Pensions for congressional felons have cost taxpayers about $3.7 million between 2007 and 2022, according to research from the nonpartisan taxpayer research organization, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
And the latest federally indicted congressman, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), might just keep his pension, too, even if he is found guilty at his trial scheduled for May. Menendez, who has served 17 years in the Senate and says he’s committed no crime, faces up to 50 years in federal prison across four charges related to allegedly acting as foreign agent of Egypt and taking bribes while serving as a public official.
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Menendez’s future pension cost to taxpayers? About $70,100 per year, estimates Demian Brady, vice president of research for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Exact pension amounts are not made publicly available by the government.
“Even if he were convicted, he could still receive his pension funds for probably a couple of years” thanks to legal loopholes, said Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist on ethics and campaign finance rules for the nonprofit Public Citizen.
The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) and Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act are the latest legislation to outline the circumstances that would strip congressional felons of their pensions. But only certain crimes strictly related to their congressional duties would lead to pension disqualification.
The Office of Personnel Management determines eligibility for pension benefits based on the laws once a former member applies.
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“The problem with all these laws that would revoke pensions for members of Congress is that the convictions have to be entirely related to their official duties, so if they're convicted of some crimes that half involved their official duties and half involve robbery or something outside their official duties, then they don't lose their pensions,” Holman said. “Usually, these convictions are broader than just corruption crimes in Congress, and that's why it isn't generally enforced.”
While appealing their cases, former legislators can keep collecting their pensions, too.
“Your congressional pension is not forfeited until you are finally convicted, so that means until all your opportunities for appealing your case expire,” Brady said, pointing to former Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) as an example of a convicted felon who continued to collect pension funds while appealing his 10-year sentence for a racketeering conspiracy.
And for members of Congress who collect pensions while appealing, they don’t have to repay any annuities they collect even if the original verdict is upheld.
What does this mean for Menendez? Were he convicted, then still found guilty upon appeal, he would lose his pension benefits going forward but wouldn’t have to repay any pension collected while appealing, Holman said.
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“What Menendez is being charged with would be covered to eliminate his pension. The big loophole is that he still receives pensions until all his appeals are exhausted,” Holman said.
Menendez could ultimately keep his pension if he isn’t convicted of the charges that would strip him of his pension; if he is convicted of charges unrelated to his congressional duties; or the Office of Personnel Management deems him eligible for the benefit when he applies.
Legislators need to have served in office at least five years to be eligible to collect a pension. This means that another federally indicted current member of Congress, freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY), wouldn’t be able to collect a pension unless he got reelected for another two terms.
Santos said he plans to run for re-election even as he faces trial, so if he is reelected and serves at least five years, he would become eligible to collect a pension.
Some members convicted of corruption who could potentially lose their pension just haven’t turned 62 yet, the age when members who’ve served at least five years become eligible to withdraw pension funds.
Take former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL), 58, who pleaded guilty in 2013 to conspiring to defraud his reelection campaigns of about $750,000, which was used to pay for various personal items ranging from a mink cashmere cape to a guitar signed by pop legend Michael Jackson.
It’s unknown whether Jackson will be denied his pension until he applies for benefits with the Office of Personnel Management.
For members who’ve served 20 years in Congress, they can begin collecting a pension at age 50, and legislators with at least 25 years of service can begin collecting at any age, as noted in a July 2023 Congressional Research Service report.
‘Held to the highest standard’
Some members of Congress are pushing for new legislation that would close loopholes related to legally troubled members of Congress receiving pensions.
Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) co-sponsored the No CORRUPTION Act, which would immediately strip members of Congress of their pensions upon felony convictions.
“The American people expect their elected officials to be held to the highest standard and do the right thing because members of Congress are here to serve them,” Scott said in a statement to Raw Story. “It’s common sense that if you’re a member of Congress and are convicted of a crime involving public corruption, you forfeit your right to all pension benefits provided to you by taxpayers and hardworking families — period. The No CORRUPTION Act is a good step to hold elected officials accountable, protect taxpayers’ hard-earned money and put an end to Washington dysfunction.”
