H.R. 491 119th Congress House

Equal COLA Act

Official title: To amend title 5, United States Code, to achieve parity between the cost-of-living adjustment with respect to an annuity under the Federal Employees Retirement… Show full official titleShow less

Introduced: January 16, 2025 Introduced by: Gerald E. Connolly Democrat · Virginia See on congress.gov

Government Operations and Politics Government employee pay, benefits, personnel managementInflation and prices

Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps

Introduced

In committee

Reported out

Passed House

Passed Senate

To President

Became law

Sep 16, 2025

ASSUMING FIRST SPONSORSHIP - Mr. Walkinshaw asked unanimous consent that he may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 491, a bill originally introduced by Representative Connolly, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII. Agreed to without objection.

Jan 16, 2025

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Jan 16, 2025

Introduced in House

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Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Equal COLA Act

This bill applies a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for annuities paid under the Federal Employees Retirement System that is equal to the increase in inflation, regardless of the amount of the increase.

Specifically, for any year in which the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased over the previous year, the COLA amount shall be increased by the change in the CPI from the previous year.

Current law applies an adjustment equal to the change in CPI only if the change is 2% or less. If the change is between 2% and 3%, the adjustment is limited to 2%. If the change is more than 3%, the adjustment is limited to 1% less than the change.

Related & companion bills 1

Bill text 1 version

Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

Committees of jurisdiction 1

Oversight and Government Reform Committee
House of Representatives

Lobbying activity 63

Registered lobbyists who named this bill in their disclosure filings. Source: federal Lobbying Disclosure Act filings.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS
for NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LETTER CARRIERS · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION
for NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
NATIONAL POSTAL MAIL HANDLERS UNION
for NATIONAL POSTAL MAIL HANDLERS UNION · District of Columbia · 3rd Quarter 2026 (July 1 - Sep 30)
AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO
for AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AFL-CIO · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO
for AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AFL-CIO · District of Columbia · 1st Quarter 2026 (Jan 1 - Mar 31)
AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO
for AMERICAN FED OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AFL-CIO · District of Columbia · 2nd Quarter 2026 (Apr 1 - June 30)

Bodies those filers lobbied

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
63 filings
SENATE
63 filings
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
32 filings
Office of Management & Budget (OMB)
24 filings
Energy, Dept of
22 filings
General Services Administration (GSA)
22 filings
Health & Human Services, Dept of (HHS)
22 filings
Homeland Security, Dept of (DHS)
22 filings

A filing lists the bills it worked on and the parts of government it contacted in separate sections, so these are the bodies those filers named anywhere in the filing, not a per-bill breakdown.

See all 63 filings →

Cosponsors 90