Story highlights
36: Members of Congress retiring after the 112th Congress
20 and 14: House Democrats and Republicans retiring, respectively
$150,000: Amount for which retiring Rep. Dennis Kucinich sued House cafeteria after mishap
5: Lowest number of years of service after which a lawmaker is eligible for an annual pension
Sen. Jim DeMint, who announced on Thursday that he is leaving the Senate next month, will be joined by 35 other members of Congress who are retiring after the end of the 112th Congress. Here’s a look, by the numbers at what the members will get and what they will leave behind as they leave the Hill:
36: Members of Congress who are retiring after the 2011-12 session ends.
25: House members who are retiring.
11: Senators who are retiring.
20: Democrats who are retiring.
15: Republicans who are retiring.
1: Independent who is retiring.
5: Number of terms held by retiring Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, the most of any retiring senator.
18: Number of terms held each by retiring Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Washington, and Dale Kildee, D-Michigan, the most of any retiring representative.
495: Retired members of Congress who were receiving pensions as of October 2011.
5: Lowest number of years of federal service in which an active or former congressman is eligible for an annual pension at age 62.
80: Percent of a congressman’s final active salary that may be used as the maximum starting amount of his or her retiring annuity.
18½: Years Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, the longest-serving Republican woman in the Senate, will have been in office at the time of her retirement.
1.1%: Amount of projected pay adjustment for 2013 that retiring congressmen are going to miss out on.
$27: Price (in February) of a shampoo, haircut and blow-dry at the Senate Hair Care Services salon, which has been open since 1859.
$150,000: Amount for which retiring Rep. Dennis Kucinich sued the House cafeteria after biting down on an olive pit in his sandwich, requiring extensive dental work. The suit was settled in January 2011.
8: Number of terms Kucinich served in Congress before he announced his retirement in May.
At least 13: Write-in votes for Hank the Cat, a politically minded Virginia feline who and came in third in the Senate race behind former Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, and former Sen. George Allen, a Republican. He meowed his retirement via his Facebook page on November 15.