http://brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press_releases/release/?id=0bbd8299-63e6-4cdb-8957-75f5e0cf5da4

Quote :

"Brown’s bill, the Shared Retirement Sacrifice Act of 2011, would amend the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to directly tie the Social Security retirement age to current and future Members of Congress’ access to their federal retirement benefits."

Quote :

"“That’s why I’m introducing legislation that would require Members of Congress to ‘walk in the same shoes’ as working Americans by tying their pension and retirement benefits to the Social Security retirement age. If these politicians want to ask Americans to continue working into their late 60s and early 70s before receiving critical retirement benefits, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have to make the same sacrifices as well,” Brown continued. Currently, Members of Congress can begin collecting pensions as early as age 50, while working Americans cannot collect full Social Security benefits until age 66. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), retirement with an immediate, full pension is available to Members of Congress covered under FERS at age 62 or older with at least five years of federal service; at age 50 or older with at least 20 years of service; and at any age to Members with at least 25 years of service. For Members covered by CSRS, retirement with an immediate, full pension is available to Members age 60 or older with 10 years of service in Congress, or age 62 with five years of civilian federal service, including service in Congress."

9/15/2011 10:27:21 PM

Unless it comes with crazy caveats or additions, that sounds pretty good.

The only hangup is that our Congress doesn't exactly need yet another incentive not to raise the SS retirement age.

9/15/2011 10:49:00 PM

the argument has been that we should give Congressmen an early pension to reduce the temptation to sell out to the highest bidder, or to become overly preoccupied with staying in office at all costs until they can retire. those are legitimate points, but on the other hand, it's obviously not working on either count.

9/15/2011 10:50:56 PM