A record number of congressional lawmakers are stepping down next year, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and most will qualify for annual pension benefits that cost taxpayers roughly $38 million per year.
Greene’s sudden decision to retire, combined with the six-figure pension Pelosi will receive after nearly four decades in Congress, has shone a spotlight on this little-known perk and reignited calls to end the program.
“I can’t read her mind, but it certainly seems as if it was timed to make sure she got vested,” said Demian Brady, vice president of research for the National Taxpayer Union Foundation, referring to Greene’s last day in the House.
Federal law requires members of Congress to serve at least five full years to qualify for an annual pension. Greene, who began her term on Jan. 3, 2021, and will leave office on Jan. 5, 2026, timed her departure to meet that minimum threshold.
“She wasn’t in there for very long,” Brady noted. “So it’s not a huge pension, but it’s a little extra that she’s going to get.”
Under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) formula, Greene will begin collecting a modest $8,717 per year at age 62—well below the average congressional pension. Based on actuarial data, her lifetime payouts could total more than $265,000.
Pelosi, however, will receive one of the largest pensions on record for any current member of Congress. Thanks to her pay increase as House speaker and her service before reforms reduced benefits, the California Democrat is estimated to collect $107,860 annually beginning in 2027.
According to the most recent publicly available data from the Congressional Research Service, retirement benefits for former members of Congress totaled over $38 million in 2022. The average FERS pension that year was $45,276, while 261 enrollees in the older Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS)—closed to lawmakers who began after 1984—received an average of $84,504. In 2018, with roughly 100 more CSRS enrollees and 60 fewer FERS participants, total congressional pension payouts exceeded $53 million.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a Greene ally and long-time critic of congressional pensions, said he doesn’t fault the congresswoman for claiming her benefits.
“Senators can opt out of paying into FERS, but Representatives may not,” Massie told The Post. “So Representative Greene was unable to decline participation in FERS. If a member is required to pay into the program, they should be able to receive it.”
Massie plans to reintroduce legislation to end FERS eligibility for House members and another bill to make participation optional. “If congressmen want to save for retirement, they should do so with 401(k)-type plans rather than rely on taxpayers,” he said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former congressman, publicly pledged in 2013 to forgo his pension despite paying into the system and helped draft the legislation Massie is now reviving. “I didn’t run for Congress for the perks,” DeSantis said at the time. “I ran to be the type of citizen legislator our Founding Fathers envisioned.”
Following Greene’s announcement, DeSantis renewed his call to end congressional pensions. “The important thing is to reform the system for everyone,” he wrote on X, emphasizing that members of Congress also benefit from the Thrift Savings Plan. “How many private sector workers get a pension and a 401(k)? End pensions in Congress.”
Brady, a congressional pension expert, agreed that lawmakers themselves are the main barrier to reform. “Career politicians who spend decades in public office will want that pension once they leave,” he said. While Greene’s retirement date, which coincides with the eve of the first legislative session in 2026, may not advance reform directly, it has helped raise awareness about congressional pensions.
Neither Greene nor Pelosi responded to requests for comment.