As of 2019[update], members who participated in the congressional pension system are vested after five years of service.
This replaces the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) for most members of congress and federal employees.
This act created the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), under which new Members of Congress are currently covered.
[4] A member elected after 1984 would have been enrolled under the FERS plan, and their pension payment under similar conditions ($154,267 top three-year average salary, but with only 20 years of service, rather than the 22 in the CSRS example) would be $52,451.
Members first covered by FERS prior to 2013 also pay 1.3% of full salary to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund (CSRDF).
Under both CSRS and FERS, Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at the age of 62 if they have completed at least five years of service.
By law, the starting amount of a Member's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary.
There were 611 retired Members of Congress receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service as of October 1, 2016.
A total of 276 Members had retired with service under FERS and were receiving an average annual pension of $41,076 in 2016.
The bill was stalled and eventually dropped after being sent to the House Administration and Reforms committee for review.
[8] In 2007, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act was enacted; this act provides that a member of Congress convicted of one or more of a list of enumerated felonies (those relating to corruption, election crimes, or official misconduct) will forfeit his or her pension.
[9] Congressman Ron Paul refused to participate in the congressional pension system, labeling it "immoral.