Hemiman wrote:
Member of the House/ Senate....$174.000
Minority Leader........................$193.400
Speaker of the House................$223.500
Total $590.900 for life plus free medical.
Hemiman,
This retirment issue has come up again and again, so I will only post a short reply..
Would House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi get "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical"?
The email writer gets a whole host of things wrong here.
The message claims Pelosi will retire as a member of Congress making $174,000 and that shell earn it annually, for life, on top of her full speakers salary of $223,500 and minority leaders salary of $193,400, for a whopping "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical."
Nope.
Congressional leaders do get paid more than other lawmakers. The speaker of the House earns $223,500. The House minority leader earns $193,400. Thats more than the $174,000 earned by the rank and file. But those are annual salaries that leaders earn while they hold their titles, not lifetime guarantees that get stacked on top of one another.
First, even if her pension did equal all three salaries, they add up to $590,900, not $803,700. (Unless perhaps the writers suggesting the "free medical" is worth $212,800 a year. Talk about rising health care costs!)
Second, thats not how it works. See above.
Third, lawmakers dont get "free medical." They pay a portion of their health insurance premiums, co-pays and co-insurance and can face a deductible, just like a lot of workers with employer-based health care. In January, their employer-offered health insurance will be a choice of plans offered on Obamacares federal exchange.
Pelosis higher salary as House speaker from 2007-11 will boost her pension. But the congresswoman, whos been in office since 1987, would have to work at least two more decades for her starting pension to match a regular lawmakers pay, much less $803,700.
Shes 73.
And, oh, by the way, lawmakers havent given themselves a pay raise since January 2009.
Were not saying theyre earning their keep.
But perhaps itll make you feel slightly better that their salaries this year hit their lowest inflation-adjusted levels since December 1990. And that more than 200 of them were refusing pay while the government was closed.
Our ruling
A viral message claims congressional lawmakers earn their salaries "FOR LIFE," which for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would add up to "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical."
Lawmakers dont earn a salary after their terms end. They may earn pensions based on years of service, but those dont start until retirement. They dont get "free medical."
It might feel good to click Forward. But it wouldnt make this claim any less Pants on Fire.