Representative Miller Says New GAO Pension Report Again Confirms Need for Serious Reforms
Representative Miller Says New GAO Pension Report Again Confirms Need for Serious Reforms
Wednesday, June 1, 2005
WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative George Miller (D-California), a leading expert in Congress on private pensions, said today that a new independent government report showing far greater weakness in the private pension system than previously disclosed is further evidence of the need for Congress and the President to act immediately on comprehensive pension reform legislation.
Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, first raised the seriousness of pension underfunding in 2001 and has been urging action since then. To date, no action has been taken by Congress or the Bush Administration to secure private pensions.
Miller issued the following statement today:
"The GAO report confirms, once again, that the retirement security of millions of Americans faces growing risks and that Congress and the Bush Administration are failing to pay attention to the crisis. If the law let companies shortchange their pension plans by billions of dollars during the boom of the late 1990s, then clearly the law fails to protect American workers and retirees. What have our nation's leaders been doing for the past four years while pension problems have grown worse and worse?
"Today, United Airlines employees are the latest group of workers to experience the harsh consequences of the weakness of pension law. Congress and the Bush Administration have stood by as United tries to dump $6.6 billion in unfunded pension liabilities onto the federal pension insurer, slashing workers' promised retirement benefits by 25 to 50 percent, and increasing the risk of a multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout.
"While this report once again documents the huge pension funding shortfall, it is unfortunate that the GAO was denied access to specific companies' confidential filings with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. This information should be made public so that neither workers nor taxpayers are in the dark about the true financial condition of these pension plans."
MORE INFORMATION ON PENSIONS
Miller and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) have introduced legislation, H.R. 2327, to prevent bankrupt companies - including United Airlines - from unloading their workers' pension plans onto the federal government for the next six months through PBGC-initiated terminations, enough time to give Congress an opportunity to reform the nation's broken private pension system:
In Aftermath of United Airlines Deal, New Legislation Would Impose 6 Month Moratorium on Transfer of Pensions to Federal Agency
Miller, Schakowsky, Representative Pete Stark (D-CA), and Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), have introduced legislation that would require companies to fully disclose to their workers the companies' executive compensation plans and would link the fate of benefits in executive compensation plans to those of rank-and-file workers:
Miller Calls on Bankruptcy Court to Reject Pension Deal for United Airlines
Miller and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) have introduced legislation that would make secret data about the financial condition of pension plans available to the public.
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ed31_democrats/rel6105.html