NARFE is urging federal employees and retirees to press Congress to back the Equal COLA Act (H.R. 491 / S. 624), legislation that would change how cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) are calculated for Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) annuitants. According to NARFE, the bill would provide full COLAs for FERS retirees, aiming to better preserve the purchasing power of their annuities.
- Legislation: Equal COLA Act — H.R. 491 (House) and S. 624 (Senate)
- Who it affects: FERS retirees (and future FERS retirees) receiving annual COLAs
- What would change: NARFE says the bill would provide full COLAs for FERS annuitants, aligning treatment more closely with retirees under other federal retirement rules
- Why NARFE is pushing it: NARFE argues the current FERS COLA formula can reduce annual adjustments and erode annuity value over time, especially during higher inflation periods
- Action requested: NARFE is asking constituents to contact their House member and senators and request they cosponsor H.R. 491 / S. 624
Brief context
Under current law, FERS COLAs for many retirees are often less than the inflation measure used to calculate the adjustment, depending on the annual rate. NARFE’s alert focuses on what it describes as the “diet COLA” structure in FERS, where COLAs can be reduced compared with a full inflation-based adjustment. The Equal COLA Act would change that approach by providing full COLAs for FERS annuitants, according to NARFE.
For retirees and employees planning their long-term finances, COLA policy can materially affect lifetime income. Even small differences in annual adjustments can compound over a multi-decade retirement. If you want to estimate how changes to inflation adjustments could affect your projected annuity over time, you can run scenarios using the FERS retirement calculator.
NARFE’s call to action is part of its broader advocacy on federal retirement adequacy, including efforts to protect earned benefits and maintain the value of annuities against inflation. The organization is encouraging supporters to emphasize the impact of reduced COLAs on fixed-income retirees and to ask lawmakers to add their names as cosponsors to move the bills forward.
Source: NARFE News