Lawmakers outpace most Americans in benefits
Congressmen who retire at 60 after 12 years in office get immediate pension of $25,000-a-year -- plus lifetime benefits
Jim Abrams / Associated Press
April 20, 2006
WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress occasionally lose elections, but they never lose retirement and health benefits that most Americans can only envy.
A lawmaker who retires at 60 after 12 years in office can count on receiving an immediate pension of $25,000 a year and lifetime benefits that could total more than $800,000.
That doesn't include 401(k) benefits. And any member who lasts five years in office also can get taxpayer-subsidized health care until he or she reaches Medicare age.
Pretty pensions
# Congressional pensions benefits start earlier and -- unlike most private pension plans promising a fixed monthly payment based on years worked and pay -- come with annual cost-of-living increases.
# Any member of Congress with five years of service is eligible for full benefits at 62. Those with 20 years in office can get full benefits at 50, younger than most workers.
# Under current rules, lawmakers who serve 30 years will receive a yearly pension of 44 percent of their annual pay, which this year is $165,200. That doesn't include their Social Security benefits and what they get back from their 401(k) plans.
# Like other federal workers in the Thrift Savings Plan, the government's equivalent of a 401(k), lawmakers may invest up to $15,000 yearly, more if they're over 50, and receive a contribution from the government equal to 5 percent of their pay.
If they got what you got
Private employers are switching from defined-benefit pension plans to less-costly cash balance retirement plans, under which employees generally receive one lump-sum payment when they retire or leave the company. In 2003, the Congressional Research Service looked at what would happen to lawmakers' benefits under such an approach. An example:
# A representative retired at 56 at the end of 2002 with 18 years of service. At 62 he or she would have a defined benefit plan worth $608,000. A comparable cash balance plan would be worth $251,000.
Some examples
# Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif. Cunningham, who was sentenced to eight years and four months in jail after pleading guilty to bribery charges this year, is still entitled to an annual pension of about $36,000 for his 15 years in the House. That doesn't include his military pension or 401(k) benefits.
# Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. DeLay, who is resigning after 22 years, will qualify for an initial pension of $56,000.
# Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who is retiring at the end of this session after three decades in the House, will receive a pension of $119,000 a year, according to the National Taxpayers Union, an interest group that keeps track.
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