United States government pension plans pay out more than $70 billion a year to about 1.8 million retired federal workers. But not all government retirees are created equal. According to data acquired by Bloomberg News through the Freedom of Information Act, almost 15,000 retired federal workers earn more than $100,000 a year. This includes 9.3% of former employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

 

Leading the list is Irving K. Jordan Jr., former president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., who collects $375,900. He is followed by Maxey D. Love Jr., former president of a farm credit union, at $322,272 a year.

 

Lawmakers and cabinet officials don’t do too badly either. Members of Congress can begin collecting their pensions at 62 if they have served a mere five years in office. If they’ve served 20 years, they can collect at age 50.

 

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich receives an annual pension of $100,200. Former Senator Bob Dole (R-Kansas) earns $144,432, former Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) $110,352, and ex-Representative Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) $106,512.

 

And then there’s Dick Cheney. As a former vice-president, congressman, White House chief of staff and secretary of defense, he collects a federal pension of $125,976 a year.

-David Wallechinsky

Congress’s Six-Figure Benefits Add to $674 Billion Pension Gap (by Charles R. Babcock and Frank Bass, Bloomberg News)

Angry at Public Sector Pensions? How about Members of Congress? (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)