Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Mick Mulvaney Mick MulvaneyMick Mulvaney to start hedge fund Fauci says positive White House task force reports don't always match what he hears on the ground Bottom line MORE gave major pay raises to political appointees he hired at the agency, according to multiple media reports.

Four of the political appointees are making $259,500 and another staffer is earning $239,595. The salaries far exceed those made by even the highest-ranking government staffers, including members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries, according to The Associated Press.

Federal government employees can make up to $134,776, not including adjustments made for cities with high costs of living such as D.C.

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CFPB staffers operate under the Federal Reserve’s pay scale, which caps salaries at $250,000.

Mulvaney’s chief of staff, Kirsten Sutton, is one of the staffers earning $259,500, according to The New York Times. That’s a significant pay bump from her predecessor, Leandra English, who earned $212,324 under former CFPB Director Richard Cordray Richard Adams CordrayConsumer bureau revokes payday lending restrictions Supreme Court ruling could unleash new legal challenges to consumer bureau Supreme Court rules consumer bureau director can be fired at will MORE.

A CFPB spokesperson said in a statement to the AP that Cordray was responsible for Mulvaney’s staffers higher salaries and that “non-career staff are being paid on par with the career staff who directly report to them.”

The spokesperson said it is up to Congress to change how compensation works at the agency.

Mulvaney is known for cracking down on spending at the agency. He made a quarterly budget request for the agency of $0 earlier this year, saying he would tap into an emergency fund for the reserve instead.

“It is my intent to spend down the reserve until it is of a much smaller size, while still allowing the Bureau to successfully perform its functions, before making an additional financial request of the Board,” Mulvaney wrote.