Rep. Lauren Boebert said Wednesday she is working on efforts to make Eric Swalwell and others like him lose their taxpayer-funded pension, after two former members of Congress resigned amid sexual assault and sexual harassment allegations.
Boebert shared a video on X on Wednesday and said, “Former Congressman Eric Swalwell abused his position of power in Congress to assault and victimize women.” She added, “Now as things stand, taxpayers will be sending him tens of thousands of dollars every year for the rest of his life.”
The Colorado Republican told reporter Manu Raju on the House steps that Congress should look into ways to censure members so they cannot leave with taxpayer-funded benefits after what she called shameful acts that force them to resign. Her comments came after former Rep. Tony Gonzales resigned on April 14, 2026, after a looming expulsion vote threatened to forcibly remove him. Swalwell and Gonzales both resigned Tuesday.
The fight Boebert is pushing runs into a narrow set of federal rules. Swalwell and Gonzales are both eligible for federal retirement benefits under the Federal Employees Retirement System or the Civil Service Retirement System because both plans require at least five years of federal service. Neither man would be able to access that pension until age 62, and each would receive roughly $22,000 a year for the rest of his life.
Under several federal laws, including the HISS Act and the STOCK Act of 2012, congressional members lose pensions and other benefits only if they are convicted of crimes committed while in Congress. Censure or expulsion does not automatically strip those benefits, and only six House members have been successfully expelled. An expulsion vote can be based on disorderly conduct, but Boebert’s push would require Congress to act beyond the rules now in place.
That leaves her effort with a clear obstacle: unless lawmakers change the law, the pensions stay. Boebert is pressing for a system that would let Congress punish conduct she called shameful without letting a member walk away with federal retirement benefits attached to the job.
