Clinton Email Asks, “Is This What Broke Looks Like” – Fiction!

Clinton Email Asks, “Is This What Broke Looks Like” – Fiction!

Summary of eRumor: 

A chain email makes a number of claims about Bill and Hillary Clintons’ government pensions and that the Clintons charge the Secret Service $10,000 a month in rent.

The Truth: 

This eRumor has been around since 2001, but it’s mostly false.

TruthorFiction.com previously investigated the claim that the Secret Service pays the Clinton’s hefty mortgage each month. A Secret Service spokesman said presidents are reimbursed for areas of their home used by the Secret Service — but the amount is determined by a formula, not the homeowners. The Clintons could have received $1,000 for use of their home, the spokesman said, but they declined the money. Click here for the original story.

Government pensions have been a hot issue for a long time, and the Clintons are no exception. By 2016, Bill Clinton will have collected a total of $16 million in pension payments from taxpayers, Politico reports. And, if the former president died, Hillary Clinton would be entitled to survivor benefits — but not the full amount, as the eRumor claims. She would receive $20,000 a year, the Congressional Research Service reports.

Hillary Clinton also gets a pension for the time she spent as a senator and as secretary of state — but it’s not her entire congressional salary. The government uses a formula to determine the pension that former members of Congress and cabinet officials receive. Under that formula, which is based on total years of service, Hillary Clinton would receive about 20% of the highest salary she earned.

And it’s true that Bill Clinton could possibly collect survivor benefits if Hillary died before him. The Federal Employees Retirement System outlines a number of possibilities for survivors to receive benefits here.