II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 472 To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for the termination of certain retirement benefits for Members of Congress, except the right to continue participating in the Thrift Savings Plan, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2021 Mr. BRAUN (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs A BILL To amend title 5, United States Code, to provide for the termination of certain retirement benefits for Members of Congress, except the right to continue participating in the Thrift Savings Plan, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Pensions in Con- 4 gress Act’’ or the ‘‘EPIC Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S472.IS S472 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 472 IS SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO THE CIVIL SERVICE 1 RETIREMENT SYSTEM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter III of chapter 83 of 3 title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 4 section 8335 the following: 5 ‘‘§ 8335A. Termination of further retirement coverage 6 of Members of Congress 7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro- 8 vision of this subchapter and subject to subsection (f), ef- 9 fective as of the date of enactment of this section— 10 ‘‘(1) a Member shall not be subject to this sub- 11 chapter for any further period of time; and 12 ‘‘(2) no further Government contributions or 13 deductions from basic pay may be made with respect 14 to such Member for deposit in the Treasury of the 15 United States to the credit of the Fund. 16 ‘‘(b) PRIOR RIGHTS NOT AFFECTED.—Nothing in 17 subsection (a) shall be considered to nullify, modify, or 18 otherwise affect any right, entitlement, or benefit under 19 this subchapter of any Member with respect to any period 20 before the date of enactment of this section. 21 ‘‘(c) RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THRIFT SAVINGS 22 PLAN NOT AFFECTED.—Nothing in subsection (a) shall 23 affect the eligibility of a Member to participate in the 24 Thrift Savings Plan in accordance with otherwise applica- 25 ble provisions of law. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S472.IS S472 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 472 IS ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—Any regulations necessary to 1 carry out this section may— 2 ‘‘(1) except with respect to matters under para- 3 graph (2), be prescribed by the Director; and 4 ‘‘(2) with respect to matters relating to the 5 Thrift Savings Plan, be prescribed by the Executive 6 Director (as defined under section 8401). 7 ‘‘(e) EXCLUSION.—For purposes of this section, the 8 term ‘Member’ does not include the Vice President. 9 ‘‘(f) OPT-IN.—Not later than 90 days after the date 10 of enactment of this section, a Member covered by this 11 subchapter as of such date of enactment may elect, by giv- 12 ing notice in writing to the official that disburses the pay 13 of such Member, to remain subject to this subchapter.’’. 14 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 15 for chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 16 by inserting after the item relating to section 8335 the 17 following: 18 ‘‘8335A. Termination of further retirement coverage of Members of Congress.’’. SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO THE FEDERAL EM- 19 PLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 84 of 21 title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after 22 section 8425 the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S472.IS S472 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 472 IS ‘‘§ 8426. Termination of further retirement coverage 1 of Members of Congress 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro- 3 vision of this chapter, effective as of the date of enactment 4 of this section— 5 ‘‘(1) in the case of an individual who first be- 6 comes a Member before such date of enactment, 7 subject to subsection (f)— 8 ‘‘(A) such Member shall not be subject to 9 this chapter for any further period of time after 10 such date of enactment; and 11 ‘‘(B) no further Government contributions 12 or deductions from basic pay may be made with 13 respect to such Member for deposit in the 14 Treasury of the United States to the credit of 15 the Fund; and 16 ‘‘(2) in the case of an individual who first be- 17 comes a Member on or after such date of enact- 18 ment— 19 ‘‘(A) such Member shall not be subject to 20 this chapter; and 21 ‘‘(B) no Government contributions or de- 22 ductions from basic pay may be made with re- 23 spect to such Member for deposit in the Treas- 24 ury of the United States to the credit of the 25 Fund. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S472.IS S472 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 472 IS ‘‘(b) PRIOR RIGHTS NOT AFFECTED.—Nothing in 1 subsection (a) shall be considered to nullify, modify, or 2 otherwise affect any right, entitlement, or benefit under 3 this chapter of any Member with respect to any period 4 before the date of enactment of this section. 5 ‘‘(c) RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN THRIFT SAVINGS 6 PLAN NOT AFFECTED.—Nothing in subsection (a) shall 7 affect the eligibility of a Member to participate in the 8 Thrift Savings Plan in accordance with otherwise applica- 9 ble provisions of law. 10 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Any regulations necessary 12 to carry out this section may— 13 ‘‘(A) except with respect to matters under 14 subparagraph (B), be prescribed by the Direc- 15 tor; and 16 ‘‘(B) with respect to matters relating to 17 the Thrift Savings Plan, be prescribed by the 18 Executive Director. 19 ‘‘(2) REFUNDS.—Notwithstanding subsection 20 (b), the regulations under paragraph (1)(A) shall, in 21 the case of a Member who has not completed at 22 least 5 years of civilian service creditable under sec- 23 tion 8411 as of the date of enactment of this sec- 24 tion, provide that the lump-sum credit shall be pay- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S472.IS S472 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 472 IS able to such Member to the same extent and in the 1 same manner as if such Member satisfied para- 2 graphs (1) through (4) of section 8424(a) as of such 3 date of enactment. 4 ‘‘(e) EXCLUSIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 5 term ‘Member’ does not include the Vice President. 6 ‘‘(f) OPT-IN FOR MEMBERS.—Not later than 90 days 7 after the date of enactment of this section, a Member cov- 8 ered by this chapter as of such date may elect, by giving 9 notice in writing to the official that disburses the pay of 10 such Member, to remain subject to this chapter.’’. 11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 12 for chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 13 by inserting after the item relating to section 8425 the 14 following: 15 ‘‘8426. Termination of further retirement coverage of Members of Congress.’’. SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO TSP. 16 Section 8431(a) of title 5, United States Code, is 17 amended by inserting ‘‘except as provided in section 18 8335A(c) and section 8426(c),’’ after ‘‘subchapter,’’. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Mar 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S472.IS S472 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS