Sen. Bob Menendez’s indictment has brought sunlight to a loophole in current law that allows former members of Congress to continue receiving their congressional pensions even if they have been sentenced to jail. Taxpayers are required to fund these pensions as long as the convicted congressional member pursues their appeals. What's more, the money they receive during the appeals process is not reclaimed, even if those appeals ultimately fail. The No CORRUPTION Act, which recently passed in the Senate and was introduced this week by Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), seeks to fix this. National Taxpayers Union Foundation has been the leader in publicizing the loophole, and, as highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article by NTUF's Demian Brady, the indictment of Senator Menendez (D-NJ) for corruption a second time has sparked renewed interest in ending congressional pension disbursements following a conviction.
As Brady writes,
Congress first attempted to block pensions for felons in 2007 through the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act… But the pension-stripping provision doesn’t kick in until “final conviction”—after all opportunities for appeal have expired—so there is an incentive to keep filing appeals to collect the pension. I work for an organization that tracks federal spending and have followed this issue for years. I have yet to confirm that any member of Congress has ever had a pension stripped due to a criminal conviction.
As things currently stand, Sen. Menendez could receive up to $70,100 a year on the taxpayers’ tab for as long as he fights the charges, even if convicted. The No CORRUPTION Act would solve this problem by changing the pension-stripping provision to start upon initial conviction rather than “final conviction.” If an appeal was successful, the money halted by the No CORRUPTION Act would be paid back in full. This way, taxpayer money is not given away to felons, and the rights of the taxpayer and the rights of the accused are balanced. NTUF believes that the No CORRUPTION Act is laudable in its effort to keep taxpayer money from funding congressional felons.
If you would like to speak with NTUF Vice President of Research Demian Brady about the No CORRUPTION Act or the corruption case of Sen. Bob Menendez, please contact NTUF Vice President of Communications and Outreach Kevin Glass at 703-683-5700 or kglass@ntu.org.