WASHINGTON (TNND) — As many members of Congress announce early retirement, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., it highlights the massive pension advantage that congressional members get.
The pension benefits will cost American taxpayers $38 million per year to pay out, according to the New York Post.
Members of Congress only qualify for the pension if they serve a full five years in Congress.
“I can’t read her mind, but it certainly seems as if it was timed to make sure she got vested,” the vice president of research for the National Taxpayer Union Foundation said in reference to Greene after she announced her resignation, according to the New York Post.
Greene first started serving in Congress in 2021 and her last day is Jan. 5, 2026, meaning she will qualify for the pension.
Greene announced last month that she would be resigning from Congress, effective in January.
She said in her announcement video that she “always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in.”
Pelosi, who served almost 40 years in Congress, will get an estimated $107,860 per year upon retirement in 2027. She also announced on social media last month that she would not be seeking re-election.
“As we go forward, my message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” Pelosi said in her announcement.
“We have made history; we have made progress. We have always led the way, and now we must continue to do so by remaining full participants in our democracy, and fighting for the American ideals we hold dear.”