[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 363]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      CONGRESSIONAL INTEGRITY AND PENSION FORFEITURE ACT, H.R. 14

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                         HON. MARK STEVEN KIRK

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 4, 2007

  Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the Congressional 
Integrity and Pension Forfeiture Act, H.R. 14, which would deny Members 
of Congress their pension should they be convicted of a felony. I feel 
strongly that taxpayers should not be responsible for funding the 
pension of one of us if we have broken the law, broken the public's 
trust, and been convicted of a felony.
  I introduced the same bill in the 109th Congress and a portion of it 
was included in the Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act of 
2006, H.R. 4975. Unfortunately, this bill was never considered by the 
Senate. So I am reintroducing it today.
  I based my bill almost exclusively after Congressman Randy Tate's 
bill from the 104th Congress, H.R. 4011. This bill, with 74 co-
sponsors, passed the House of Representatives on September 26, 1996 by 
a vote of 391-32 and 1 Present. It was never considered by the Senate.
  The very first version of this bill was introduced by my predecessor, 
Congressman John Edward Porter, in 1990 during the 101st Congress. 
Congressman Porter had successfully passed a similar bill in the 
Illinois General Assembly prior to coming to the U.S. Congress. In the 
mid-1970s, two Members of the Illinois General Assembly were convicted 
of felonies, resigned, but were still allowed to receive their state 
pension. State Representative John Porter did not think that was right. 
Luckily, his bill passed the Illinois General Assembly and reform 
began.
  An elected official should not be permitted to draw a publicly funded 
pension after violating the very law he or she took an oath to uphold. 
We should be held to a higher standard than others. We swore to uphold 
the constitution and if we fail to do that, we should not receive 
anything back from the public. A breach of law by a Member of Congress 
is a very serious offense that should have very serious consequences.

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