[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 96 (Friday, July 17, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8515-S8516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                UNUM ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE STATEMENT

 Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I rise to congratulate the UNUM 
Corporation on its 150th Anniversary.
  UNUM is based in Portland, Maine, has offices across America and 
around the globe, and enjoys a reputation for excellence throughout the 
world.
  July 17, 1998 marks the 150th Anniversary of the UNUM Corporation, a 
company incorporated in Maine in 1848 as Union Mutual Life Insurance 
Company.

[[Page S8516]]

  Throughout the past 150 years, UNUM has stayed true to the charge of 
its founder Elisha B. Pratt to ``find the better way'' and is known 
today as the company that ``sees farther.''
  UNUM has become the world leader in disability insurance and 
consistently ranks among the best places to work in America.
  UNUM has chosen to celebrate its July 17 anniversary by having 
thousands of its employees volunteer a ``Day of Sharing'' to more than 
200 community service projects in six countries.
  UNUM's ``Day of Sharing'' builds on a record of community partnership 
that includes contributing more than 75,000 employee volunteer hours 
during each of the past five years and the UNUM Foundation contributing 
$2 million to community programs last year alone.
  Not only is UNUM an outstanding and exemplary business leader, 
providing insurance protection to its customers, it is also an 
invaluable community partner, improving the communities where its 
employees have lived and worked for 150 years.
  Today, I ask my colleagues in the Senate to join me in congratulating 
and commending UNUM on its 150th anniversary and its outstanding 
achievements as a business leader and community partner.
 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I have spoken here many times in 
the past expressing strong support on the issues of pension reform and 
pension portability, and I would like to do so again today.
  I believe that the accumulation and availability of retirement 
savings is one of the most significant issues we face in our new 
economy. Yet while much of the current debate is focused on the 
viability of the Social Security system--and rightly so--we must not 
forget that this is only part of the administrative mechanisms we have 
in place that allow people to move from job to job and take care of 
their families. As my good friend and colleague from Vermont has 
already outlined in detail the specifics involved in our Retirement 
Portability Account bill, I will limit my own comments at this time to 
some issues I consider to be of special importance.
  Currently, employers and employees face three specific problems as 
individuals attempt to take their retirement funds with them as they 
change jobs over their career.
  The first problem is the specialized rules that have been established 
for the various kinds of accounts now available to employees. 401(k) 
plans for the private sector, 403(b) plans for non-profit 
organizations, 457 plans for state and local government employees, and 
so on all possess unique characteristics that are beneficial to 
individual employers and employees, but also make administrative 
compatibility between the plans problematic.
  The second problem concerns control of the funds accumulated by the 
employee, that is who is responsible for the paperwork as employees 
change jobs. This has been one of the foremost concerns of small 
business owners as they create accounts for a highly-mobile workforce.
  The third problem involves the ability of employees to ``park'' their 
accumulated funds somewhere until they have a new retirement plan. 
Here, the key has been to find a convenient way to use so-called 
``conduit IRA's'' as a transfer mechanism into which funds can be 
transferred on their way to a different retirement savings plan.
  The Retirement Account Portability bill offered by Senator Jeffords 
and I has been developed to remedy these problems and more. This bill--
a companion bill to the bipartisan bill introduced by our House 
colleagues, Representatives Earl Pomeroy and Jim Kolbe--is designed to 
accomplish two very specific and very important goals.

  First, the bill will begin the removal of the all too numerous and 
overly complex barriers that prevent employees from taking their 
retirement savings with them as they switch jobs. By both eliminating 
the redtape in the IRS Tax Code that unduly compartmentalizes various 
plan options and enhancing the effectiveness of conduit IRA's, it will 
allow individuals to roll their accumulated funds over into accounts at 
their current place of employment.
  This offers two tangible outcomes. First, it allows employees to keep 
track of their savings in an efficient manner. Second, it alleviates 
the burden placed on employers in terms of tracking and managing 
accounts of individuals that have moved on to other jobs. Based on 
discussions with my constituents, these represent dramatic improvements 
to current law, and, most significantly, allows individuals the 
opportunity to take advantage of the best investment options available 
to them.
  The second goal of the bill is, in my view, equally important. As you 
know, I believe that an internationally competitive economy entails 
first and foremost an effective diffusion of knowledge between firms 
and within regions. In the most dynamic regions in our country--Silicon 
Valley, Route 128, the Research Triangle--this is accomplished 
primarily by the movement of individuals from firm to firm and the 
iterative and cumulative interaction that results. This activity should 
be encouraged in every way possible, and the elimination of 
restrictions that prevent pension portability will assist in this 
effort.
  In conclusion, let me say that I consider this bill to be an initial 
but very important step to where we want to go in this country in terms 
of our savings policy. Our overarching goal is to increase the 
financial security of all Americans and create an economic environment 
where each and every individual can prosper.
  I would like to thank Senator Jeffords on the effort he has expended 
in crafting this bill, and I look forward to working with him in the 
future on ever more effective legislation.

                          ____________________