{"id":169691,"date":"2025-12-05T15:52:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/169691\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:52:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T15:52:14","slug":"pelosi-and-greene-retirements-thrust-38m-a-year-perk-for-ex-lawmakers-into-spotlight-end-pensions-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/169691\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelosi and Greene retirements thrust $38M-a-year perk for ex-lawmakers into spotlight: \u2018End pensions in Congress\u2019\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The vast majority of the record number of congressional lawmakers<\/a> not seeking re-election next year, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)<\/a>, will collect annual pension benefits that cost taxpayers some $38 million per year to payout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The timing of Greene\u2019s abrupt retirement<\/a>, as well of the six-figure sum Pelosi<\/a> will receive after serving nearly 40 years in Congress, have brought attention to the little-known perk for ex-pols and renewed calls to end the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t read her mind, but it certainly seems as if it was timed to make sure she got vested,\u201d Demian Brady, the vice president of research for the National Taxpayer Union Foundation, said of the Georgia Republican\u2019s last day in the House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) announced her retirement from Congress last month. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

Under federal law, members of Congress qualify for annual pension benefits only after completing five full years of service.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brady was one of the first to point out that Greene, who began serving on Jan. 3, 2021, and will leave office on Jan. 5, 2026, picked a departure date that gives her just enough time to meet the eligibility threshold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wasn\u2019t in there for very long,\u201d the taxpayer advocate continued. \u201cSo it\u2019s not a huge pension, but it\u2019s a little extra that she\u2019s going to get.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brady calculated<\/a> that under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) benefit formula for members of Congress, at age 62, Greene will start collecting her $8,717 per year pension, which the expert noted is \u201clower than the average.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on actuarial data, Greene\u2019s total pension payouts could amount to more than $265,000 over her lifetime, according to Brady.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-California) will not seek re-election and will received a six-figure pension after 40 years of service. AP<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pelosi\u2019s estimated pension figure<\/a> \u2013 given the pay bump she received as House speaker and her election to the House before reforms made the system less generous \u2013\u00a0 will be \u201cone of the most substantial\u201d on record for any current or former member of Congress in FERS, Brady noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The California Democrat will benefit from an estimated $107,860 per year upon retirement in 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The most recent publicly available data shows retirement benefits for former members of Congress totaled more than $38 million in 2022, according to Congressional Research Services<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The average annual annuity received under FERS was $45,276. A separate pension plan under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) \u2013 which is closed to lawmakers who began service after 1984 \u2013 doled out an average $84,504 to 261 enrollees in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2018<\/a>, when there were roughly 100 additional CSRS enrollees and 60 fewer in FERS, total pension payouts amounted to more than $53 million per year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)<\/a>, a Greene ally, has been one of the biggest proponents for eliminating congressional pensions \u2013 but he doesn\u2019t blame the congresswoman for accepting the benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSenators can opt out of paying into FERS but Representatives may not,\u201d Massie told The Post. \u201cSo Representative Greene was unable to decline participation in FERS.<\/p>\n

The record number of congressional lawmakers bowing out and receiving a pension will cost taxpayers some $38 million a year. REUTERS<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a member is required to pay into the program, they should be able to receive it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Massie said he plans to \u201creintroduce soon\u201d legislation to end the eligibility of House lawmakers in the FERS program, as well as a separate bill that would \u201cmake participation optional for Representatives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf congressmen want to save for retirement, they should do so with 401(k)-type plans, rather than rely on taxpayers to take care of them even after leaving Congress,\u201d he said. \u201cTo tackle out-of-control federal spending, Congress must lead by example by ending defined-benefit pensions for Members of Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a>, a former congressman, publicly pledged in 2013 that he would not accept his pension benefits despite paying into the system and authored the legislation Massie (an original co-sponsor) intends to put forward once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t run for Congress for the perks,\u201d DeSantis said at the time. \u201cI ran for office to be the type of citizen legislator our Founding Fathers envisioned and to change the prevailing culture in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of Greene\u2019s resignation announcement, the Florida governor reupped his call to axe the benefit program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t begrudge others who made a different choice,\u201d DeSantis wrote on X last week<\/a>, when a user noted his 2013 decision. \u201cThe important thing is to reform the system for everyone, namely, by ending congressional pensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate post<\/a>, the former GOP presidential primary candidate noted that members of Congress also accrue retirement benefits through a separate program, the Thrift Savings Plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cHow many private sector workers get a pension and a 401k? End Pensions in Congress,\u201d DeSantis demanded.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The governor also revealed<\/a> that when he introduced his bill to end the taxpayer-backed program it \u201cneedless to say, did not get a terribly warm reception among the members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brady, the congressional pension expert and reform advocate, agreed that current lawmakers are the biggest obstacle to ending congressional pensions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the big roadblock are career politicians,\u201d he told The Post. \u201cThey spend their whole, you know, decades and decades in public office, and so they\u2019re going to want that pension once they get out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s the main block on any reforms going forward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although he doesn\u2019t view Greene\u2019s retirement date \u2013 which also falls on the eve of the first day of legislative business in 2026 \u2013 as something that is \u201creally going to move the ball forward\u201d on reform, he credits the congresswoman for inadvertently \u201craising a lot of awareness\u201d about congressional pensions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Greene and Pelosi did not respond to The Post\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The vast majority of the record number of congressional lawmakers not seeking re-election next year, including Reps. Marjorie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,8310,246,51439,101504,111,139,69,12613,244,245,135,294,36989,109983,258],"class_list":{"0":"post-169691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-congress","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-marjorie-taylor-greene","12":"tag-nancy-pelosi","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-pensions","17":"tag-personal-finance","18":"tag-personalfinance","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-retirement","21":"tag-ron-desantis","22":"tag-us-house-of-representatives","23":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}