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Posted on 01/17/2003 6:55:44 PM PST by Libloather
THE LOW DOWN ON CONGRESS' RETIREMENT PLAN
Seen that email about Congress not paying into Social Security and extravagant benefits that Members of Congress get? Is it true? YCDC gives you the real deal on what your tax dollars are paying for...
As far as Social Security goes, all members of Congress have Social Security taxes withheld from their salaries at the same rate as all taxpayers. Members of Congress can collect Social Security benefits, and their benefits are calculated the same way as everyone else's. As far as retirement benefits are concerned, Members of Congress who were elected after January 1, 1984 participate in same retirement plan as all other federal employees -- the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). There is an older benefit plan, the old Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), which has been phased out.
The retirement benefit for all Members is based on is the same methodology as used for any other federal employee, a percentage of the average of their three highest consecutive salaries times years of service. However, Members of Congress and Congressional employees are treated as a "special group," a category also given to firefighters, law enforcement officials, and air traffic controllers. While all the "special people" receive a higher basic benefit (1.7% - vs. 1% for all other federal employees), all the "special group" people - including Members of Congress - also contribute more from their payroll checks to help pay for the additional benefit.
To see the explanation for how Members of Congress are treated as a special group from the Office of Personnel Management's retirement handbook, go to http://www.opm.gov/fers_election/ri_90/f_seg.htm#congress.
To check out more about the FERS program and retirement benefits for all federal employees, go to http://www.opm.gov/fers_election/ri_90/f_toc.htm.
Of course, for all federal employees, other factors -- prior military or civilian service, for example - are also considered in computing the actual amount of the annuity.
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