If Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, wins re-election Tuesday, a watchdog group says it will be like hitting a $185,000 lottery for his future pension.
The National Taxpayers Union says recent pay raises in Congress also raise members' pensions, and an extra two years at higher salary would bring Hansen an estimated extra $185,000 or so during his lifetime.If Hansen retired this year, his pension would be an estimated $42,343 annually. An extra two years at high pay would raise the pension initially to $54,414, the group said.
Over his expected lifespan of 82.8 years, the group says the extra two years of service would raise Hansen's total pension from an estimated $1.53 million to $1.715 million.
"Because of these lavish benefits, Congress has become a pension millionaires club. While the average taxpayer retires on a fixed income, our legislators retire in luxury," said taxpayers union chairman James Davidson.
However, Paul Hansen, campaign manager for his father, said the extra benefits had "absolutely no" part in Hansen's decision to seek a seventh term - which would tie him as the longest-serving House member ever from Utah.
Congressional retirement benefits are normally calculated by multiplying the years of member service by 2.5 percent of the average of the three highest years' salaries.
The taxpayers union said that when it prepared estimates of total benefits, it figured that pension payments once started would increase an average of 4 percent a year.
Members of Congress who participate in the pension plan pay 8 percent of their pay toward it.