Several VERIFY readers have asked if federal retirees would get their pensions during a government shutdown. Here’s what we found.
Retired federal workers would still receive their retirement income during a government shutdown. That’s because Congress doesn’t have to approve the funding for federal retirement benefits annually.
When federal workers retire, they typically qualify for monthly retirement income known as annuity payments, which is often referred to as a pension. Retirement annuity payments fall under the “mandatory” category of government spending, John Hatton with the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association told VERIFY.
Mandatory spending is required by existing federal laws and does not require an annual vote by Congress, . Funding for entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare also falls under the mandatory spending category.“Annuities are ‘mandatory’ spending, made pursuant to existing statutory law, and paid from the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Trust Fund ,” Hatton said. “As such, payment of annuities is not dependent on annually appropriated budget authority.”
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