Members of Congress have a generous pension plan that for all intents and purposes insulates them from stock market fluctuations that currently threaten the retirement accounts of most of the rest of us.
U. S. House and Senate members are offered a defined-benefit pension backed by the U. S. Treasury and largely protected from market forces. According to The Associated Press, defined-benefit plans are rare, available to only 5%of private sector employees.
In fact, 46% of the private sector is offered no workplace pension of any kind, not even 401(k)s that are so at risk in today’s market and certainly not the guaranteed benefits available to Congress.
It’s no surprise that government and public employed pensions at many levels fare better than most. However, members of Congress are at the top of the heap of this privileged class of Americans.
Our federal representatives and senators are eligible after five years for full pension benefits at age 62. Better yet, those with 20 years in office can get full pensions at 50, younger than most people who really work for a living.
A full congressional pension starts at 80 %, adjusted annually for inflation, of the average of the highest three years of salary – currently $169,300 a year for the rank and file and $188,100 a year for the Senate and House majority and minority leaders.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rakes in the highest congressional salary, $217,400 a year, on which she continues to build her retirement nest egg. Figure her pension would start at nearly $174,00 pear, plus annual inflation thereafter, except it probably will rise higher by the time she leaves Congress.
On top of all that, members of Congress may choose to invest in 401(k) or similar retirement accounts that are not backed by the Treasury. But unlike the rest of us, these optional retirement funds are just gravy for Congress, whose members still can count on guaranteed pensions.
As the AP put it, “Despite the financial crisis…Congress has made no effort to revisit its unusually sweat retirement deal.”
Remember that when these members of the ruling class in Washington say they feel your pain or they promise to go after the pensions of greedy corporate executives who led companies to the brink of financial disaster.
How about Congress? It’s part of the privileged class that bears responsibility for what ails the nation.
