Blum co-sponsors bills to end congressional pensions, tax on Social Security

DES MOINES - First District U.S. Rep. Rod Blum has signed on to a plan to end taxes on one pension and end another altogether.

Blum, a first-term Republican, is co-sponsoring legislation to end congressional pensions. Current members could be grandfathered in, he said, but new members would receive no pension for their time in Congress.

He also signed on to the Senior Citizens Tax Elimination Act, which would end federal taxes on Social Security.

Blum's feeling is that workers' contributions to Social Security are a tax on earnings and they shouldn't be taxed again when they begin receiving their retirement benefits.

'It's taken out of their earnings when they make it and then they're taxed on it when they receive Social Security,” he said. It's not like a 401k contribution that is a pretax deduction.

The cost of eliminating the tax on Social Security is unknown, but Blum hopes to offset at least part of it with the savings from ending congressional pensions.

'This is something I campaigned on,” he said about the congressional pensions. 'I talked to voters and the feeling in my district is (members of Congress) shouldn't get Cadillac pensions.”

Those pensions are necessary only if a member of Congress plans to stay 20 years, he said.

'My whole point is that they should be citizen legislators and shouldn't be there for 20 years,” he said.