Final night time, Marjorie Taylor Inexperienced posted a 10-minute video to social media asserting her shock retirement from Congress. Her retirement video listed a litany of gripes to clarify her determination to step down. I am not going to checklist her particular causes. There have been a bunch.
Not lengthy after her video was posted, Marjorie’s critics had been fast to level out that her deliberate retirement date, January 5, 2025, is 2 days after January 3, 2026. What’s particular about January 3, 2026? On that day, Marjorie may have formally served in Congress for 5 years. And as such, her LIFETIME federal pension magically kicks in.
MTG’s critics should not incorrect. I dug into this in the present day. 5 years is the minimal vesting threshold for a member of Congress to obtain a pension. Something lower than 5 years and the pension disappears fully. Something greater than 5 years, even by a day or two, locks in a lifetime profit.
However earlier than you get excited, you must also know that 5 years solely qualifies MTG for the naked minimal pension profit. It additionally does not even kick in immediately. If you wish to actually be astounded, wait til you hear the pensions Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Grassley have certified for. In spite of everything, Nancy has served in Congress for 38 years and Chuck has served for FIFTY years.
(Picture by Alex Wong/Getty Photos)
What Marjorie Taylor Greene Will Obtain After 5 Years
Members of Congress elected after 1984 are coated by the Federal Workers Retirement System, or FERS. The formulation is simple: take the Member’s high-three wage common, multiply it by the accrual charge, after which multiply that by years of service. Greene’s wage all through her total tenure has been the usual $174,000. Her high-three is subsequently precisely $174,000. Her years of service will complete 5. Her accrual charge is 1.7% per 12 months.
Here is the mathematics:
Pension = $174,000 × 0.017 × 5
Pension = $14,790 per 12 months
That works out to roughly $1,232 per thirty days.
And there may be one other catch. Greene can’t obtain this pension till she turns 62 years previous. Regardless of the political outrage, the monetary actuality is extraordinarily modest. The minimal vesting threshold solely unlocks the smallest doable profit.
What Nancy Pelosi Will Obtain After Practically Forty Years
To know how the formulation scales, have a look at Nancy Pelosi. She entered Congress in 1987. She leaves in early 2027 after practically 4 many years of service. She additionally served a number of years as Speaker, which raises her high-three wage to roughly $223,500.
Beneath FERS, Members obtain 1.7% per 12 months for the primary 20 years and 1.0% per 12 months for all extra years.
First 20 years: $223,500 × 0.017 × 20 = $75,990
Remaining 19.6 years: $223,500 × 0.010 × 19.6 = $43,806
Whole = $119,796 per 12 months
That equals about $9,983 per thirty days, payable instantly upon retirement. Pelosi’s pension is roughly eight occasions bigger than Greene’s, pushed fully by time in workplace and excessive management pay.
Nancy not too long ago introduced her determination to retire from Congress on the finish of her present time period. So she’s going to start to gather her pension in early 2027.
What Chuck Grassley Will Obtain After Fifty Years
Now this is the place issues get wild.
Chuck Grassley entered Congress in 1975, lengthy earlier than the fashionable retirement system existed. That locations him beneath the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS, which is way extra beneficiant than FERS. CSRS makes use of a 2.5% accrual charge for annually of service. Grassley’s profession covers roughly fifty years. His high-three wage is roughly $193,400 based mostly on his intervals as President Professional Tempore.
Beneath the CSRS formulation, the uncooked calculation exceeds his total wage:
$193,400 × 0.025 × 50 = $241,750
However congressional pensions beneath CSRS are capped at 80% of ultimate wage.
So the utmost allowed pension is:
$193,400 × 0.80 = $154,720 per 12 months
That’s about $12,893 per thirty days, for all times. Grassley is actually on the absolute ceiling for what any Member can legally earn.
Chuck Grassley infamously DOES NOT PLAN TO RETIRE. As not too long ago as August, he indicated his intention to run for reelection in 2028, at which level he could be round 95 years previous. He solely receives his pension if he really retires. So what’s he doing? Why not retire? Would the pension simply go away if he died tomorrow? No.
Grassley’s spouse, Barbara Grassley, could be eligible for a survivor’s annuity, which is a diminished model of his full pension. Beneath CSRS, which is what Grassley is beneath:
CSRS Survivor Profit Guidelines
• The utmost survivor annuity is 55% of the Member’s earned pension.
• Survivors will need to have been married to the Member on the time of dying.
• Survivor advantages start instantly upon the Member’s dying.
Grassley’s computed pension (capped at 80% of ultimate wage) is about $154,720 per 12 months.
Survivor annuity:
55% × $154,720 = $85,096 per 12 months
Which is about $7,091 per thirty days.
However widespread sense does scream that Chuck ought to retire, let some new blood into Congress after which go take pleasure in practically $13,000 per thirty days!!!
The Backside Line
Marjorie Taylor Greene did time her resignation to qualify for her pension. That half is true. However the profit she earned after 5 years is comparatively small, delayed, and nowhere close to the massive figures folks think about after they hear “lifetime pension.”
On the different finish of the spectrum, a half-century in Congress mixed with enrollment within the older, extra beneficiant retirement system produces a profit as giant as federal regulation permits.
That’s the distinction between 5 years and fifty years.
