[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21891]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 KILL CONGRESSIONAL PENSIONS FOR FELONS

  (Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, Congress should kill the pension for Members 
of Congress convicted of a felony. In January, I offered legislation, 
H.R. 14, that killed a pension on the conviction of any one of 21 
public integrity felonies. Both Speaker Pelosi and Hastert voted for 
this reform.
  But the bill we consider today leaves congressional pensions intact 
for violating 17 of these felonies, including income tax evasion, wire 
fraud, intimidation to secure contributions, and making fraudulent 
claims.
  In January, we passed a limited reform bill that killed a pension for 
conviction of only four felonies. But shockingly, this bill has now 
been gutted.
  In January we voted to kill the pension for a Member of Congress 
convicted of acting as a foreign agent, but this felony has now been 
deleted from the final package. Who deleted it? Is it okay for a Member 
of Congress convicted of a felony by acting as a foreign agent?
  As you can see, the bill we will consider today falls far short of 
its potential for reform. A Member convicted of acting as a foreign 
agent should not receive a taxpayer pension.

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