Newly-elected members of Congress will be happy to know that they also just won an annual pension that could run into serious money. One-sixth of all retired representatives and senators (79 of 463, or 17%) currently earn at least $100,000 from their pensions, according to the Federal Times.

Among the six-figure Congressional pensioners are former Senator Bob Dole (R-Kansas), former Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), ex-Representative Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) and ex-Representative Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia).

Some ex-lawmakers (four to be exact) receive pensions that are greater than the $174,000 salary provided to members of Congress, with one retiree collecting earned annuities of more than $200,000. Although the average pension for retired or deceased members of Congress is $49,412 a year, some members have their pension raised because they served in leadership position or because they also served in the military.

Representative Mike Coffman (R-Colorado), a critic of the congressional pension system, introduced legislation (HR 2913) last year that would have eliminated the defined-benefit pension for all new lawmakers. Under Coffman’s plan, current lawmakers would have kept any pension benefits they had accrued up until the time the bill was adopted.

But the bill had not moved out of committee since it was assigned in October 2011.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

To Learn More:

1 In 6 Retired Lawmakers Get Six-Figure Pensions (by Stephen Losey, Federal Times)

HR 2913 (Library of Congress)

Thousands of Federal Retirees Receive $100,000 a Year Pensions…Including Newt Gingrich (by David Wallechinsky, AllGov)