[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 13 (Wednesday, February 5, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S1022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ABRAHAM:
  S. 269. A bill to provide that the Secretary of the Senate and the 
Clerk of the House of Representatives shall include an estimate of 
Federal retirement benefits for each Member of Congress in their 
semiannual reports, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Rules 
and Administration.


                The Congressional Pension Disclosure Act

   Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce S. 269 
which would require the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the 
House of Representatives to disclose information relating to the 
pensions of Members of Congress. This legislation would require these 
officers to include in their semiannual reports to Congress detailed 
information relating to the Members pensions. The semiannual reports 
would then be available to the public for inspection.
  The reports would include the individual pension contributions of 
Members; an estimate of annuities which they would receive based on the 
earliest possible date they would be eligible to receive annuity 
payments by reason of retirement; and any other information necessary 
to enable the public to accurately compute the Federal retirement 
benefits of each Member based on various assumptions of years of 
service and age of separation from service by reason of retirement.
  The purpose of this legislation is to afford citizens their rightful 
opportunity to learn how public funds are being utilized. The taxpayers 
are not only entitled to know the various forms of compensation their 
elected officials are being paid, they are also entitled to make 
decisions about the reasonableness of such compensation.
  My bill, S. 269, would make this information conveniently available 
to the public. I believe that this bill would eliminate the present 
shroud of secrecy which has surrounded the congressional pension system 
and give the public better access to information regarding their 
representatives in Congress.
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