White House Chef Sam Kass Getting Furloughed Thanks To Budget Cuts
Well, this is awkward; Obama Foodorama reports that semi-celebrity White House chef Sam Kass might be put on furlough, as the White House implements budget cuts.
At a meeting Tuesday, the Let's Move! executive director joked with the press that his next stop was a "furlough meeting." "We're being furloughed. Shin [Inouye] and I are getting cut," Kass said, presumably as a joke.
When asked to confirm, Kass said, "I don't know," but the White House has yet to confirm or deny the move. AP reports that 480 workers on the budget staff might have to take days off sans pay, but Kass does say that the budget cuts won't affect the Let's Move campaign.
Kass has been a public representative of the White House kitchen ever since he helped create a vegetable garden on the South Lawn, growing more than 3,000 pounds of produce for the kitchen, TODAY notes. It is unclear if other chefs will be affected by furloughs.