How much will Ebola czar be paid?

The Obama administration’s new Ebola czar will be paid, but the White House on Monday declined to say how much former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain will be making in his new position.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz confirmed that Klain, who starts work Wednesday, would take home a paycheck, but he said the amount would only be revealed in the annual disclosure of White House staff salaries.

{mosads}That report is typically released at the beginning of July, which means Klain will likely have already left the administration by the time his salary is disclosed. Last week, press secretary Josh Earnest said the longtime Democratic operative had been hired with “the expectation this is not a permanent commitment.”

“We’re looking at something on the order of five or six months,” Earnest told reporters. “But we can get you some greater clarity on that as he assumes this role.”

No matter what Klain is paid, it’s likely to be a step down from his previous positions as president of technology investment firm Case Holdings and general counsel at Revolution LLC, a technology-oriented venture capital firm.

The average salary for White House employees last year was $82,844, and the maximum salary for a White House staffer is $172,200.

That’s the salary the administration reported for Jeff Zeints, who came in to organize the federal response to the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov, although he had moved to his position as director of the National Economic Council by July.

Klain was spotted at the White House over the weekend and has met with chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior administration officials, Schultz said. But Klain was not part of an all-hands meeting on Saturday night and will not testify at a House Oversight Committee hearing on the Ebola crisis Wednesday.

“That will be day three of his tenure,” Schultz said.

Separately a White House official said the administration was “fully participating” in the hearing and would send representatives from the Pentagon and Department of Health and Human Services.

“While Mr. Klain, who starts on Wednesday, will not participate, U.S. government officials from the multi-agency response effort can provide information on the Administration’s response,” the official said.

President Obama, who is traveling to Chicago for campaign events, will be briefed on the administration’s response efforts Monday afternoon through a teleconference by top homeland security aide Lisa Monaco.