The No CORRUPTION Act passed the Senate in the summer and is awaiting a House vote. Shortly after Menendez was indicted on Sept. 22, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) reintroduced the House companion bill of the No CORRUPTION Act.
"For too long, loopholes have made it possible for corrupt Washington politicians convicted of felonies to continue collecting taxpayer-funded pensions – that’s unacceptable,” Rosen said in a statement. “It’s why I worked across the aisle to find a commonsense solution to prohibit these corrupt officials from receiving a pension.”
Breaking down the pension loopholes
The first legislation enacted to restrict some government officials from collecting their pensions was the Hiss Act. Passed in 1954, it’s designed to take away pensions from government officials convicted of national security crimes such as treason, espionage and sabotage, or who pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in such cases.
The law was named as such as it intended to remove the pension of former State Department official Alger Hiss after he was convicted of perjury for denying he conducted espionage for the Soviet Union. In 1972, his revoked pension was reinstated as it was declared unconstitutional for the law to be applied retroactively, The New York Times reported.
In 1961, the law was amended to restore pensions to employees who were convicted of minor crimes not related to national security.
It wasn’t until 2007 that further reform was passed in the form of HLOGA, which expanded forfeiture provisions to include corruption, election crimes or misconduct in office.
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The reform was prompted by public outrage that numerous legislators convicted of corruption were still collecting pensions.
Among them: Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), who collected about $64,000 annually in pension payments despite being sentenced to an eight-year prison sentence for tax evasion, bribery and fraud, and former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), who collected an estimated $125,000 annual pension after going to prison for misuse of taxpayer funds.
The 2012 federal conflicts-of-interest and financial disclosure law, the STOCK Act, added additional provisions to amend pension forfeiture such as expanding the covered crimes related to corruption. It also extended the time frame for when a convicted member of Congress would be subject to forfeiture, according to a 2012 memo from the Congressional Research Service.
But loopholes remained. Convicted congressional felons could still collect their pensions while they appealed their convictions. Embattled federal lawmakers could also keep their pensions by taking plea deals for crimes not related to the pension forfeiture provisions.
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For example, former Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) pleaded guilty to obstructing and impeding internal revenue laws after her previous convictions, for which she served prison time, were vacated on appeals due to a jury issue. The lesser charges were not covered under the legal pension forfeiture provisions, Brady said.
She continues to collect her estimated $71,000 per year pension, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Taxpayers have paid her approximately $448,400 through the end of 2022, according to the foundation.
“So she got a nice break there, so she still gets her pension,” Brady said.
Pardons, meanwhile, equal pensions.
When, for example, Donald Trump was president, he pardoned several congressional felons, including former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), who was found guilty in 2013 of 17 counts of wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering and money laundering.
Renzi, who did not reach minimum retirement age until mid-2020, began collecting an estimated $16,000 pension in 2021, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimated.
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“Those who have been in office long enough then have their rights and privileges for the pension restored,” Brady said.
Trump also pardoned former Rep. Mark D. Siljander (R-MI), who pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after being indicted on money laundering and obstruction of justice charges.
Former Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY), who pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements to law enforcement officials, stood to have his pension denied but was pardoned by Trump, becoming eligible for a $10,555 annual congressional pension.
Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA) pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to steal campaign funds, which is a crime that is not specified as a pension disqualifier in HLOGA or the STOCK Act, according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation. Trump also pardoned him as well, and he remains eligible for a $29,000 annual pension.
“Legislation needs to be amended to at minimum show that when someone is convicted of a crime of corruption that they should not keep their pensions or that at least their pension should be diminished in some fashion,” said Dick Simpson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and co-author of Corrupt Illinois: Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality. “The easiest is simply to deny them their pensions from that point forward.”
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