Landlord Joe Biden will keep collecting rent checks from the agency that protects his life thanks to another contract extension that allows Secret Service agents to continue staying in a cottage on his Delaware property.
The latest extension, signed on May 6, boosts the overall value of the contract to more than $100,000 since the agency first started paying Mr. Biden a few years ago.
The arrangement, first reported by The Washington Times, puts Mr. Biden in the unusual position of being both a sitting vice president and a vendor for the federal government at the same time.
The deal has come under scrutiny from taxpayer watchdogs who question why Mr. Biden couldn’t let the Secret Service stay on his property without paying.
But the Secret Service has said the cottage is a rental property so the agency pays rent. And Mr. Biden’s office has said the cottage was existing rental property at the time the Secret Service signed its lease.
Mr. Biden and his wife reported $19,022 in rental income on their cottage property in their joint tax return for 2013.
• Jim McElhatton can be reached at jmcelhatton@washingtontimes.com.
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