What kind of retirement do congressmen get

A: No. We last wrote about congressional pensions in With a new Congress beginning and numerous members leaving office, we thought it was about time for an update on pension and health benefits for former members. As we said seven years ago , members of Congress do not receive their full pay as a pension upon leaving office. The basic eligibility for collecting a pension is as follows, according to a June report from the Congressional Research Service , the nonpartisan research arm of Congress:.

CRS, June Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at the age of 62 if they have completed at least five years of service. Members are eligible for a pension at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service, or at any age after completing 25 years of service. The amount of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary.

That means that members of the House of Representatives — who are up for reelection every two years — would not be able to collect pensions of any amount if they only served one term. Take Kay Hagan, the North Carolina senator who lost her bid for a second term, for example. Now, it is possible that a longtime member of Congress retiring with a starting pension near or equal to 80 percent of his or her final salary could — after many years of annual cost-of-living adjustments — see that pension rise to equal his or her final salary.

Retiring Iowa Sen. There are no term limits on either part of Congress. Members also get allowances to pay their staff and cover office and travel expenses. Plus, Virginia mortgage rates and the cost of living in D. They do receive generous retirement benefits though. No member of Congress is eligible for his or her pension unless he or she has served for at least five years. To collect their full pensions, congressmen must either be at least 62, be at least 50 with 20 years of service or have 25 years of service at any age.

By federal law, senators and representatives cannot earn their full salary in retirement. However, he or she would have had to have served 67 years to earn that top percentage. FERS automatically covers congressmen who began serving after September 30, The accrual rate under CSRS is 1. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, discussing the information on retirement benefits received by those who serve in Congress. Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms, while Senators serve six-year terms.

House members who leave after one term are not entitled to retirement benefits since they must serve at least five years. Congressmen and congressional staff get nearly the same pensions as other federal employees, Biggs said. According to Biggs, in regards to military retirement benefits, it is true that those who serve 20 years in the military get a pension equal to 50 percent of their base salary. There are multiple retirement plans available to people who served in the military, depending on when they joined and how many years they served.

Biggs noted that the military is trying to reform pensions.