Equal COLA Act: End the FERS Diet COLA

Last Updated: March 31, 2026 Reading Time: 9 min

If you retired under FERS and inflation ran above 2%, your pension received less protection than a CSRS retiree's or a Social Security recipient's. That is not a budget rounding error. It is baked into law, and it costs real money over a full retirement.

H.R. 491, the Equal COLA Act, would fix it. Congress has refused to pass it for seven years running.

Here is what the diet COLA actually costs you, why the bill keeps stalling, and what you can do about it.

Key Takeaways

• FERS retirees receive a reduced COLA (the "diet COLA") any time inflation exceeds 2%. CSRS retirees and Social Security recipients always get the full rate.
• In 2026, CSRS retirees got 2.8% while FERS retirees got 2.0%. That 0.8-point gap compounds permanently into every future payment.
• A FERS retiree starting at $30,000 per year loses more than $167,000 in cumulative payments over 30 years of 3% inflation.
• The Equal COLA Act (H.R. 491) would end the diet COLA formula. As of March 2026, it has not advanced past committee referral in the 119th Congress.
• GovTrack puts the bill's enactment probability at 9%. It has failed in every Congress since 2019.

What Is the Diet COLA Problem

The FERS "diet COLA" is not a nickname anyone at OPM uses. Federal employee advocacy groups coined it to describe what happens to FERS retirees' cost-of-living adjustments when inflation runs hot.

The formula operates in three tiers:

CPI-W Increase	CSRS / Social Security COLA	FERS COLA	Annual Gap
2% or less	Full CPI-W	Full CPI-W	None
2.01% to 3.00%	Full CPI-W	Capped at 2.0%	Up to 1.0 point
Above 3.00%	Full CPI-W	CPI-W minus 1.0 point	Always 1.0 point

Congress built this formula into FERS when it created the system in 1986. The reason: cost savings. FERS was designed to be cheaper than CSRS, and the reduced COLA is one of the levers that makes it so.

The diet COLA sits dormant in low-inflation years. When CPI-W stays at or below 2%, FERS and CSRS retirees receive identical adjustments. The problem is that inflation does not stay below 2% during the years when retirees most need protection.

The 2022 to 2024 inflation surge made the gap undeniable. CSRS retirees received cumulative COLAs of approximately 18.3% over those three years. FERS retirees received approximately 15.0%. A FERS retiree with a $40,000 annuity entered 2025 receiving roughly $1,200 less per year than a CSRS retiree who started with the same pension amount. That difference does not close. It compounds forward.

What the Equal COLA Act Would Change

H.R. 491, introduced January 16, 2025, by Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), is a targeted fix. It would amend federal law to make the FERS COLA formula identical to the CSRS formula: always equal to the full CPI-W increase, no cap, no tiered reduction.

The Senate companion, S. 624, was introduced February 18, 2025, by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA). Ten senators signed on as cosponsors, including Sanders, Warren, Murray, Kaine, Van Hollen, Blumenthal, Fetterman, King, Schatz, and Baldwin.

What the bill does not change:

• When COLAs take effect (still January 1 each year)
• Which index is used (still CPI-W, measured third quarter to third quarter)
• FERS eligibility rules for receiving COLAs (still age 62 or older for most FERS retirees, or immediately for disability, law enforcement, firefighter, and air traffic controller retirees)
• The separate rule that most FERS retirees receive no COLA at all until they turn 62

NARFE calls the current situation "unfair" and an erosion of "earned retirement security." Eight federal employee unions, including AFGE and APWU, have endorsed the bill.

One important update: Rep. Connolly, the bill's long-time champion, died in May 2025. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA) won the special election for Connolly's seat in September 2025 and immediately assumed lead sponsorship of H.R. 491 via unanimous consent.

How Much Money You Would Lose Under Current Law

The diet COLA compounds. A smaller annuity in Year 1 means a smaller dollar increase in Year 2, even if the percentage is the same. That compounding is what turns a small-looking annual gap into a six-figure lifetime loss.

The table below models a FERS retiree starting at $30,000 per year with persistent 3% inflation. At 3% CPI-W, CSRS/Social Security receives 3.0% per year while FERS receives 2.0% per year.

Retirement Year	CSRS Annuity (3.0%/yr)	FERS Annuity (2.0%/yr)	Annual Gap	Cumulative Gap
Start	$30,000	$30,000	$0	$0
Year 5	$34,778	$33,122	$1,656	~$5,375
Year 10	$40,318	$36,570	$3,748	~$16,614
Year 20	$54,183	$44,573	$9,610	~$66,413
Year 30	$72,818	$54,304	$18,514	~$167,040

A FERS retiree starting at $30,000 annually walks away with $167,000 less over 30 years in a sustained 3% inflation environment.

