The publication is reproduced in full below:
EFFORTS TO MODERNIZE AND STRENGTHEN MULTIEMPLOYER PENSION PLANS
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HON. SHARICE DAVIDS
of kansas
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas. Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank my colleague, Chairman Richard Neal for his tireless work on the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 and for providing retirement income security for pension recipients in endangered, critical or critical and declining status multiemployer pension plans.
In Kansas, thousands of retirees currently receive pensions through the Central States Plan and they face a crisis--a severe reduction in retirement income through no fault of their own.
Without the direct relief provided in this legislation, the Central States Pension Fund would have become insolvent in 2026 and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation would have to reduce 360,000 participants' pensions to pennies. This is unacceptable. As Chairman Neal is all too aware, many of the participants of Central States are frontline workers who have served our country tirelessly and fearlessly in the face of the pandemic.
The present structure of these plans is unsustainable and in need of reform.
Without modernization of these plans and addressing employer liabilities, I am concerned that multiemployer pension plans and their retirees will certainly face similar circumstances in the future and require additional federal funds. This much needed relief to the plans is designed to forestall insolvency leaving important work that must follow. I believe we must seize this opportunity to reform these plans and take insolvency off the table.
I understand the Chairman is committed to working with me to modernize and strengthen multiemployer pension plans with the intent of bringing a reform package to the floor in this Congress. Could the Chairman confirm that is the case?
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 34
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