[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 23 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 23

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal 
  Government should not bail out State and local government employee 
 pension plans or other plans that provide post-employment benefits to 
                  State and local government retirees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2011

  Mr. Chaffetz (for himself, Mrs. McMorris Rodgers, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. 
  Nunes, and Mr. Flake) submitted the following resolution; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal 
  Government should not bail out State and local government employee 
 pension plans or other plans that provide post-employment benefits to 
                  State and local government retirees.

Whereas the Federal Government is operating at a huge annual deficit and is 
        rapidly increasing its outstanding debt every year;
Whereas the Federal Government, as of January 2011, is carrying more than $14.0 
        trillion in debt, of which $9.4 trillion is owed to the public and $4.6 
        trillion is owed to Social Security and other trust funds;
Whereas the Federal Government borrowed 37 cents for every dollar it spent in 
        2010;
Whereas foreign governments, individuals, and corporations as of October 2010 
        own 47 percent of Federal debt owned by the public;
Whereas Social Security's unfunded liabilities in 2010 are $5.4 trillion over 75 
        years and $16.1 trillion over the infinite horizon;
Whereas the Federal debt is expected to increase by more than $8 trillion from 
        2011 to 2020 according to the Office of Management and Budget;
Whereas State and local governments are heavily dependent on Federal revenues;
Whereas more than 15 percent of the entire Federal budget goes directly to 
        States and local governments;
Whereas 20 percent of total State and local government general revenue comes 
        from the Federal Government according to Census Bureau's latest Annual 
        Survey of State and Local Government Finance;
Whereas numerous State and local government employee pension plans have offered 
        overly generous retirement benefits to its employees and are in dire 
        financial situations with combined unfunded liabilities up to $3 
        trillion;
Whereas many State and local government pension plans have understated 
        liabilities and overstated asset growth rates and have employed 
        methodologies that private sector plans are prohibited from using by 
        Federal law; and
Whereas several State and local pension plans are expected to fully exhaust 
        their funds within ten years: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the Federal Government should not bailout State and 
        local government employee pension plans and other post-
        employment benefit plans; and
            (2) State and local governments should immediately 
        institute reforms to their employee pensions plans, including 
        replacing defined benefit plans with defined contribution 
        plans.
                                 <all>