With the country $33 trillion in debt and the threat of another government shutdown looming, taxpayers have unfortunately grown quite used to Washington operating by different rules than they can with their finances. But while the carefree manner with which our representatives safeguard taxpayer dollars is well-known, taxpayers might not realize that they continue to pay for the pensions of convicted public servants.
In one week, two public servants, one current and one former, have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Most prominently, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has been indicted for the second time in a decade on federal bribery charges, allegedly attempting to use his position as a senator to protect a business friend’s monopoly.
At the same time, Rep. Steve Buyer has been convicted of insider trading, having made over $320,000 off of stock purchases based off of insider information. Buyer used his contacts with business leaders to inform his investment decisions — including, for example, buying Sprint stock after being tipped off about the impending merger with T-Mobile before this became public knowledge.
Rep. Buyer was sentenced to 22 months in prison, paying back his ill-gotten gains in restitution and a $10,000 fine. But even as this has been going on, Rep. Buyer has been receiving a far more permanent source of income — one that remains untouched by his legal problems.
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation calculates that, based on Rep. Buyer’s age and length of service in Congress, the former congressman has been eligible to collect around $386,000 in public pension benefits since he became eligible for pension benefits in 2014. Even better for Rep. Buyer: despite his conviction, he doesn’t have to pay all that taxpayer money back — or even stop collecting his pension yet!
That’s because past, well-intentioned legislative efforts to cut off taxpayer dollars going to public servants convicted of corruption and fraud-related crimes stop the pension payments only upon “final conviction.” In effect, this means that even convicted public servants can continue collecting their pensions so long as they continue to file appeals.
Since Rep. Buyer’s legal team has already announced its intention to appeal Rep. Buyer’s sentence, he will remain eligible for pension benefits in the neighborhood of $50,000 annually, including cost-of-living adjustments, until he stops filing appeals. Sen. Menendez, meanwhile, can start collecting his pension worth north of $70,000 beginning this year should he retire, despite his recent indictment. And even “final conviction” would only cut off the flow of pension benefits — not do anything to recover taxpayer dollars paid out to a convicted felon. That’s a heck of an incentive to drag out even the most hopeless legal case as long as possible.
And Rep. Buyer and Sen. Menendez are not the only ex-public servants to benefit from these shockingly lenient rules. To date, not a single former member of Congress has had their public pension stripped due to criminal activity.
Fortunately, some members of Congress are already acting to fix this “heads I win. Tails you lose” system. The bipartisan No CORRUPTION Act, proposed by Democratic Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen and Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), would go a long way towards rectifying this problem.
The No CORRUPTION Act would ensure that members of Congress who betray the public trust do not receive jailhouse payments. Under the No CORRUPTION Act, former public servants would stop receiving pension benefits upon being convicted of a crime. At the same time, to ensure that former public officials receive the full benefit of the legal process, the withheld pension funds would be paid out retroactively should subsequent appeals prove successful.
Taxpayers are well used to their money being used inefficiently and carelessly. But the least taxpayers should be able to ask of their elected representatives is to make sure that they are off the hook for paying the pensions of convicted felons.
Andrew Wilford is a senior policy analyst with the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to tax and fiscal policy research and education at all levels of government.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.