"Federal Pension Forfeiture Act-- why did this thing never pass?

[niyad]

In 2003, after James Traficant was expelled from Congress, several Congressmen tried passing a bill that would prevent expelled members from receiving their pensions. The bill was stalled and eventually dropped after being sent to the House Administration and Reforms committee for review.<4>

Long time congressman Ron Paul has always refused to participate in the congressional pension system, labeling it "immoral".<5> North Carolina congressman Howard Coble does not participate in the pension system, either.<6> He campaigned against the system in his first campaign in 1984.<6>

Federal pension forfeiture act
Unofficially known as the 'Duke Cunningham Act', the Federal Pension Forfeiture Act is a piece of legislation introduced by Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) that would cause a Congressman to lose his pension due to:

Bribery of public officials or witnesses
Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States
Perjury while denying the commission of bribery or conspiracy
Subornation of perjury committed in connection with false denial or false testimony of another individual<7>


.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_pension

[tblue]

1. RFK Jr. said, 75% of Democrats in Congress are corrupt, and 100% of Republicans.

And they find ways to keep each other well taken care of. Hideous.

[Old Codger]

2. Most likely

He was being kind....

[niyad]

4. I agree that he was being kind

[earth mom]

6. RFK Jr./Kucinich 2012!!! nt

[truedelphi]

9. + 1 n/t

[JonQ]

3. Same reason congress is loathe to police themselves

they're all corrupt as hell, start enforcing the laws and it could come back to bite you.

[Go2Peace]

5. They should reduce it. They should get a 50k pension after 25 years service, just like other

employees.

[niyad]

7. kick

[RB TexLa]

8. Then shouldn't it apply to all. Fired employees lose their pension as well?

[niyad]

11. there is a difference between being fired, and being jailed, you know.

but this is about the level of response I expect from you.

remdi95

[RB TexLa]

12. Then if an employee is jailed they lose their company pension.

[DavidDvorkin]

10. Because the foxes were being asked to vote for better fences on the chicken coop.

[quaker bill]

13. any of the above

would cause me to lose my pension. In fact, according to the manual, I could lose it for far less than this.