This week, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., threw his support behind U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen’s, D-Nev., proposal to “bar members of Congress who are convicted of felonies related to their official duties from collecting taxpayer-funded pensions.”
Rosen introduced the “No Congressionally-Obligated Recurring Revenue Used As Pensions To Incarcerated Officials Now (No CORRUPTION) Act” this week with Scott as a co-sponsor.
“It is unthinkable that a former member of Congress could be convicted of a crime involving public corruption and still benefit off the taxpayer dollars of hardworking families. If we are going to make Washington work for American families, we need real reforms that end the current dysfunction. I’m proud to sponsor this bipartisan, commonsense legislation to prevent criminals from getting taxpayer-funded retirement benefits,” Scott said.
“No member of Congress who’s convicted of a felony related to their time in office should receive a pension from American taxpayers. Our bipartisan bill will safeguard taxpayer dollars by closing a loophole that allows corrupt officials to continue collecting government pensions. It’s past time that corrupt members of Congress are held accountable,” Rosen said.
Scott’s office offered some of the reasons behind the bill.
“Current law requires former members of Congress convicted of a felony to forfeit their pensions only after exhausting their appeals, which allows convicted former members to go on filing one appeal after another for years while collecting their taxpayer-funded pensions. The No CORRUPTION Act amends the law to close that loophole, so former members of Congress lose their pensions immediately following a lawful conviction of certain felonies related to their official duties. The bill would also ensure that convicted former members of Congress who are pardoned by a president of the United States will not receive pensions unless a court overturns their convictions,” Scott’s office noted.
The National Taxpayers Union is backing the bill.
The bill was sent to the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. So far, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House.
