House Strips Convicted Members Of Pensions

In Unanimous Vote, House Denies Benefits To Lawmakers Convicted Of Felonies

(AP)  Lawmakers convicted of crimes such as bribery, fraud and perjury will be stripped of their congressional pensions under legislation the House passed Tuesday in the latest effort by Congress to refurbish its scandal-scarred image.

The 431-0 House vote comes just four days after former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, received a 30-month prison term for taking political favors from Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist whose influence-peddling tactics helped make political corruption a major issue in the November elections.

Ney, as past chairman of the House Administration, last year backed similar legislation, saying members of Congress should be held to the highest standards.

"But that bill never passed, for which Congressman Ney is probably grateful," said freshman Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Kan., sponsor of the measure. "Corrupt politicians deserve prison sentences, not taxpayer-funded pensions."

The House bill, like its Senate counterpart, is not retroactive and would not affect the benefits of Ney, who is eligible for a pension of about $29,000 a year if he waits until 2016, when he turns 62.

Also exempt would be former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who last year was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

Cunningham could be receiving about $64,000 annually from his eight terms in Congress and his military service (which is not subject to forfeiture), according to the National Taxpayers Union, which tracks congressional pensions.

Minor differences with the Senate bill, approved last week as part of larger ethics and lobbying reform, must be reconciled before the measure can be signed into law.

The House bill applies to conduct that occurs after the bill becomes law, while the Senate bill doesn't take effect until the next session of Congress in 2009. Senate sponsors, led by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., expressed concerns about violating the 27th Amendment, which bars lawmakers from changing their compensation, mainly raising their own salaries, in a current session.

Under existing law, pensions can be taken away only if a lawmaker commits crimes such as treason or espionage. The House bill would extend that to other federal felonies related to the performance of official duties.

Those would include bribery of public officials, wrongfully acting as foreign agents, violating restrictions on members becoming lobbyists, conspiracy to commit such crimes, and perjury or persuading others to commit perjury.

Republicans complained that the bill didn't go far enough.

Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said he was unable to offer an amendment adding other public corruption felonies to those triggering pension forfeiture, including income tax evasion, wire fraud, intimidation to secure contributions and racketeering.

Republicans, denied opportunities to offer amendments in the first weeks of Democratic rule, also lashed out at last-minute Democratic tinkering on provisions including when the bill would take effect. "How this bill has come to the floor is an abomination of the rules," said Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The legislation does allow the lawmaker to recoup personal contributions made to 401(k)-type plans and gives the director of the Office of Personnel Management authority, depending on circumstances, to provide benefits to the spouse and children of a convicted lawmaker.

Because it is not retroactive, the bill would exempt about 20 former lawmakers who ran afoul of the law and may be collecting benefits, according to the National Taxpayers Union.

Among those is Rep. John Murphy, D-N.Y., convicted in the ABSCAM scandal in 1980 and eligible for about $79,000, and Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., who served 15 months in prison after pleading guilty in 1996 to two mail fraud charges but is potentially receiving benefits of $126,000.

Exact figures for pensions are not available because participation in pension programs is voluntary and payouts are not a matter of public record.

[pakaal]

One_American, you wrote: "This Democrat Congress is more corrupt than ever before!"

Hey, try reading for comprehension for a change. First of all, the vote was 431-0. Every Republican voted for this, as well as every Democrat. Second, they all voted for... what again? Oh yeah, stripping benefits from convicted lawmakers. And this makes them corrupt?

Oh sorry, forgot I was referencing a post by One_American, who's all about blaming the Democrats no matter what. Good luck with that.

[dallison7]

A criminal is a criminal regardless of their party. There are arch criminals though, like Lex Luther, George Bush, Hanibal Lechter, *** Cheney. All criminals should pay for their crimes.

[migrainegram]

Should be retroactive!

[retrochick-2009]

"I don't understand why the Senate bill would wait until 2009. It needs to take effect immediately." (Winstrv)


Read the 9th paragraph:
...the 27th Amendment, which bars lawmakers from changing their compensation, mainly raising their own salaries, in a current session.


I think many people would love to see this bill effective retroactively (I know I would - they should all be stripped of their pensions & it should include more crimes), however the Amendment to the Constitution does not allow it.

[susanhelit]

Funny - Republicans blaming the Democrats that not all the criminal congressmen can have their pensions stripped! All they had to do was pass this law anytime in the last 6 years they've had power! Democrats did it in 100 hours - how much longer did Republicans need to do the right thing (yeah, kinda rhetorical question, isn't it?)?

Unfortunately, retroactive laws tend to get struck down - I'd still love to see them try it, but maybe with a different bill, so that this bill has no legal challenges, and can go into effect immediately.

[huskerarmy]

"This Democrat Congress is more corrupt than ever before!"

So let me get this straight one(lost)American, neo-cons getting indicted in droves, Dems pass a bill to strip the convicts of their pensions and you call them "corrupt" because they violated the Roberts Rules of Order?

[one_american]

The Democrats exempt those fellow Democrats who broke the law.

This Democrat Congress is more corrupt than ever before!

[observantx]

"How this bill has come to the floor is an abomination of the rules," said Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Boo-hoo. It was OK for the Repunicans under Tom DeLay to hammer the Dems every chance they got, but now that it is the Dems turn now the tune has changed.

The only thing that needs to be done is yank the pensions away from Ney and Cunningham and anybody else who got greased by Abrahmoff and any other lobbyist. This should extend back to the beginning of the first term of our current Pinocchio for both Democratss and Repugnicans alike.