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The 2025 federal pay action for General Schedule (GS) employees was an average 2.0% increase—a 1.7% across‑the‑board base raise plus roughly 0.3% in locality adjustments—effective January 2025 . Infla...
Congressional pensions are built from two moving pieces: the retiree’s “high‑3” average salary (the highest average pay over any three consecutive years) and a years‑of‑service accrual rate that diffe...
Senators are subject to the federal retirement rules that govern all Members of Congress: they do not automatically receive a lifetime salary at departure, and they must meet both service and (in many...
A Member of the House generally receives retirement benefits under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) if they were first covered by FERS, while a small cohort of long-serving Members remai...
An announced COLA raises federal retirement payouts beginning with the December effective date and appears in payments issued in January; 2026 COLAs were 2.8% for CSRS and Social Security and 2.0% for...
Congressional retirement under FERS differs from standard federal rules in benefits, eligibility ages and contribution rates; CRS data show 358 retired Members had FERS-based pensions averaging $45,27...
Members of Congress covered by FERS receive a three-part retirement package—FERS basic annuity (a congressional pension), Social Security, and the Thrift Savings Plan—and so can collect a FERS pension...
Members of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) are eligible for an immediate unreduced pension if they meet one of these tests: age 62 with at least 5 years of service, age 60 with 20 years...