12/10/2014
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(CNSNews.com) -- For the $2.2 million MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has been paid by the federal government since 2000, he collected $516,000 during Clinton’s presidency, $1,248,000 during the Bush administration, and $452,600 after President Barack Obama took office.
An assistant economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by 1992, Gruber’s career with the federal government started in 1997 when he took a leave of absence from MIT to serve as deputy assistant secretary of economic policy for the Department of the Treasury under former President Bill Clinton.
He only served in that position for a year, leaving to become a full professor at MIT in 1998.
Gruber then began a string of recurring taxpayer-paid stints as an “expert witness” in January 2000, when the Department of Justice paid him $102,000 for his “expert” testimony, according to USASpending.gov.
Under Clinton’s administration, Gruber received the following amounts from the Justice Department for “expert witness” services:
January, 2000: $102,000
June, 2000: $52,000
July, 2000: $52,000
January 15, 2001: $240,000
January 15, 2001: $70,000
Total: $516,000
Gruber was also paid the following amounts by the federal government throughout the Bush years, each time by the Department of Justice for “expert witness” services.
September, 2001: $52,000
September, 2001: $90,000
January, 2002: $166,000
May, 2002: $72,000
August, 2002: $100,000
October, 2004: $50,000
April, 2005: $159,800
April, 2005: $159,800
October, 2005: $371,400
November, 2008: $13,500
September, 2008: $13,500
Total: $1,248,000
Between 2001 and 2005 during the Bush administration, Gruber received a total of $1, 248,000 in federal payments for expert testimony, primarily about restrictions and regulations on tobacco companies and cigarette manufactures, including Philip Morris.
Gruber also secured money from the State Department for his testimony during a NAFTA dispute between the U.S. government and a Canadian tobacco company.
After President Barack Obama’s took office in January of 2009, Gruber continued his side career as a government-paid outside contractor.
In 2009, Gruber received three separate payments for “professional services,” including “technical assistance,” in the amounts of $90,000, $95,000 and $267,600 -- a total of $452,600.
It was during this time that Gruber was helping to craft Obama’s signature health care law.
CNSNews.com reached out to Gruber to ask how many hours he worked to earn the $1,764,000 million as an "expert witness."
"I'm sorry, but I have no comment," Gruber responded in an email.
In total, from the Clinton years, Bush years, and through the Obama years to date, the records available show that Gruber was paid $2,216,000 in taxpayer money from the federal government.
Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. (AP)
In November 2014, several tapes were published in which Gruber openly admitted Obamacare was passed due to the “stupidity of the American voter,” adding that the average American is “too stupid to understand” how the law works.
Gruber is scheduled to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Tuesday, Dec. 9, where he will face questions from members of Congress over a slew of comments he made in the recently published videos.
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