Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, is behind an effort to strip pensions from congressional lawmakers who get expelled or resign from office amid ethics investigations into their dealings.
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Those elected to Congress are eligible to receive a pension at age 62 if they complete at least five years of service or at age 50 with 20 years of service. Lawmakers can collect that pension at any age, though, with 25 years of service under their belt.
But retirement policies do not bar a member of Congress from receiving their pension if they have been expelled or resign amid scandal. Those benefits are only stripped if they are convicted of certain crimes, such as bribery, fraud or perjury.
The Congressional Pension Accountability Act, introduced earlier this month by a bipartisan group led by Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, looks to change that.
If passed and signed into law, the measure would bar members of Congress who have either been expelled or have resigned “to avoid accountability while facing serious ethics violations” from receiving taxpayer-funded pensions.
Nunn introduced an earlier version of the bill in December 2023, following the expulsion of former New York Republican Rep. George Santos, although that measure couldn’t get off the ground.
Since then, Americans have seen several members resign after investigations into serious misconduct have already been launched, Nunn said, exposing a loophole “where resignation is the end of accountability.”
This bill would close that loophole, he said in a news release, while also “restoring accountability and ensuring taxpayers aren’t on the hook for the pensions of politicians who break the public trust.”
But more recent examples on both sides of the aisle — from former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell of California to Republican Reps. Max Miller and Cory Mills — show that a measure like this is all the more necessary, Kim said.
Swalwell, who was first elected to the House in 2013, suspended his California gubernatorial campaign and resigned from his congressional post in April of this year after allegations of rape and sexual misconduct arose. Swalwell denied the allegations and said he would “fight the serious false allegation made against me,” also saying he was deeply sorry “for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”
Miller has faced calls for resignation from several Republican colleagues after his ex-wife accused him of domestic violence and of abusing their daughter. Shortly after the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into the allegations, Miller, who has denied the allegations, said he had requested his own investigation into the accusations made by his ex-wife.
Mills, meanwhile, lost his reelection bid in August after allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations surfaced. When the House Ethics Committee launched its investigation in November, Mills said from the House Floor that he believes “all the accusations and false things that are being said will be proven to be absolutely false in many ways,” and that he has “the evidence and receipts and look forward to working with them.”
“It’s very important to make sure that the members of Congress who come to Washington, D.C., serve their constituents and their respective districts with the utmost integrity and with the public’s trust that they entrusted to us,” Kim said in an interview.
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“We have a responsibility to make sure that public service comes with public accountability. And serious ethical misconduct should not be rewarded with taxpayer-funded retirement benefits,” Kim said. “Public service is a privilege. It’s not a taxpayer-funded golden parachute. If you betray the public’s trust, taxpayers should not be forced to fund your retirement.”
would forfeit a House representative’s or senator’s pension after being expelled from Congress by a formal vote.
Members would also be ineligible for the benefits if they resign after a House or Senate ethics committee has already launched an investigation. It requires that investigative records created by either the House or Senate ethics committees remain available if that expelled or resigned member later returns to Congress.
And if a member of Congress is expelled by vote or resigns while an ethics investigation is underway, they would not be able to have their forfeited benefits restored if they later receive a presidential pardon or commutation.
Democratic Reps. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire and Angie Craig of Minnesota have co-sponsored this bill as well.
Kim is going on somewhat of an accountability spree this month.
On Thursday, she introduced the Stop Congressional Self-Enrichment Resolution. The resolution targets congressional earmarks, which are directed federal funds lawmakers request for specific local projects.
When a lawmaker requests earmarked funds for a local project, they must certify that neither they nor their immediate family has a direct financial interest that stands to benefit from the requested funding.
But federal rules for both the House and Senate do not explicitly ask members whether those earmarked funds stand to indirectly benefit them. Kim’s resolution, she said, aims to close that loophole.
A simple resolution deals with internal rules for members of Congress and is not a measure, like a law, that needs to be presented to the president for action.
And while Kim acknowledged that the resolution can do little to prevent a member of Congress from lying, she said it will at least put members on notice and get that guarantee on record.
Lawmakers would “need to think ahead of time: ‘Directly or indirectly, is this going to be benefitting me or my family?’” she said. “We’re sending a message to the American people who are sick of watching politicians getting rich off of public service. This is about putting an end to it.”
A resolution needs a simple majority to pass, meaning 218 votes if all 435 seats in the House are filled.