Posted on Nov 1, 2014
Senator Questions System Allowing 'Triple Dipping' Veterans
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It's all legal, and if this is something about the nations budget crisis, you would think a US senator would find something else to try and argue....We fight for this country, and of all the dangerous professions, look at the pay! its not that great, why try and question the system?
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/11/01/senator-questions-system-allowing-triple-dipping-veterans.html?comp= [login to see] 843&rank=4
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/11/01/senator-questions-system-allowing-triple-dipping-veterans.html?comp= [login to see] 843&rank=4
Benefits
Disability
Retirement
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 65
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And they question triple dipping? I'm sure that triple dipping doesn't compare to this:
The accrual rate for each year of congressional service covered by CSRS is 2.5%. Therefore, the CSRS pension equals
High-3 x Years of x .025 = CSRS
Salary Service
Pension
For example, after 30 years of congressional service and a high-3 average salary of $174,000, the initial annual CSRS pension for a Member who retired in December 2012 at the end of the 112th Congress at the age of 60 or later would be22
$174,000 × 30 × .025 = $130,500
Federal law limits the maximum CSRS pension that may be paid at the start of retirement to 80% of the Member’s final annual salary. (See 5 U.S.C. §8339(f).) To receive an initial pension equal to 80% of final salary, a Member must complete 32 years of congressional service covered by CSRS (32 × .025 = .80). The smallest starting pension under CSRS is 12.5% of high-3 salary for a Member with five years of service. (Pensions based on less than 10 years of service cannot begin before the age of 62.)
Most Members who entered Congress before 1984 and who chose to stay in the CSRS elected the “CSRS offset” plan. When a Member who has retired under the offset plan is aged 62 or older, the CSRS pension is reduced by the amount of Social Security benefits that he or she is entitled to as a result of congressional service. In the example above, the offset would be approximately $18,345 annually.23
Pension Benefits Under FERS
For Members of Congress covered by FERS prior to December 31, 2012, the accrual rate for congressional service covered by FERS is 1.7% for the first 20 years and 1.0% for each year beyond the 20th. The basic retirement annuity under FERS for Members first elected prior to 2012 is equal to
[ High-3 Years of ] Salary x .017 x Service +
through 20
[ High-3 Salary
x .01 x
Years of ] Annual Service = Pension
over 20
22 Base pay for Representatives and Senators was $174,000 in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Pay for House and Senate leadership positions is higher.
23 This estimate, calculated for illustrative purposes, is based on the assumption that a Member of Congress who had been in office on December 31, 1983, and who retired at the end of 2012 would have had 29 years of Social Security participation as a Member of Congress. According to the Social Security Administration, the monthly benefit for a career-long high-wage earner retiring at age 62 in 2012 (i.e., all 35 years of earnings in the calculation of Social Security benefits were at the taxable maximum) would be $1,845. This would be $22,140 on an annual basis. This amount was then multiplied by the ratio of 29/35, which is the proportion of Social Security participation as a Member, to produce an estimated offset of $18,345.
The accrual rate for each year of congressional service covered by CSRS is 2.5%. Therefore, the CSRS pension equals
High-3 x Years of x .025 = CSRS
Salary Service
Pension
For example, after 30 years of congressional service and a high-3 average salary of $174,000, the initial annual CSRS pension for a Member who retired in December 2012 at the end of the 112th Congress at the age of 60 or later would be22
$174,000 × 30 × .025 = $130,500
Federal law limits the maximum CSRS pension that may be paid at the start of retirement to 80% of the Member’s final annual salary. (See 5 U.S.C. §8339(f).) To receive an initial pension equal to 80% of final salary, a Member must complete 32 years of congressional service covered by CSRS (32 × .025 = .80). The smallest starting pension under CSRS is 12.5% of high-3 salary for a Member with five years of service. (Pensions based on less than 10 years of service cannot begin before the age of 62.)
Most Members who entered Congress before 1984 and who chose to stay in the CSRS elected the “CSRS offset” plan. When a Member who has retired under the offset plan is aged 62 or older, the CSRS pension is reduced by the amount of Social Security benefits that he or she is entitled to as a result of congressional service. In the example above, the offset would be approximately $18,345 annually.23
Pension Benefits Under FERS
For Members of Congress covered by FERS prior to December 31, 2012, the accrual rate for congressional service covered by FERS is 1.7% for the first 20 years and 1.0% for each year beyond the 20th. The basic retirement annuity under FERS for Members first elected prior to 2012 is equal to
[ High-3 Years of ] Salary x .017 x Service +
through 20
[ High-3 Salary
x .01 x
Years of ] Annual Service = Pension
over 20
22 Base pay for Representatives and Senators was $174,000 in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Pay for House and Senate leadership positions is higher.
