Last week, the U.S. Senate passed without opposition a proposal from U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to “bar members of Congress who are convicted of felonies related to their official duties from collecting taxpayer-funded pensions.”
Back in March, Rosen introduced the “No Congressionally-Obligated Recurring Revenue Used as Pensions to Incarcerated Officials Now (No CORRUPTION) Act” with Scott as a co-sponsor. A week later, U.S. Sen. Josh Rosen, R-Mo., threw his support behind the bill and joined on as a co-sponsor.
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 and it cleared the Senate floor last week.
“If you’re a member of Congress and are convicted of a crime involving public corruption you should lose all pension benefits provided to you by taxpayers and hardworking families—period. Making Washington work for American families requires real reforms that end the current dysfunction. I’m proud to see our bipartisan, commonsense legislation pass the Senate and urge the House to take up and pass this bill quickly. We can never stop working to hold elected officials accountable and protect taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” Scott said.
“Nevadans sent me to the Senate to fight for them, stand up to business-as-usual politics, and protect their hard-earned dollars from abuse. For too long, loopholes have made it possible for corrupt Washington politicians convicted of felonies to continue collecting taxpayer-funded pensions – that’s unacceptable. It’s why I worked across the aisle to find a commonsense solution to prohibit these corrupt officials from receiving a pension, and I’m glad to see it’s one step closer to becoming law,” said Rosen.
As of now, there is no companion measure over in the U.S. House.
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