April 30, 2013            
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Representative, 

Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) has introduced H.R.423, which would put an end to the pension plan exclusively available to members of Congress.  On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support this legislation.

Federal employees and members of Congress in particular receive significantly more generous benefits than their private-sector counterparts.  For members who have served for at least 5 years, the current congressional pension plan includes an annual payment equal to 1.7 percent of their salary during their first 20 years of service and an additional 1 percent for each year served thereafter.  Members of Congress are required to pay 1.3 percent of their annual salary into their pension plan.  However, tax dollars cover the majority of the costs of these generous benefits.

Rep. Coffman’s legislation would terminate the current congressional pension plan, but it would still allow members of Congress to participate in a Thrift Savings Plan, which is a benefit plan available to all federal employees that matches individual contributions dollar-for-dollar, up to 5 percent of one’s salary.  The legislation would honor any retirement benefits accumulated before the date of enactment of the legislation and would still require members of Congress to pay into Social Security.

With a growing national debt of $16.8 trillion, members of Congress should not have exclusive access to lucrative pension plans that are not available to either other public employees or, more importantly, private-sector employees.  I strongly urge you to support Rep. Coffman’s legislation.  All votes on H.R. 423 will be among those considered in CCAGW’s 2013 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW