michelleponders

I have been watching the reaction to elected members of Congress whenever term limits are brought up. They have had very typical reactions and are absolutely against it with the exception of a few. Then one day I heard a member of Congress talking about their pension. I did not realize that members of Congress received a pension so I figured it is time to learn more about this pension and do some critical thinking about term limits, retirement and Congress.

Can you believe that Congress did not pay Social Security taxes at one time? Neither did federal civil service employees. Now of course neither were eligible to receive social security. Their pension plan was a separate plan called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). In an amendment to the Social Security Act (PL98.21) all federal employees must pay Social Security taxes beginning in 1984. Unfortunately the CSRS was not compatible with the Social Security System. Congress then developed a new retirement system for anyone who was hired or entered Congress beginning in 1984 resulting in the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986(FERS)(PL99.335) Senators and Representatives serving before September 30, 2003 may decline the coverage. Representatives serving after September 30, 2003 must be enrolled. The members of Congress serving when Social Security went into effect has the choice of being enrolled either in the CSRS or FERS. Members are now covered under one of 4 plans: CSRS and Social Security, the CSRS Offset Plan which includes CSRS and Social Security but with CSRS contributions reduced by Social Security contributions ,FERS which includes the FERS basic retirement annuity, Social Security, and a Thrift Saving Plan(TSP), or Social Security only. You can find all the details on the plans and contribution amounts, eligibility requirements amongst other details on the Congress website https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/RL30631 .

Now I am not a numbers person and these plans made my head hurt. But Congress has a fairly good retirement plan that basically offers a pension, matched savings and social security. This is more than what everyday working Americans get for retirement. Of course, like any other “job”, the longer you serve in Congress, the more the benefits are maximized. Members of Congress are vested into the pension after 5 years of service. Representatives serve 2 year terms and Senators serve 6 year terms. So a person can be elected to the senate for one term and qualify for a pension at retirement for the rest of their life. Now, a representative has to fight for at least 3 terms to qualify. Now once a member of Congress reaches the age to draw on their pension, it is based on the average of the 3 top paying years’ salaries and time of service. Interesting. Now, the average of the top 3 years’ salaries made me curious about the salaries in Congress. I honestly thought Congress was paid the same across the board. I have been quite naive. The members of Congress, which includes senators, representatives, delegates and the resident commissioner from Puerto Rico receive $174,000 a year. Delegates? Really? I do not remember electing delegates. Congressional leaders do receive higher salaries due to extra responsibilities. The Speaker of the House receives $223,500 yearly. The Senate President Pro Tempore receives $193,400 yearly. And the Majority and Minority Leaders receive $193,400 respectively. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Now the computations for the newer members of Congress are fairly easy. And of course, the newer members only have use of one of 4 pension plans. But I can say that the life long members of Congress are beyond greedy. Actually, all members of congress are greedy. But that’s a discussion for another day. Any Congress member who was serving before the plan changeover in 1984 had the option of staying in the CSRS or leaving that plan and going into FERS plan. The member of Congress that chose to go the FERS plan would be able to draw retirement from both CSRS and FERS plans because they has contributed to both. For example, the pension for a Representative or Senator who retired in December 2014 at the end of the 113^th Congress with a total of 32 years of service (5 years covered under CSRS and 27 years covered under FERS) and a high-3 salary of $174,000 would be:

If I knew that I would be able to receive this amount yearly after retirement, I would be happy. I could retire quite comfortably! I’d have my garden and do canning and pickling and grow beautiful flowers for the pollinators and…oh wait. We are not talking about me. I digress. Any who, why would members of Congress be against term limits? For one, a career politician can draw one heck of a pension once they finally decide to step away from politics. There are also those lobbyists who push their agendas in D.C. while lining politicians pockets. And we all know that there is a lot of insider trading in the stock market. Definitely not something anyone outside of Congress can get away with. Greed, power and control run amok in Washington D.C. And it runs on both sides of the aisle. Let’s face it. Elites, lawyers and company owners have managed to get elected on empty promises to their constituents. Then once they get to D.C., it is all about what they can get away with and do to grow their own wealth.

So that is a look into the retirement plan for members of Congress. I definitely see why the old timers in Congress do not want to retire. It would put them on our level as far as retirement goes and they would not be able to survive on their retirement. And yet, we are supposed to budget and live on what we can manage to put away for when we are too old to work. Members of Congress who have managed to stay in D.C. all these years are used to living a certain high class lifestyle and the longer they stay in Congress, they not have to worry about living on a budget like the actual working class of America. Maybe that is why they can not seem to balance the U.S. budget and do not want term limits put on them. Hmm….