No Pensions for Congressional Felons
Thanks to the leadership of the National Taxpayers Union, ACTA joined with 22 other groups in urging the new Democratic leadership in Congress to fulfill their “promise to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington,” as noted in this NTU press release. NTU went on to say:
"Currently, no Member of Congress is required to forfeit a pension unless convicted of crimes related to treason and espionage. As a result, over the past 25 years at least 20 lawmakers guilty of other serious offenses have enjoyed Congressional retirement payments.
"For example, NTU calculates that former Congressman "Duke" Cunningham was eligible for an initial annual payout of as much as $64,000. Regular cost of living adjustments boost these benefits; for example, convicted Representative Dan Rostenkowski qualified for a $96,000 pension in 1995 that would have since swelled to nearly $125,000 this year."
Here is the actual letter that was sent to Speaker-Elect Pelosi (D) and Majority Leader-Elect Reid (D). The Congressional Accountability Project has several CRS reports posted on their website concerning the pay and benefits of Members of Congress.