GET A BILL STARTED TO PLACE ALL POLITICIANS ON SOC. SEC.

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congresswomen do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it. You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.

In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan. For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die. Except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments..

For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two Dignitaries.

Younger Dignitaries who retire at an early age, will receive much more during the rest of their lives. Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA....ZILCH....

Urban Legend and debunked,
And now for the FACTS:

Origins: This piece has been circulating on the Internet since April 2000. So much of it is outdated, inaccurate, or misleading, it's difficult to know where to begin.
It is not true that Congressmen do not pay into the Social Security fund. They pay into the fund just as most everyone else does. (A few odd exceptions to the Social Security program still exist, both inside and outside of government.)

It was true prior to 1984 that Congressmen did not pay into the Social Security fund because they participated in a separate program for civil servants (the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS), but that program was closed to government employees hired after 1983:
In 1983, Public Law 98-21 required Social Security coverage for federal civilian employees first hired after 1983 and closed the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to new federal employees and Members of Congress. All incumbent Members of Congress were required to be covered by Social Security, regardless of when they entered Congress. Members who had participated in CSRS before 1984 could elect to stay in that plan in addition to being covered by Social Security or elect coverage under an 'offset plan' that integrates CSRS and Social Security. Under the CSRS Offset Plan, an individual's contributions to CSRS and their pension benefits from that plan are reduced ('offset') by the amount of their contributions to, and benefits from, Social Security.

It is not true that Congressmen "continue to draw their same pay, until they die." The size of their pensions is determined by a number of factors (primarily length of service, but also factors such as when they joined Congress, their age at retirement, their salary, and the pension options they chose when they enrolled in the retirement system) and by law cannot exceed 80% of their salary at the time of their retirement.

The figures given as an example for Senator Bradley (or Senator Byrd, or Congressman White, depending upon which version one reads) — $7,900,000 over the course of his and his wife's lifetime, culminating in a top payout of $275,000 — are simply outrageous amounts with no basis in reality. There is no conceivable way Senator Bradley (or any other Congressman) could draw anywhere near that amount of money though the Congressional pension plan.

It is not true that Congressmen "paid nothing in on any kind of retirement," and that their pension money "comes right out of the General Fund." Whether members of Congress participate in the older Civil Service Retirement System or the newer Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), their pensions are funded through a combination of general tax provisions and contributions from the participants. Right now, members of Congress in the FERS plan must pay 1.3% of their salary to FERS and 6.2% in Social Security taxes.

As of 1998, the average annuity for retired members of Congress was $50,616 for those who retired under CSRS and $46,908 for those who retired under FERS. Not bad, but not the highway robbery this piece makes it out to be.

Although this is an urban legend,the point remains:Why do members of congress get any compensation at all?Their work should be public service,not a cushy career.They should live on their per diem(which I understand is 100$ a day,$36,500 per year).They should live in section 8 housing,which they created and deem good enough for others,while they serve in Washington.They should get food stamps if the 36,500 isn't enough.And they should get SS like everyone else.These are all programs that congress created.

The argument that we need to compensate them to ensure that we get good people has been refuted by the last 60 or so years of catastrophic legislation.It sounds like the "they're doing jobs that Americans won't do" argument!

Under my scheme,we wouldn't have to worry about the Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd types.We'd have people that would serve a term or two and then give someone else a chance.Before the debate even starts on changing social security,we shouuld get rid of the lucrative retirement plans that congress has given itself and the government unions.If these terms are unacceptable,let them get jobs in the private sector,where they'd actually have to please the person that signs their check.

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