UPDATE, March 21: Confirming Scott Whitlock's March 20 post, Elizabeth Bauer at Forbes has noted that McCabe's firing has caused him not to "lose his pension," but to lose out on "the ability to take his benefits at age 50, rather than somewhere between age 57 and age 62, and he lost his eligibility to a special top-up in benefit formula." Additionally, Bauer contends that "being terminated 'for cause' wholly eliminates eligibility for special age-50 retirement." Finally, finding McCabe work as a congressional staffer won't enable McCabe to accrue enough service, because "the particular nature of McCabe's pension benefits condition age-50 retirement eligibility on primary law enforcement employment, not just general federal government employment."
(Original post)
Establishment press reporters continue to insist that they play it straight in their reporting. MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell is so objective that she has suggested an underhanded way the FBI's just-fired Andrew McCabe might save his pension.
If we're to believe the "McCabe supporter" she allegedly consulted, all the former G-man has to do is briefly work for Uncle Sam in some other capacity (h/t RedState):
Mitchell wants us to believe, without disclosing who made the suggestion, that someone else came up with the idea and told her about it mere minutes after McCabe was fired on Friday. Skepticism is highly justified, especially given Mitchell's history as a de facto Democratic operative.
As if by magic, an employment offer has surfaced:
Dem offers to hire McCabe to help him qualify for his pension
A Democratic lawmaker on Saturday offered to hire former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in an effort to help McCabe qualify to receive his pension after being fired from the agency two days before he qualified to receive it.
Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) was responding to a tweet from NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, who said the former FBI official might still be able to receive his pension if he’s hired by a member of Congress.
“Andrew call me. I could use a good two-day report on the biggest crime families in Washington, D.C.,” Pocan tweeted.
Why Congressman Pocan is so interested in receiving a report about the activities of the Clintons so quickly is a mystery. But I digress.
Washington's sudden concern with the pension of a 50 year-old man whose firing is from all appearances completely justified is particularly galling. Assuming he isn't convicted of a crime and sent to prison, both of which appear to be possible, McCabe will almost certainly have little trouble finding employment elsewhere with a salary well into six figures.
If does qualify for a pension, there's no reason to believe payments can't be stopped if he was fired for conduct ultimately deemed criminal.
Even if McCabe doesn't get his pension, he has had years of access to the federal government's other key retirement-related benefit:
Thrift Savings Plan
In addition to FERS, special agents have a Federal Thrift Savings Plan. This is similar to a 401(k). The government invests an amount equal to 1 percent of the employee's salary into the account. ... any investment the agent makes into the plan is matched by the government up to 5 percent of the agent's salary. ...
If McCabe has an ounce of sense, he would have saved 5 percent of his salary in the Thrift Savings Plan during his nearly 20 years of service. Including employer contributions and a prudent investment strategy, he would have several hundred thousand dollars squirreled away by now — along with 20 years or more of credits toward future Social Security benefits, for which federal employees qualify.
Andrea Mitchell and others obsessing over Andrew McCabe's pension need to look somewhere else to apply their misplaced compassion.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
