The headaches plaguing “Squad” Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MN) aren’t going away following her stinging defeat by a progressive primary challenger on Tuesday.
Back in 2015, the Florida Times-Union answered a question from one reader who asked if Bush was entitled to a congressional pension after serving just two years in the U.S. House. Citing FactCheck.org, the outlet reported that no member of Congress is entitled to full pension benefits, whether they serve one two-year term or several. According to a June 13th, 2015 report by the Congressional Research Office: “Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at the age of 62 if they have completed at least five years of service. Members are eligible for a pension at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service, or at any age after completing 25 years of service. The amount of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary. By law, the starting amount of a member’s retirement annuity may not exceed 80 percent of his or her final salary.”
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Even if Rep. Bush had escaped defeat this year, she would have had to win election to a third two-year term in order to achieve any level of pension benefits from taxpayers. As a result, the onetime Black Lives Matter activist who rose to prominence for her street-level activism is now back out on the streets where her career began. In the case of U.S. senators, however, a single, full six-year term allows any member to collect 9% of their most recent salary. Citing the case of former Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) who lost her reelection in 2015, the outlet said she would be entitled to about $16,000 in annual benefits based on her $174,000 annual salary.
As a member of the House, Rep. Bush made the same amount and will surely struggle to find the same level of compensation in the private sector. Meanwhile, other controversies stemming from her brief time in office will continue. In January, the Department of Justice launched a criminal probe of money her congressional office spent hiring a bodyguard without formal training or a job description; the individual, who has a history of making blatant antisemitic statements, was paid a six-figure sum for performing several years of work protecting her from perceived threats. Another element of the investigation may center on Bush’s marrying another bodyguard who was in her entourage.
The Minnesota Democrat on Tuesday ripped the voters of her district for canning her, threatening to unleash the “other Cori” and saying the loss has only “radicalized” her. Whether those words become actions remains to be seen, but her past statements suggest she could be an incendiary foe of Israel back home. Following the October 7th, 2023 deadly attack by Hamas, Rep. Bush feigned knowledge about whether she believed the Islamist group qualified as a terrorist organization, forcing a spokesperson to later walk back her remarks.
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