Congress moves to deny pensions to the felons in its midst
New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 20th, 2006
With another congressman sentenced to prison
Friday, the House appears poised to pass legislation that
would strip lawmaker-felons of their congressional pensions.
The Senate already passed a bill dubbed "The Duke
Cunningham Act" after the bribe-taking California
politician, and the House plans to take up a similar bill
Monday.
But neither of the bills would touch the pensions of
Cunningham or former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who was sentenced
Friday to 30 months in prison for conspiracy.
Cunningham and Ney may be the most recent poster children
for congressional misdeeds, but because neither bill would
punish past behavior, they will likely live out their days
on the taxpayers' dime.
Lawmakers pushing the bills say they would have preferred
the law take effect immediately, but say the Constitution
prevents it. Article 1 forbids passing laws retroactively,
and the 27th Amendment prohibits instituting changes in
congressional pay until after an election is held -- a
check on members giving themselves raises.
"Ideally, it would take effect right away, but we
didn't want it challenged in court," said Vince
Morris, spokesman for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who authored
the Senate-passed pension ban that would take effect in
2009.
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