Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) introduced a bill Wednesday that would stop former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) from receiving more than $100,000 a year in workers’ compensation payments.
Davis argues that the former congressman should stop receiving these benefits, which Jackson reportedly receives for an unspecified work-related injury, because he was convicted of stealing campaign funds for his personal use, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“We want to make sure that anybody convicted of a crime, be that Congressman Jackson or any member of Congress, is not able to submit a claim for workers’ compensation at the same time,” Davis said.
Davis added that elected officials “should be held to a higher standard because,” he said, “our job is something that we willingly ask the voters to send us to.”
The Protecting Taxpayers from Corruption Act would bar any member of Congress convicted of “stealing campaign funds for personal use from receiving workers’ compensation.”
Jackson spent two-and-a-half years in prison for spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items ranging from fur capes and a Rolex watch to children’s furniture from 2005 to 2012.
He received $8,700 a month in disability benefits, in addition to $45,000 a year from his congressional pension while in prison.
Jackson, who reportedly has been suffering from bipolar disorder for years, receives $124,052 a year in workers’ comp and SSDI benefits, as well as $14,400 a year in SSDI “derivative benefits” for his children.
When Jackson’s attorney heard of the forthcoming legislation, he responded that Jackson’s benefits were a “private matter.”
“Mr. Jackson’s health and disability-related benefits are a private matter that he will address only with his physicians and the departments of government that grant and renew those benefits,” Jackson’s attorney, Brendan Hammer, said.