, Barron, while he finishes the school year. She was in Washington on Friday for the first time since the inauguration Jan. 20 for the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
As of this week, she had hired only a chief of staff and a social secretary, who oversees hundreds of events, big and small, from bill signings to lavish state dinners.
It's also likely that Ivanka will be taking on more of the role of First Lady. First Daughters have acted as the First Lady before. So it wouldn't be unprecedented. There really wasn't much reason for the staff creep that we were seeing, particularly under Obama, when it was announced that due to the government shutdown, Michelle Obama couldn't manage to tweet.
And starting cuts in the White House is a good precedent for larger government cuts.