[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 63 (Friday, May 19, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E894-E895]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           BILL IN SUPPORT OF RELIEF TO MENNONITE MUTUAL AID

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 18, 2006

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a bill that would 
offer relief to Mennonite Mutual Aid, a organization affiliated with 
the Mennonite church based in Indiana that provides individuals with 
socially-conscious investment and retirement options.
  For more than 40 years Mennonite Mutual Aid has been offering defined 
benefits to its customers in the form of annuities paid directly from 
its 401(a) defined contribution church retirement plan, a process known 
as ``self-

[[Page E895]]

annuitization.'' However, regulations issued by the IRS in 2002 
prohibited the practice of self-annuitization, although they allowed it 
for church retirement plans organized under section 403(b)(9). Instead, 
the IRS stated that plans must purchase annuities from commercial 
insurance companies.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no good policy reason for why the two types of 
church plans should be treated differently regarding self-
annuitization. Furthermore, the Department of the Treasury has 
indicated they would not oppose a legislative change on this issue. 
Churches should have the right to invest for retirement in the ways 
they see fit, and commercial insurance companies cannot and do not 
manage their investments according to these high standards. Moreover, 
the ability to offer annuities is necessary to prevent the possibility 
of beneficiaries outliving their retirement funds under an alternative 
installment payment system. In order to prevent this unfairness, my 
bill would use a ``grandfather'' approach to grant the ability to self-
annuitize only to those 401(a) plans that were in existence on the date 
the final IRS regulations were issued in 2002.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill so that the 
Mennonites can continue to offer annuities invested in the way they see 
fit.

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