Kerry Vacations

[Spoiled]

Originally posted by Steve
If I read this correctly, they do not receive a pension until they reach at least 55 and have served a minimum of 30 years in the government. So a first term Senator like Edwards, unless he served for some combination of years/age, would not get any pension until he was 65 or so.

In other words, they do not get their salary for the rest of their lives; only if they have met the retirement criteria.

ahh ok, thanks for clearing that up for me

 

[Steve]

But it still doesn't justify any Senator/Governor/Representative to keep receiving their salary while they are campaigning. It defies logic, at least my logic.

 

[ylexot]

Originally posted by Steve
In other words, they do not get their salary for the rest of their lives; only if they have met the retirement criteria.

Either I'm misunderstanding what you're saying, or it's not quite right. According to that link, they never get their salary for the rest of their lives. They get a pension just like the rest of us. This is what it says in the summary:

The amount of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of salary. By law, the starting amount of a Member’s retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary.

As of October 1, 2002, 411 retired Members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service. Of this number, 340 had retired under CSRS and were receiving an average annual pension of $55,788. Seventy-one Members had retired either with service under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only. Their average annual pension was $41,856 in 2002.

Obviously, those pensions are much lower than their salaries.