Q: Can members of Congress retire and receive their full pay after serving one term?
A: No. Only senators are eligible for a pension after one term, but it won’t be their full salary.
Congressional Pensions Update
The ACA-Gruber Connection
President Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi downplayed the contribution of MIT economist Jonathan Gruber to the Affordable Care Act, after controversial comments by Gruber came to light, while Republicans exaggerated his role.
Arkansas Exaggerations
Candidates in the Arkansas governor’s race are exaggerating their differences in misleading TV ads.
Inventing a ‘Pelosi Republican’ in N.Y.
There may be nothing more damning in a Republican primary than labeling your opponent a “Pelosi Republican.” That’s what Lee Zeldin does in a TV ad attacking his opponent, George Demos, in New York’s 1st Congressional District. But this is a case of mislabeling.
Pelosi’s Flawed History Lesson
Rep. Nancy Pelosi mistakenly claimed that President Clinton launched an airstrike in 1999 after the House rejected the use of military force in a tie vote. Actually, U.S. and NATO forces had attacked Serbia five weeks before the House vote.
Pelosi Parsing Words on ‘Employer Mandate’
Nancy Pelosi was playing a semantic word game when she claimed there “was not a delay of the mandate for the businesses” in the new health care law. That was in fact the effect of a decision announced recently by the Treasury.
Pelosi Stretches an Old McConnell Quote
Rep. Nancy Pelosi seized on an old talking point, miscasting a now-famous quote by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in 2010 about the goal of making Obama a “one-term president.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on March 10, host Candy Crowley asked the leader of the House Democrats if President Barack Obama’s stated commitment to helping return the House to Democratic power, with Pelosi at the helm, wasn’t the same as McConnell’s comment about his goal of making Obama a one-term president.
Newt’s Erroneous Ethics Alibi
Newt Gingrich falsely claimed the House ethics panel that voted to reprimand him in 1997 was “a very partisan political committee.” He was also off base when he said the inquiry was “a Pelosi-driven effort.”
In fact, the House Committee on Ethics is the only House panel evenly divided by party. And Pelosi was a relatively junior House member and not in a leadership position at the time. It’s true she was one of four members on the subcommittee that conducted the investigation,
Pelosi’s True Spin
Nancy Pelosi accurately — but misleadingly — said more private jobs were created last year than under Bush. Her statement was true. But it's also true that there were still 2,065,000 fewer private jobs in May than there were when Obama took office
At last year's pace of job creation, it would take until February 2017 just to regain the jobs lost since the high point reached under the previous administration. And it would still take until 2015 to regain all those jobs even under the faster pace of job growth during the last 15 months.
GOP Exaggerations in Iowa
Several Republicans testing the presidential waters in Iowa made more than a few statements that we found all wet. Among the dubious claims …