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-- more on -- Rush Limbaugh on Social Security and the Congressional Pay Raise
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:48:47 -0400
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:40:17 -0400 From: Seth Finkelstein <sethf () sethf com> Subject: Re: [IP] Urban Legend - Rush Limbaugh on Social Security and the Congressional Pay Raise To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Dave, much of that missive is a mutated Urban Legend. See http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/pensions.htm Claim: Members of Congress receive lavish pensions but are not required to contribute to the Social Security fund. Status: False. ... "It is not true that Congressmen "paid nothing in on any kind of retirement," and that their pension money "comes right out of the General Fund." Whether members of Congress participate in the older Civil Service Retirement System or the newer Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), their pensions are funded through a combination of general tax provisions and contributions from the participants. Right now, members of Congress in the FERS plan must pay 1.3% of their salary to FERS and 6.2% in Social Security taxes." "As of 1998, the average annuity for retired members of Congress was $50,616 for those who retired under CSRS and $46,908 for those who retired under FERS. Not bad, but not the highway robbery this piece makes it out to be." See http://www.c-span.org/questions/weekly68.htm -- Seth Finkelstein Consulting Programmer sethf () sethf com http://sethf.com Anticensorware Investigations - http://sethf.com/anticensorware/ Seth Finkelstein's Infothought blog - http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/
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- -- more on -- Rush Limbaugh on Social Security and the Congressional Pay Raise Dave Farber (Aug 22)