Tuesday, January 23, 2007

No Pensions for Convicted Lawmakers

The House has passed a bill today that would strip pensions from any member of Congress "who is convicted of any of certain offenses committed by that individual while serving as a member of Congress, and for other purposes." No one voted against HR 476, especially after the scandals of the previous Congress. A similar measure is included in the Senate ethics and lobbying reform bill that passed late last week. According to CQ($$), such crimes include the conviction of certain felonies, including bribery, defrauding the government and perjury involving "falsely denying commission of an act." Pensions would also be denied to members found to have coerced others to lie on their behalf. "The bill, however, will not be retroactive, meaning that some former members — including Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was recently sentenced to 30 months on bribery related charges — will still be eligible for their pensions."