Clueless in Washington D.C.

See my post THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2010 No Teamsters' Pension Fund Bail Out!

What does United States Senator Joseph I. Lieberman say in response to my concerns ... Nothing just the usual "robo response". Clearly democracy at it best.
October 20, 2010

 

Dear Mr. Chotkowski:

 

Thank you for contacting me in support of greater protections for private sector retiree pension benefits.  I am pleased to hear from you on this issue.

I appreciate and understand your concern about the reduction of retiree pension benefits through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).  This is an issue which has been negatively impacting retirees in Connecticut and the rest of the United States over the last decade.  Although Congress, with my support, approved the Pension Protection Act (PPA; P.L. 109-280) in 2006 to ensure that firms are adequately funding retiree benefit plans, Congress may need to revisit this issue given the additional stresses to the pension system that have worsened since the current recession began. 

As you may know, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced legislation, the Create Jobs and Save Benefits Act (S. 3157), to assist multi-employer defined benefit pension plans.  This bill would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code to:  (1) permit multi-employer pension plans to merge or form alliances with other plans; (2) increase PBGC guarantees for insolvent plans to increase participant benefits; and (3) increase the annual premium rate payable to PBGC for each individual who is a participant of a multi-employer plan from $8 to $16 after December 31, 2010.  S. 3157 is currently pending consideration before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

I understand your anxiety about the sustainability of retiree benefits, particularly given the current state of the economy.  Please be assured that I will keep your specific views in mind when legislation regarding retiree benefit security comes before the Senate.  To keep track of the progress of S. 3157, you can click on the “Track a Bill” button at http://lieberman.senate.gov/.

           

Thank you again for sharing your views and concerns with me.  I hope you will continue to visit http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation.  Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.

 

Sincerely,

Joseph I. Lieberman

UNITED STATES SENATOR

 

JIL:kht