Scale that up. At a $60,000 starting annuity, the 30-year cumulative gap doubles to approximately $334,000. The percentage loss is the same; the dollar loss is not.

NARFE's five-year benchmark: within five years, FERS retirees fall roughly $900 behind per year in annual payments under modest inflation scenarios. That is about $3,000 to $5,000 in cumulative shortfall over the first five years alone.

Real-world recent history makes the math concrete. Between 2022 and 2024, CSRS retirees received cumulative COLAs of about 18.3%. FERS retirees received about 15.0%. The 3-point gap from just those three years permanently reduced a $40,000 FERS annuity by $1,200 per year going forward.

Use the FERS Retirement Calculator to model your specific annuity under different COLA scenarios. Seeing your own 20-year projection is more clarifying than any table.

What CSRS Gets vs. FERS: The Unfairness Explained

Every FERS retiree hired after January 1, 1984, operates under diet COLA rules. Every CSRS retiree hired before that date receives the full adjustment. Social Security follows the CSRS formula.

Here is the raw historical record:

Year	CSRS COLA	FERS COLA	Gap
2026	2.8%	2.0%	-0.8%
2025	2.5%	2.0%	-0.5%
2024	3.2%	2.2%	-1.0%
2023	8.7%	7.7%	-1.0%
2022	5.9%	4.9%	-1.0%
2021	1.3%	1.3%	0%
2020	1.6%	1.6%	0%
2019	2.8%	2.0%	-0.8%
2018	2.0%	2.0%	0%
2017	0.3%	0.3%	0%
2012	3.6%	2.6%	-1.0%
2009	5.8%	4.8%	-1.0%

Cumulative gap from 1999 through 2026: approximately 15.2 percentage points in favor of CSRS.

The diet COLA sat dormant in 12 of those 28 years. All the damage concentrated in the 16 years when inflation exceeded 2%, and it hit hardest in the years when purchasing power protection mattered most.

The FERS system was designed to be supplemented by TSP and Social Security in ways CSRS was not. That argument has merit on paper. In practice, it assumes FERS retirees consistently maximized TSP contributions and will draw Social Security at optimal ages. Many did not or cannot. The diet COLA compounds regardless of what your TSP balance looks like.

For a full comparison of how CSRS and FERS differ on COLAs, TSP matching, survivor benefits, and more, see the FERS vs. CSRS Comparison guide.

Bill Status and Likelihood of Passage

The Equal COLA Act has been introduced in every Congress since at least 2019. It has never passed committee or received a floor vote.

Congress	Bill	Introduced	Outcome
119th (2025-26)	H.R. 491 / S. 624	Jan / Feb 2025	In committee, no vote
118th (2023-24)	H.R. 866	Feb 2023	Died in committee
117th (2021-22)	H.R. 304	Jan 2021	Died in committee
116th (2019-20)	Earlier H.R.	2019	Died in committee

H.R. 491 currently has 74 cosponsors: 72 Democrats and 2 Republicans. No version has received a CBO cost estimate, which is a prerequisite for floor scheduling. GovTrack's enactment probability: 9%.

Three things are blocking it.

First, the Republican House majority has not scheduled a committee markup, and there is no sign they will. Leadership is focused on cutting spending, not adding to it.

Second, no official 10-year cost estimate exists. A CBO score is required before any floor vote can happen, and no version of this bill has ever made it that far. Unofficial estimates put the mandatory spending increase in the tens of billions of dollars over a decade, given that approximately 2.7 million federal retirees would receive larger payments, and the FERS population is growing as CSRS retirees age out.

Third, every Senate cosponsor is a Democrat or an independent who caucuses with Democrats. A bill that needs 60 Senate votes to advance has zero Republican support in either chamber.

What could shift things: a Democratic House majority in 2027, a budget deal that packages this with something Republicans want, or a sustained inflation spike that makes the gap so obvious it becomes politically untenable to ignore. None of those is likely in the 119th Congress.

The bill's purpose right now is as much about keeping the issue visible as passing anything. That matters for advocacy. It does not mean relief is coming.

For updates on broader federal pay and benefit legislation, the 2027 Federal Pay Raise and FAIR Act guide covers parallel legislative efforts.

