One Step Closer to a More Secure Retirement for Workers

One Step Closer to a More Secure Retirement for Workers

It doesn't sound like a very revolutionary idea: making sure your money is there for you when you retire. But as too many Americans know, including many workers right here in southwest Ohio, the promise of pension savings is often a broken one.

The laws that have governed our nation's pension plans for more than a quarter century are not only badly outdated, they have directly contributed to the difficulties facing many workers upon retirement. But now, it looks like we're one step closer to a solution. It too doesn't sound very revolutionary - making sure companies keep their promises to workers - but big changes to our broken pension system that are right around the corner will do exactly that.

For the last five months I've been one of the negotiators brokering an agreement between the U.S. House and U.S. Senate on pension reform. We continue to inch closer to a final agreement that will make sure workers' pension savings will be there when they retire. And the bill that we send to the president's desk, hopefully this week, will be far stronger than current law. Let me tell you how.

The pension bill we're working on will strengthen funding requirement and make employers put more cash contributions into their worker pension funds. It will close loopholes that allow underfunded plans to skip pension payments. And it will prohibit employers and union leaders from digging the hole even deeper by promising extra benefits if their plan is significantly underfunded.

The pension bill will give workers and retirees more information about the status of their pension plan. And it will better protect multiemployer pension plans for workers and their employers.

We will also give workers new access to critical investment advice to help them navigate the maze of investment options in their 401(k) plans and IRAs. If you look at the numbers, the investments that are being made in these accounts do not always earn the kinds of returns that American workers need for a secure retirement. I believe that if workers had access to some investment advice, they would be better positioned to make good choices, have more diversification in their portfolios, and at the end of the day they can have the kind of retirement security they want and deserve.

The reforms we want to implement will also protect taxpayers from a possible multi-billion dollar bailout of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), which currently has a $22.8 billion deficit. If more companies with financially strapped pension plans default on those worker pension promises, it's clear that American taxpayers could be called upon to bail out the agency if its financial condition continues to deteriorate. This is particularly important to our efforts to keep government spending under control and make sure we keep federal taxes low. While the economy is looking up, the cost of living for many Americans has been rising. And we have to be sure we aren't asking taxpayers to foot even more of the bill.

It might not sound very revolutionary, but the final pension reform agreement will represent the first fundamental reform of America's pension laws in more than a generation. My goal is to preserve the defined benefit pension system and to make sure workers' pension savings will be there when they retire. And I believe our final bill will accomplish exactly that.

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