Federal law now strips convicts like Bob Menendez of congressional pensions. He’s likely still getting one anyways.

Receiving a congressional pension is one of the great benefits to a long career in the United States Congress, and for obvious reasons, lawmakers have largely agreed that such pensions shouldn’t go to those who have betrayed the public trust. Under multiple laws enacted in recent decades, including one signed just last year, members of Congress convicted of corruption-related crimes are rendered ineligible for the taxpayer-funded pensions their colleagues receive.

Former Senator Bob Menendez, convicted last year in a wide-ranging bribery case and due to report to prison to begin his 11-year sentence on June 17, is probably still getting one anyways.

Under the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, members of Congress convicted of a variety of felonies like bribery, acting as a foreign agent, perjury, and racketeering had their congressional pensions revoked. The act passed both houses of Congress overwhelmingly, with one of its co-sponsors being none other than Bob Menendez, then in his second year as a senator.

But the act contained an enormous loophole: it would only take effect after a final conviction was reached, meaning that convicted ex-senators and representatives could drag out the legal process for years via appeals and retain their pension all the while. In 2022, a study by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), a taxpayer advocacy group, could not find a single convicted lawmaker who had actually been stripped of their pension in the 15 years after the bill became law.

Thus was born the No Corruption Act, which amended the law to strip pensions after an initial public corruption conviction rather than delaying it until a final conviction. Led by Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada), it passed the Senate by unanimous consent in the summer of 2023 – Menendez, still a few months away from being indicted, did not object to its passage – and was eventually signed into law by President Joe Biden in December of last year.

But that law, too, contains a loophole that Menendez can take advantage of: it only applies to convictions handed down after its enactment date of December 23, 2024. Menendez was convicted on July 16, meaning that because the House waited for a year and a half to take up the bill (despite it being so uncontroversial that it passed on a voice vote), its provisions don’t apply to him.

Multiple efforts by the New Jersey Globe to determine conclusively whether Menendez is still receiving his federal pension were unsuccessful. Menendez’s lawyers did not respond to a request for information; neither the Office of Personnel Management, which manages federal human resources including federal pensions, nor the Senate Rules & Administration Committee provided answers on Menendez’s eligibility, either.

It does seem clear, however, that Menendez remains eligible for a federal pension, and there’s little reason to believe that the senator, bereft of most other sources of income, wouldn’t take it. Menendez’s lawyers implied as much in the lead-up to the senator’s sentencing in January, when they warned that Menendez could stand to lose his federal pension “if his conviction is upheld” – indicating that he had not yet lost it at that point.

Demian Brady, NTUF’s vice president for research and the author of a number of articles over the years on pension eligibility for members convicted of corruption, said that his group has similarly struggled in recent years to get information on who receives congressional pensions.

“It’s really frustrating, especially when you’re dealing with former members of Congress – we have these laws, and these are people who have been found guilty and convicted of corruption-related activities,” Brady said. “You’d think that the public should have access to that.”

According to Brady, if Menendez “maximized his pension opportunities” during his long tenure in Congress – he served in the House for 13 years and the Senate for nearly 19 – his annual pension would start out at $71,488. His wife Nadine, recently convicted on similar corruption charges as her husband, would be eligible for $7,943 if Menendez opted for a spousal set aside, Brady said.

Menendez has appealed and objected to virtually every step of his corruption case thus far, and after he was sentenced in January, he vowed to appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary – potentially keeping his pension in place for years. There’s also a perennially available get-out-of-jail-free card: a pardon from President Donald Trump, something for which Menendez has been openly campaigning.

As a former state lawmaker and local elected official, Menendez has also been receiving a $1,066-a-month state pension since 2019. New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin announced last week that he will seek a court order to bar Menendez from future public employment, a step that would then give the Public Employees’ Retirement System board of trustees the ability to revoke Menendez’s pension.