Equal COLA Act

Enumerated powers · passes

Congress has explicit authority under Article I, Section 8, Clause 18 (the Necessary and Proper Clause) to make laws governing federal employees and their compensation, including retirement benefits. This bill adjusts cost-of-living adjustments for annuities under the Federal Employees Retirement System, which is a matter of federal employment and spending. No enumerated power is exceeded.

Bill of Rights · passes

The bill does not restrict speech, religion, assembly, press, petition, arms, quartering, search and seizure, self-incrimination, due process, fair trial, jury, cruel and unusual punishment, or any other right protected by the first ten amendments. It is a routine adjustment to federal retirement benefits with no impact on individual liberties.

Individual liberty · passes

The bill does not restrict what any person may do with their own person, property, speech, labor, or belief. It merely increases the cost-of-living adjustment for federal retirees, which is a benefit, not a restriction. No compelling constitutional justification is needed because no individual freedom is burdened.

Decentralization · passes

This bill concerns federal employee retirement benefits, which are inherently a federal matter. An individual or family cannot set federal employee COLA rates; a local community or county cannot manage federal retirement systems; a state cannot adjust federal employee annuities. The action does not consolidate decision-making upward unnecessarily—it is already properly at the federal level under the Tenth Amendment's reservation of powers to the states for matters not delegated to the United States, but here the matter is delegated.

Due process and takings · passes

The bill does not bypass due process, presume guilt, or take property without just compensation. It adjusts future annuity payments upward, which does not deprive anyone of property. There is no arbitrary government action; the adjustment is based on a clear, objective formula tied to the Consumer Price Index. Procedural and substantive due process are fully respected.