How lawmakers are looking to change the COLA for federal retirees

House lawmakers are pushing forward plans to change annual cost-of-living adjustments for federal retirees in more ways than one.

For one, the familiar Equal COLA Act, which Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) reintroduced, would change how the annual cost-of-living adjustment, commonly called the COLA, is calculated for the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS).

Specifically, the bill would give FERS retirees a full annual COLA to their annuity payments, in effect, achieving parity with retirees in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), who already receive the annual COLA in its entirety.