Rep. DeSantis pushing to end pensions for Congress

Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), who voluntarily declined his pension when taking office, introduced a bill that would end pensions for all members of Congress.

On Wednesday, he filed the End Pensions in Congress (EPIC) Act, which would end pensions for all future members of Congress as well as those currently serving “who are not yet vested into the congressional retirement plan.”

“I think this is a way for Congress to lead by example,” DeSantis tells WOKV News exclusively.

He believes if Congress wants to reform other types of compensations systems for other government employees, they would have more “moral authority” if they are willing to “take the plunge first.”

“In the private sector, the taxpayers who fund the government are not in a position to get pensions right now the way our economy has developed,” DeSantis says.  “I don’t think Congress should be given special benefits that the average citizen does not have.”

DeSantis believes that having pensions makes it more likely members of Congress will stay for a long time.

“Because they know they have this soft landing,” he says.  “I think that promotes careerism in Congress, and I would much rather have it be more of a citizen legislature in which people go, serve, do what they want to do, but then go back and live under the laws that they passed.”

Under present law, members of Congress can receive both a pension and a 401(k).  DeSantis believes the 401(k) treats Congress similar to how people in the private sector are being treated.

“There gonna be a lot of members of Congress who don’t really like the bill because it takes a way a pension from them potentially,” he says.

The strategy to pass the bill, according to DeSantis, is to get the votes needed to make it an amendment to a related bill that goes before the House.