Politics
UW-L political science professor warns of online messages touting Congress “reform act”
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.
Many Americans receive e-mails or messages asking them to support a ‘Congressional Reform Act,’ aimed at keeping federal officials in line.
Supposedly, it includes ideas such as limits on Congressional pay raises, and banning any pension for members of Congress.
La Crosse political scientist Joe Heim says this ‘act’ isn’t real, or at least, it hasn’t become an act, by law.
Heim says the bill’s language about pensions is not accurate, because members of Congress do get some pension when they leave, but it’s false to claim that their annual pension is the same amount as what they were paid in office.
Heim says stories about the bill have been circulating on the internet for years, but it has never been voted on to become an official ‘act’ of Congress.