Let’s put some numbers on all of this. The OTF’s total budget slowly raised from ~$10M in 2019 to a grand total of $40M in 2023, almost half of all allocated funds by Congress to promote Internet freedom globally.
That’s an incredibly tiny amount of money.
More recently, Congress had directed that - for both the fiscal years of 2024 and 2025 - the funding should be “not less than $43,500,000”, which guaranteed an income stream for 2025 too.
Looks like some spicy legal action will suck up a lot of those cuts…
I like to estimate by cost per congressperson, which is ~$7.5M/year. So the whole of OTF is about 3 congresspeople (and their staff), that sounds fair.
No, current salary for all representatives outside of a handful of leadership positions is $174,000. This is the cumulative cost for everything else (staff, expenses, etc).
I personally think $174k is a bit low for salary, especially given the COL for the area and the importance of the role. I’d like to see that increase, while also increasing our expectations from our reps (i.e. jail time for bought politicians).
That’s an incredibly tiny amount of money.
Looks like some spicy legal action will suck up a lot of those cuts…
I also like to measure in jetwing money … This is like half a jetwing.
I like to estimate by cost per congressperson, which is ~$7.5M/year. So the whole of OTF is about 3 congresspeople (and their staff), that sounds fair.
is that their taxpayer funded salary? because you can buy one much much cheaper.
No, current salary for all representatives outside of a handful of leadership positions is $174,000. This is the cumulative cost for everything else (staff, expenses, etc).
I personally think $174k is a bit low for salary, especially given the COL for the area and the importance of the role. I’d like to see that increase, while also increasing our expectations from our reps (i.e. jail time for bought politicians).