Outcry Over Congressional Pensions for Convicted Members

[CatWoman]

The new Democratic leadership faces pressure to end taxpayer-funded pensions to misbehaving members of Congress.

But even a new law will be too late for former Congressmen Duke "Randall" Cunningham, Bob Ney and Mark Foley, who all left Congress in disgrace this year. They will still get their generous Congressional pensions no matter what.

Over 20 civic organizations claiming to have millions of members sent a letter to the new Democratic leadership demanding that they immediately pass a law taking away pensions from members of Congress who've been convicted of a felony.

"The typical American is already angry that members of Congress get such generous pensions, two to three times more generous than what a similarly paid executive would get in the private sector," says Pete Sepp, Vice President of the Taxpayer's Union and one of the letter's authors. "Then they hear that lawmakers that have been convicted of serious crimes keep collecting the payments, well, they just blow through the roof."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/outcry_over_con.html