[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 31, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E15]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   THE PENSION PROTECTION ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROSA L. DeLAURO

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 31, 2006

  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, pension plans are today underfunded in this 
country by $450 billion--up over 1,000 percent since 2000--and the 
agency that insures these pension plans, the Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation, is $23 billion in debt, facing billions more in possible 
claims from companies such as Delta Airlines, Delphi, and Northwest 
Airlines.
  Why? Well, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle give the same 
excuse every time: September 11. We are at war. Times are tough. But 
during that same time, corporate profits have risen an astonishing 50 
percent and CEO compensation has grown even faster. Indeed, USA Today 
reports that 300 executives responsible for more than three-quarters of 
a trillion dollars in corporate losses since 2000 were rewarded with 
salary, bonuses and stock options totaling a staggering $12 billion--$8 
million per year.
  Times are not so tough for them--and little wonder. As a confidential 
letter sent to the SEC shows, CEO compensation at many publicly traded 
companies bears no relation to company performance. But as we all know, 
pensions do.
  And when we talk about pensions and why reform is so badly needed, we 
should remember who it is that depend on them most--we are talking 
about people who have worked all their lives and are looking to enjoy 
their later years with some measure of financial security. Most of the 
34 million Americans who are covered by a traditional pension that 
provides a guaranteed monthly benefit in retirement are not young 
adults starting out, with their whole careers in front of them--people 
who can change course at a moment's notice. These are very often 
seniors, people who have raised families; again, people who have worked 
their entire lives and paid not only their taxes but their dues to 
society with the expectation that what they have invested will be 
returned to them. The least we can do as their elected representatives 
is tell them that we will ensure that the Government does its part to 
guarantee that their employers will honor their end of this bargain.
  That should be the bedrock principle on which this legislation is 
predicated, but it is not. H.R. 2830 fails to protect older and longer-
service workers that are involved in cash balance pension plan 
conversions. It does not prevent employers from giving the same 
conflicted financial advice to their workers that gave us Enron and 
WorldCom. And perhaps most disturbingly, it fails to stop companies 
from dumping billions of dollars of unfunded pension obligations onto 
the PBGC by declaring bankruptcy at the expense of taxpayers and 
employees.
  And let's be clear, that is very much by design. The goal of this 
Republican majority from the beginning with pension reform these last 
few years has been the same--relieving companies from their obligations 
to employees, providing an out to the point where we would have no 
choice but to switch from a strong pension system to one that leaves 
retirees in a much more tentative, less secure financial state. And 
with Republicans in charge these last 4 years, we have almost reached 
that point--but not quite yet.
  But this is not the direction we want to take as a country. And so, I 
urge my colleagues to make a statement with this vote that says 
companies do have obligations their workers--that says reforming our 
pension system is possible but only if we ask employees and employers 
alike to share in the benefits and the sacrifice. We can do better than 
this bill and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

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