I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4524 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide that if a Member of 
Congress is convicted of a felony, such Member shall not be eligible 
for retirement benefits, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 14, 2005 
Mr. JONES of North Carolina (for himself and Mr. SHIMKUS) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administra-
tion, and in addition to the Committee on Government Reform, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide that if 
a Member of Congress is convicted of a felony, such 
Member shall not be eligible for retirement benefits, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Congressional Pension 
Forfeiture Act of 2005’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) Members of Congress pledge to uphold the 
Constitution and the laws of the United States; 
(2) Members of Congress are elected to serve in 
the public trust and pledge to uphold the public 
trust; 
(3) a breach of the public trust by a Member 
of Congress is a serious offense that should have se-
rious consequences; and 
(4) taxpayers should not pay for the retirement 
benefits of Members of Congress who have breached 
the public trust. 
SEC. 3. FORFEITURE. 
(a) CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT SYSTEM.—Section 
8332 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(o)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
subchapter, the service of an individual convicted of an 
offense described in paragraph (2) shall not, if or to the 
extent rendered as a Member (irrespective of when ren-
dered), be taken into account for purposes of this sub-
chapter. Any such individual (or other person determined 
under section 8342(c), if applicable) shall be entitled to 
be paid so much of such individual’s lump-sum credit as
is attributable to service to which the preceding sentence 
applies. 
‘‘(2)(A) An offense described in this paragraph is any 
offense described in subparagraph (B) for which the fol-
lowing apply: 
‘‘(i) The offense is committed by the individual 
(referred to in paragraph (1)) while a Member. 
‘‘(ii) The conduct on which the offense is based 
is directly related to the individual’s service as a 
Member. 
‘‘(iii) The offense is committed during the One 
Hundred Tenth Congress or later. 
‘‘(B) The offenses described in this subparagraph are 
as follows: 
‘‘(i) An offense within the purview of section 
201 (bribery of public officials and witnesses), 203 
(compensation to Members of Congress, officers, and 
others in matters affecting the Government), 204 
(practice in United States Court of Federal Claims 
or the United States Court of Appeals for the Fed-
eral Circuit by Members of Congress), 219 (officers 
and employees acting as agents of foreign prin-
cipals), 286 (conspiracy to defraud the Government 
with respect to claims), 287 (false, fictitious or 
fraudulent claims), 371 (conspiracy to commit of-