What You Can Do

The bill needs Republican support to move. It has almost none.

If you want to push on this, the steps are straightforward:

Contact your House representative and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 491. NARFE has a direct action alert portal at narfe.org with a pre-written message. It takes about two minutes.

Contact your senators and ask them to support S. 624. Specifically, ask them to urge Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee leadership to schedule a markup. The bill does not move unless a committee chair decides it moves.

Join NARFE. The organization has driven Equal COLA Act advocacy for years. More members means more political weight behind the ask.

Also worth watching: the 2027 COLA tracker updates monthly as CPI-W data comes in. If inflation runs above 2% again next year, the gap fires again and the case for H.R. 491 gets sharper.

Your FERS pension is one leg of a three-part retirement: pension, TSP, and Social Security. The diet COLA erodes the pension leg over time. Maximizing TSP contributions and planning Social Security timing carefully are the practical levers you control right now, regardless of what Congress does. See the FERS + Social Security + TSP retirement income guide for how to model all three streams together.

Calculate Your Retirement Income

The FERS Retirement Calculator lets you estimate your annuity and see how the COLA gap plays out over your specific retirement timeline. Plug in your numbers and look at the 20-year projection. Most people find the cumulative loss more motivating than any percentage point ever is.

Estimate Your FERS Pension

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the FERS diet COLA and how does it work?

The FERS diet COLA is a reduced cost-of-living adjustment FERS retirees receive compared to CSRS retirees and Social Security recipients. When inflation runs between 2% and 3%, FERS retirees are capped at 2.0% instead of the full CPI-W rate. When inflation exceeds 3%, FERS retirees receive 1 full percentage point less than the CPI-W increase. In years where inflation stays at or below 2%, FERS and CSRS retirees receive identical COLAs.

What is the Equal COLA Act (H.R. 491)?

The Equal COLA Act would eliminate the FERS diet COLA formula, giving FERS retirees the same full CPI-W COLA that CSRS retirees and Social Security recipients receive. It was introduced January 16, 2025, in the House and February 18, 2025, in the Senate. As of March 2026, it has not advanced past committee referral.

Has the Equal COLA Act ever passed?

No. The bill has been introduced in every Congress since at least 2019 and has never passed out of committee or received a floor vote. GovTrack estimates a 9% chance of enactment in the 119th Congress. The consistent obstacle is fiscal cost: providing full COLAs to FERS retirees would add tens of billions in mandatory spending over 10 years.

How much does the diet COLA cost a FERS retiree over 30 years?

At a starting annuity of $30,000 per year and persistent 3% inflation, a FERS retiree receives approximately $167,000 less in cumulative payments over 30 years compared to what they would receive under full COLA. At a $60,000 starting annuity, the 30-year gap roughly doubles to $334,000. The loss compounds because each year's reduced adjustment becomes the new baseline for future calculations.

Does the Equal COLA Act fix the rule that FERS retirees under 62 get no COLA?

No. H.R. 491 only addresses the diet COLA formula for retirees already receiving COLA payments. The separate rule that most FERS retirees receive zero COLA until age 62 is not changed by the bill. Retirees who retire at their Minimum Retirement Age of 57 to 60 still get no COLA until they turn 62, regardless of whether the Equal COLA Act passes.

What is NARFE's position on the Equal COLA Act?

NARFE strongly supports the Equal COLA Act and has issued multiple action alerts urging members to contact their Congressional representatives to cosponsor and advance the bill. NARFE frames the diet COLA as an inequitable erosion of earned retirement benefits, pointing to the 2026 gap as a current example: CSRS retirees received 2.8% while FERS retirees received only 2.0%.

Related Resources

• FERS Retirement Calculator: Model your annuity and COLA scenarios side by side
• 2027 COLA Federal Retirees Tracker: Monthly CPI-W updates and how the FERS cap would apply
• FERS vs. CSRS Comparison 2026: Full comparison of both retirement systems on COLAs, TSP matching, and survivor benefits
• FERS Retirement Guide: Complete guide to FERS eligibility, formulas, and planning
• FERS + Social Security + TSP Retirement Income: How to model all three income streams together

Sources: H.R. 491, Congress.gov | S. 624, Congress.gov | CRS Report IF12354 | OPM COLA FAQ | NARFE: Bill Reintroduced to Improve COLAs | NARFE: 2026 COLA Action Alert | Padilla.senate.gov: S. 624 Introduction | GovTrack: H.R. 491 | myfederalretirement.com: COLA History | FedWeek: January 2025 COLAs