23 This estimate, calculated for illustrative purposes, is based on the assumption that a Member of Congress who had been in office on December 31, 1983, and who retired at the end of 2012 would have had 29 years of Social Security participation as a Member of Congress. According to the Social Security Administration, the monthly benefit for a career-long high-wage earner retiring at age 62 in 2012 (i.e., all 35 years of earnings in the calculation of Social Security benefits were at the taxable maximum) would be $1,845. This would be $22,140 on an annual basis. This amount was then multiplied by the ratio of 29/35, which is the proportion of Social Security participation as a Member, to produce an estimated offset of $18,345.
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My high school English teacher had a saying: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Congress, look at yourself first, before you come after anyone in the military to save money, and kiss my ass in the meantime.
Congress, look at yourself first, before you come after anyone in the military to save money, and kiss my ass in the meantime.
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As we are no longer a nation at war, you will start to see less and less talk about veterans and funding for those services that used to be key 'talking points' during re-election campaigning.
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Lets see we pay social security taxes from Our military pay on active duty. My 10% VA Disability is deducted from Retirement just tax free. I retired after 22 years. Then Turned up a tumor behind right eye that I was told not military related because was not found When I retired. But the Va doctors say I have had it over 20 years. I retired in 2000. tumor found in 2009. I still have been employed after retirement . Pay taxes . Way I see it currently I pay my own retirement for 3 months of a year. Until I'm 67 1/2.
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What I want to know is who is the guy making $208k on triple dipping disability? While I don't mind someone being taken care of because of wounds and injuries suffered in the service of our nation, and I don't believe that any amount of monetary compensation is adequate for some of the wounds that have been suffered, Seriously, $208k a year would get a lot of guys off the street. And out of curiosity, how much of this is actually being collected by a living veteran?
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CW2 Joseph Evans
SSG Aaron McCarthy, Not saying it is, or for that matter that it isn't. Your pain and your trials are real and they are yours. I would never claim to know them. I just know that every journey is real and it is up to each of us to come to terms with the hands we are dealt.
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SPC Charles Estes
Sgt, refile your case. Agent Orange is an automatic qualification for many conditions, yet the VA routinely denies first time applications. ROUTINELY. Appeal, appeal, appeal. As long as you continue to file TIMELY appeals, when they finally DO approve your claim, they will pay you retroactively to the date of first filing.
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MSgt (Join to see)
Another reason the VA needs an overhaul - they should do the proper research the first time so you don't have to repeatedly appeal their poor decisions. The time and money wasted in the denial till possible approved status could be better used to help our members in need.
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CW2 Joseph Evans
MSgt (Join to see),
The Veteran's Bureau was a scam from day 1, it has yet to successfully outgrow the institutional inertia of it's birth.
Colonel Charles R. Forbes, a chance acquaintance of Warren Harding, was appointed to head the recently created Veterans' Bureau. It was later revealed that Forbes entered into corrupt arrangements with a number of contractors, particularly with those involved in the operation of hospitals, and sold government property at a fraction of its value. Charles F. Cramer, attorney for the bureau, committed suicide, which brought increased attention to the agency. In 1923, Forbes resigned his position and fled to Europe.
The Veteran's Bureau was a scam from day 1, it has yet to successfully outgrow the institutional inertia of it's birth.
Colonel Charles R. Forbes, a chance acquaintance of Warren Harding, was appointed to head the recently created Veterans' Bureau. It was later revealed that Forbes entered into corrupt arrangements with a number of contractors, particularly with those involved in the operation of hospitals, and sold government property at a fraction of its value. Charles F. Cramer, attorney for the bureau, committed suicide, which brought increased attention to the agency. In 1923, Forbes resigned his position and fled to Europe.
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Oh and finally, SPC, everyone has issues great and small throughout their lives. I have a NCO friend who is dying right now with Leukemia and last year lost a friend SMSgt who died from complications of ALS. See a lot kid. Been around for awhile now.
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He obviously never served his country. The day he was elected he began to quad dip. 1 only works About 243 day's gets paid for 365 days. Gets stock information that is against the law for the rest of us. Receives a expense account. Free medical and it's first class. Gets retirement after just one term in office. So where is the equality in that benefit.
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How many of them are serving in Congress and collecting social security
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And that senator will collect a full pension for being a member of Congress, for the rest of his life, even if he only serves ONE six-year term. So he can kiss my A$$ !!
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