MEXICO CITY, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The Mexican lower house of Congress on Wednesday passed an overhaul to the country’s pension system that boosts retirement benefits and reduces workers’ mandatory contribution times. The initiative, which the government originally set out in July, will lower to 1,000 from 1,250 the number of weeks workers must have paid in to claim retirement benefits. It also caps the fees pension funds can charge, and increases employers’ contributions to pension pots as part of a hike in workers’ total contributions to 15% of salary from 6.5%. The bill now passes to the Senate. (Reporting by Noe Torres; Editing by Dave Graham and Alex Richardson)