Former Members Get Millions From Pensions : Roll Call

File Photo

Rep. Howard Coble, who offered legislation to scale back Congressional pensions in the 1990s, said trying again now would be \”an exercise in futility.\”

Taxpayers are likely to foot the bill for at least $26 million in pensions for former Members of Congress this year, even as Congress embraces austerity by curbing its annual pay raises and voting to slash office budgets.

That estimate, drawn from data published by the Congressional Research Service, is based on payments to 455 former Members as of October 2009 and doesn’t include potential payouts to dozens of newly retired lawmakers who are eligible to draw their pensions.

While Members have taken aim at Congress’ internal spending habits in recent months — lawmakers voted against an automatic pay raise in the current fiscal year and the House voted last month to cut its office budgets by 5 percent — the Congressional pension program is rarely mentioned on Capitol Hill.

\”Along with the franking privilege, pensions represent a valuable perk to both political parties that lawmakers don’t want to touch,\” National Taxpayers Union spokesman Pete Sepp said.

Aside from passing a measure in 2007 to strip Members convicted of certain felonies while in office of their Congressional pensions, neither the House nor Senate has pursued major changes to their retirement program since the mid-1990s.