I recently received an e-mail which went, in part, like this:

"Our Senators and Congressmen don't pay in to Social Security, and, of course, they don't collect from it. The reason is that they have a special retirement plan that they voted for themselves many years ago. For all practical purposes, it works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw their same pay, until they die, except that it may be increased from time to time, by cost of living adjustments."

This is an urban legend.

An example of the full e-mail can be found here.

This article is for the most part false. Non-inflammitory articles describing the actual established pension systems can be found at the Snopes and AFU and Urban Legends site by clicking on those links.

Although members of Congress do have generous pension fund financed by taxes, members of Congress have paid Social Security deductions on their salaries since 1984.

If you have a problem with the existing pension plans after you read these articles and do further research, please contact your Congressperson directly.

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