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LOL...Congress created the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in 1986, and it became effective on January 1, 1987. Since that time, new Federal civilian employees who have retirement coverage are covered by FERS. So, no new employees, including Congress are under CSRS.
Given that, let me try and make some sense of the CSRS. In 5 years you are vested in the 401K (the Government calls it the "Thrift Savings Plan" or TSP). Starting from your first paycheck the government puts 1% of your pay into the plan. That is in addition to anything the employee puts in or any matching that the goverment puts in (there is a formula for matching that I forget the specific details but comes out to about 3% if the employee puts in 5% if memory serves me). If you leave government service before you are vested you keep the money you put in and the matching amount but you lose the 1%.
If you are 62 and have 5 years service you are entitled to a retirement. It is equal to 1% of the high three average annaul salary times the number of credible years service. So...if you work five years and your high three average is $50,000 you would earn roughly 2,500/year as a pension ((50000X.01)X5).
That roughly equals 208 per month before taxes. I can't say that I agree or disagree with the worth of giving a pension in that case. However, that isn't the real cost. The real cost is the cost of health care matching that the government still pays becasue if you have health care for three years before retirement you are eligible to continue coverage. This may not be an issue in the future however.
Hope this helps.
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