Did you know?....

[J.R.E.]

DID YOU KNOW?....

Congressional pensions vary.

This was a question asked in the Saint Petersburg Times yesterday.

"Can you tell me what U.S. Senators and Representatives get in addition to their base salaries?"


It depends on years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of salary, according to the 2011 CRS report for Congress: Retirement Benefits for members of Congress.

Members of congress did not pay Social security taxes and were not eligible for benefits before 1984; a separate pension plan- the Civil Service Retirement plan- covered them.  When the social Security Act was amended in 1983,  all members of congress were required to participate in Social Security.


Because CSRS was not designed to coordinate with Social Security, a new retirement plan fo federal workers, the Federal Employees Retirement system, or FERS  was created in 1986.

Congressional pensions are finance through a combination of employee and employer contributions.

Under CSRS and and FERS, members of congress are eligible for a pension at age 62 if they have served 5 years.  Members are eligible at age 50 if 20 years of service are completed, or at any age after serving 25 years.


The starting amount of a members annuity may not excered 80% of his or her final salary, the report says.

AS of Oct 1,2009 , 455 retired members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service, it says.  "Of this number,  275 had retired under CSRS  and were receiving an average annual pension of $69,012 dollars.

 
A total of 180 members had retired under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only.  Their average annual pensions was $40,140 dollars in 2009.

For further details, the report can be found at Senate.gov ( enter RL30631) in the search box;  the 2011 report is the third  one down).

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[tednlou2]

Half of members of Congress are millionaires. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20023147-503544.html