Although President Obama is unlikely to miss any meals, the White House kitchen will be missing its assistant chef, if only for a few days every now and then. Sam Kass, who cooks dinner for Mr. Obama several nights a week and is also his senior adviser on nutrition policy, is one of 480 White House employees who were expected to receive furlough notices stemming from the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration.
Mr. Kass relayed the news to reporters on Tuesday, days after numerous top officials from the administration - including the president and several of his cabinet members - announced that they would be returning a share of their salaries to the federal government. Their mass act was aimed at showing solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of federal employees across the country who would lose workdays - and dollars from their paychecks - because of the mandatory time off.
Aside from furloughing Mr. Kass, who also plants in the White House garden and directs Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move†campaign, officials have delayed filling vacant positions and said that pay cuts remained possible for other White House employees. The administration has also scaled back on equipment and supply purchases, as well as staff travel.
