Taxpayers..
All modern presidents and first ladies have a travel budget, which does get paid by the taxpayers, especially when the president and/or his wife are on state business-- that is, when they are representing the United States for a trade or diplomatic mission; secret service protection is also taxpayer funded. But there are some expenses that come out of the president's own salary: if Mr. Obama (or any president) is on vacation, he pays for his own and his family's lodging, their food and any incidentals (like going to a bookstore to buy something to read)-- the taxpayers generally are not expected to pay for these things. In the case of a diplomatic trip, like the recent visit to Cuba, the taxpayers were not expected to pay for the Obama kids-- Mr. and Mrs. Obama handled those expenses.
I don't know what you mean by "food parties." All presidents get some vacation time (and by most objective analysis, Mr. Obama has not taken an unusual amount of vacation compared to other presidents), and it is in their pay and benefits that their vacation is generally paid for as part of the salary we the taxpayers give them. Presidents receive $400,000 a year in pay, plus a budget for clothing, entertainment, and travel. If the expenses are above and beyond-- like, if it involves bringing friends along, usually the president or the friends will reimburse the US treasury for those expenses.
It is a partisan myth that presidents cost us outrageous sums of money when they are on vacation. Republicans like to accuse Democratic presidents of being wasteful, and Democrats like to accuse Republicans of the same. To be fair, even when presidents are on vacation, they are also on duty, ready to take an emergency call from a cabinet member or someone in the Pentagon or whoever else might need to talk to the Commander in Chief. It is also a myth that President Obama has taken more vacations than any other president. There are some presidents who spend more time on vacation than others: but President Obama so far has not spent an unusual amount of time on vacation. That said, whether we are discussing President Bush or President Obama, vacations can be expensive, since they require secret service, special use of Air Force One (with fuel charges, paying staff, etc), and whatever the cost of the rental of the vacation house, meals, etc. According to some estimates, President Obama's vacations have actually cost less than those of President Bush. But the fact remains: there is no easy or cheap way for any president to take some time off without incurring a number of expenses, and yes, these expenses do affect the taxpayers.
The exact cost of President Obama's vacations and clothing during his time in office is not publicly disclosed. However, it is common for taxpayers to cover the expenses associated with presidential travel and security, including vacations. The cost of clothing is typically covered by the individual or through personal funds.
three lucky families
The Obamas are entitled to use the $44 million dollars of taxpayers money on vacation because he is appointed president and must rest sometime from serving the people. There's no reason why it should be illegal.
$70,000 (US) a day.
First, it is not unheard of for family members to live in the White House: Mamie Eisenhower (wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower) had her mother spend the winter months at the White House, and the mother of Bess Truman (wife of President Harry Truman) moved in and spent extended periods of time there. As for who foots the bill, it would probably be partly the taxpayers because Marian Robinson (Michelle Obama's mom) actually has some very specific duties-- she helps to take care of her grand-daughters, with whom she is very close. Having her there is part of the Obamas' commitment to allowing their two kids to live as normal a life as possible. Thus, if she goes on vacation with the Obamas (which she did several times), she would travel on Air Force One, and get secret service protection, since she is part of the First Family. However, it is doubtful the taxpayers would pay for everything: there is long-standing precedent for first ladies to reimburse the government for personal expenses that had nothing to do with their immediately family. For example, when Michelle and the girls went to Spain in 2010, some family friends joined them. but the expenses for the family friends were not picked up by the taxpayers, according to various news reports. (And although some partisan reports claimed she traveled with 40 friends and cost the taxpayers millions, that turned out to be false.) Still, it is probably a gray area as to how much the Obamas reimburse the treasury for having Grandma with them, and how much the taxpayers are paying.
No they can't go on vacation, they just they about it
I believe this web site www.corpvacations.com/ would be a great site to see what expenses can be claim as business expenses. Also to see certain places to go.
3-4 months ahead of time