Pension Information for Vice President and Other High Ranking Federal Officials As with salaries, the rules governing the retirement benefits of the Vice President, Cabinet members, members of Congress and other federal officials are different than those that apply to the President, with benefits laid-out in the rules of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Thus, their retirement benefits (including pensions) will vary from individual to individual, depending on factors such as years of service. The following paragraph excerpted from the Congressional Research Service PDF document called Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress by Patrick J. Purcell [CRS Report RL30631] provides some idea of how much the pensions are for former Vice Presidents, Cabinet members, members of Congress and other federal officials. It provides averages for annual pensions given to retired members of Congress. http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30631.pdf “As of October 1, 2006, 413 retired Members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service. Of this number, 290 had retired under CSRS and were receiving an average annual pension of $60,972. A total of 123 Members had retired with service under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only. Their average annual pension was $35,952 in 2006.” These Office of Personnel Management webpages explain FERS and CSRS: Federal Employees Retirement System (http://www.opm.gov/RETIRE/PRE/FERS/INDEX.ASP) Civil Service Retirement System (http://www.opm.gov/retire/pre/csrs/index.asp) You can also look at the US Code on “Civil Service Retirement” (Title 5, Part III, Subpart G, Chapter 83, Subchapter III). Information on rules governing the retirement benefits of members of the federal judicial system can be found in the US Code at 28 USC Sec. 627 (Title 28, Part III, Chapter 42, Section 627). Note that former Vice Presidents (unlike former Presidents) do not receive Secret Service protection. The U.S. Secret Service does not list them on either their Protective Mission page or their FAQ on “Who is the Secret Service authorized to protect?”. http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml#faq2 Also, a bill being considered in 2008 by Congress (H.R. 5938) was created specifically to amend Title 18 in the US Code so as to provide this protection to former Vice Presidents. Search THOMAS on the Library of Congress website for more information on H.R. 5938. Additional Info Here are some additional websites to which we referred when answering this information. Emily Yoffe’s “A Presidential Salary FAQ” in Slate Magazine’s Explainer section from Jan. 3, 2001 (http://www.slate.com/id/1006798/) C-SPAN’s Capitol Questions with Ilona Nickls. C-SPAN Resident Congressional Scholar (http://www.c-span.org/questions/weekly68.htm) snopes.com – Congressional Pensions (http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/pensions.asp) Since we cite the US Code a number of times, here are three places on the web that will let you search and/or browse the US Code. Office of the Law Revision Counsel – U.S. House of Representatives (http://uscode.house.gov/) U.S. Government Printing Office’s US Code webpage (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/) U.S. Code – LII / Legal Information Institute – Cornell University Law School (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/) + Click for more relevant essays

 Pension Information for Vice President and Other High Ranking Federal Officials As with salaries, the rules governing the retirement benefits of the Vice President, Cabinet members, members of Congress and other federal officials are different than those that apply to the President, with benefits laid-out in the rules of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) and the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). Thus, their retirement benefits (including pensions) will vary from individual to individual, depending on factors such as years of service.  The following paragraph excerpted from the Congressional Research Service PDF document called Retirement Benefits for Members of Congress by Patrick J. Purcell [CRS Report RL30631] provides some idea of how much the pensions are for former Vice Presidents, Cabinet members, members of Congress and other federal officials. It provides averages for annual pensions given to retired members of Congress.  http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/RL30631.pdf  “As of October 1, 2006, 413 retired Members of Congress were receiving federal pensions based fully or in part on their congressional service. Of this number, 290 had retired under CSRS and were receiving an average annual pension of $60,972. A total of 123 Members had retired with service under both CSRS and FERS or with service under FERS only. Their average annual pension was $35,952 in 2006.”  These Office of Personnel Management webpages explain FERS and CSRS:  Federal Employees Retirement System (http://www.opm.gov/RETIRE/PRE/FERS/INDEX.ASP) Civil Service Retirement System (http://www.opm.gov/retire/pre/csrs/index.asp) You can also look at the US Code on “Civil Service Retirement” (Title 5, Part III, Subpart G, Chapter 83, Subchapter III).  Information on rules governing the retirement benefits of members of the federal judicial system can be found in the US Code at 28 USC Sec. 627 (Title 28, Part III, Chapter 42, Section 627).  Note that former Vice Presidents (unlike former Presidents) do not receive Secret Service protection. The U.S. Secret Service does not list them on either their Protective Mission page or their FAQ on “Who is the Secret Service authorized to protect?”.  http://www.secretservice.gov/protection.shtml  http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml#faq2  Also, a bill being considered in 2008 by Congress (H.R. 5938) was created specifically to amend Title 18 in the US Code so as to provide this protection to former Vice Presidents. Search THOMAS on the Library of Congress website for more information on H.R. 5938.  Additional Info Here are some additional websites to which we referred when answering this information.  Emily Yoffe’s “A Presidential Salary FAQ” in Slate Magazine’s Explainer section from Jan. 3, 2001 (http://www.slate.com/id/1006798/) C-SPAN’s Capitol Questions with Ilona Nickls. C-SPAN Resident Congressional Scholar (http://www.c-span.org/questions/weekly68.htm) snopes.com – Congressional Pensions (http://www.snopes.com/politics/taxes/pensions.asp) Since we cite the US Code a number of times, here are three places on the web that will let you search and/or browse the US Code.  Office of the Law Revision Counsel – U.S. House of Representatives (http://uscode.house.gov/) U.S. Government Printing Office’s US Code webpage (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/) U.S. Code – LII / Legal Information Institute – Cornell University Law School (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/)    + Click for more relevant essays