jan 16 2014151 with each passing day more members of congress seem to be heading for the exits so far in this congress 15 members of the house have retired a loss of a combined more than 240 years of service by the end of this year in the senate seven members have announced that theyre leaving official washington a loss of more than 200 years being a lawmaker isnt a bad job but there are probably plenty of other things theyd rather donamely make money and pursue their hobbies in peace i think you dont retire from something like congress you rewire former maryland congresswoman and ambassador connie morella told abc news you pick up different things some of my former colleagues have gone into lobbying i feel pretty much like im ms probono she says with a chuckle morella who is also a professor at american university has been busy with several gigs since leaving congress in 2003 shes been appointed to commissions served as an ambassador to the organisation for economic cooperation and development and perhaps fittingly she is the president of a sort of recovery group for former lawmakers the us association of former members of congress morella a republican was one of the last of a slowly dying breed of moderate lawmakers since leaving congress she talks about bipartisanship with a wistful sigh and she revels in the associations role in giving current and former members an excuse to spend time with people of the opposite party this month has brought a spate of retirements including several longtime lawmakers who morella knows pretty well from her 16 years serving in the washington dc area rep jim moran dva and rep frank wolf rva jim moranhe got pretty tired of it and frank wolffrank wolf is going to spend his time on human rights which he loves morella suggests jim moran is going to make money shes probably not far off when it comes to moran who announced his retirement yesterday after being elected to 12 terms in one of the wealthiest districts in virginia as a member of the house appropriations committee hes lucky enough to have a plum resume a boost for people leaving congress for greener pastures in the private sector for a lot of americans a 174000 congressional salary would go a long way but members of congress really are far from average and some of them are either already independently wealthy or they could be making far more in the private sector moran isnt alone its common for former lawmakers to get snatched up by prestigious law firms like former sen jon kyl a republican and rep howard berman who took such jobs shortly after leaving the last congress or better yet a university might offer a deanship or presidency that suits them just fine others wait out their lobbying cooling period in a cushy job then head straight for k street lobbying firms eager to pay them the big