Her's an article I received thru e-mail, so I don't know it's origin, but I like it and I wanted to share it with you.All comments are welcome.

"Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election
years. Our Senators and Congress men &women do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.


You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.

In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this:
When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments.

For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives.
This is calculated on an average life span for each.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. Nada.
Zilch.
This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds-our tax dollars at work!

>From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into-every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) --we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000. monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal
Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made.

That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us ... then sit back and watch how fast they would fix it."

Once again, this is a HOAX

Congresspeople do pay into Social Security, just like the rest of us. Prior to 20 years ago, they did not. Instead, they paid into a nearly identical plan called the Civil Service Retirement System, just like every other federal civilian employee.

They do not continue to draw the same salary after they retire. The numbers given for Bradley are just plain wrong.


read about it here


[This message was edited by methos5000 on 10-03-03 at 12:56 PM.]

In that case Thanx Methos for clarifying.Like I said I couldn't verify it's source.

As Methos5000 correctly pointed out, this is an Urban Legend that gets passed around via e-mails all the time.

Here are some interesting facts regarding Congress, government workers and Social Security:

It used to be true. Until 1984 all federal civil employees and every member of Congress did not pay any Social Security taxes. Bad publicity, however, forced Congress and most federal employees to participate (and start paying SS taxes) in 1984. Government workers (including all members of Congress) can still participate in CSRS if they wish.

In addition to the CSRS that Methos5000 mentioned, members of Congress can also choose a government “thrift savings plan” that operates similar to a 401(k). Whichever one they choose, the member must contribute.

The original Social Security law had the option of allowing states and municipalities to exempt their public employees from Social Security. This part of the law was changed in 1981. But before it was, government workers (but not member of Congress or Senators) in Texas, California, Louisiana, Ohio, and Massachusetts have opted out of Social Security. Instead, they participate in retirement plans administered at the state and local levels.

As it stands right now, around 5 million state and local government workers don’t pay into Social Security.

While Congress does pay Social Security, there are other laws that Congress has exempted themselves from: The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).