Federal Retiree Benefits

I must agree with Keith’s statement that his pensions make him sound like a “pig at a trough.” However, I’d like to point out that much of his largess is due to the Congress of which he was a member making it that way by exempting themselves from the rules and laws that apply to the rest of us.

As a retired Air Force officer, I receive a pension (part of which is due to a partial disability retirement). Unlike him, I could not go to work for the government again to earn a second, third or fourth pension, because much or all of my retirement pay would have then been taken away as a result of the “dual compensation” laws enacted by Congress. That law, like many others, apparently does not apply to members of Congress.

In addition, when I entered the military, service members had a separate retirement plan, somewhat like Congress, and did not pay Social Security taxes. Congress added the military services to the Social Security plan, effectively taking away part of our pay. Significantly, they did not add themselves to the Social Security tax rolls. In addition, they wrote the laws so that when I reach the age to collect Social Security, the amount I receive will be deducted from my retirement pay, so that I will receive absolutely no benefit from the thousands of dollars of Social Security taxes I’ve paid.

Congress has made the non-contributory retirement I was promised when I joined the service into a sham.

A.P. SIMPSON, Rancho Palos Verdes