[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[House]
[Pages H78-H80]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
                      MULTIEMPLOYER PENSION CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. 
Kaptur) for 30 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I stand with so many of my colleagues today 
in a call to action for this body to address a crisis that is at its 
breaking point for pensioners across our country, retired workers, who 
have come from the building trades, miners, truck drivers, so many 
more--actually, hundreds of thousands of Americans--losing their 
pensions or about to lose them.
  Millions of American retirees have worked and earned pensions that 
they contributed to through the multiemployer pension programs. In 
fact, I met one retiree recently who paid over

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$225,000 into his plan and has not been able to access one penny--not 
one penny. Yet hundreds of these plans face serious financial 
shortfalls, leaving millions of retirees facing an uncertain retirement 
future.
  For today, Congress needs to step up and secure the pension benefits 
these workers have earned. And there should be no pension cuts for 
workers who contributed to their own plans and should have a right to 
the money that they invested. Congress can no longer kick the can down 
the road. There simply is no more time.
  This problem does not go away if Congress continues to ignore it. 
Rather, the financial stress mounts for the retirement funds and, of 
course, for the retirees and for their families so severely impacted. 
Indeed, the costs the Federal Government will bear if we don't solve 
this problem now become exponentially more significant as time ensues.
  Over the last 4 years, I have heard extensively from retirees forced 
to ride this terrible economic roller coaster. It is almost like a 
corkscrew, right side up, upside down. They are caught in this as their 
retirement security careens out of their control through no fault of 
their own.
  There are thousands, tens of thousands of Americans who did 
everything our country asks of its productive citizenry, retirees who 
worked for decades for a company and thought they would have a secure 
retirement but now they face a stark reality.
  From Toledo, Ohio, such retirees as Carol Jones, who drove a truck 
for over 30 years and who missed holidays and major life milestones 
because of his work on the road, the knowledge that he was earning a 
pension helped in those moments, but now he says it all feels like a 
pipe dream. And when you drive a truck for over 30 years, things happen 
to your knees; they happen to your back. Bouncing over concrete for 
three decades has severe costs for so many. But if a solution is not 
passed now, Carol won't even be able to continue to care for his 
disabled daughter.
  Or how about Ernest Frye, a teamster for 54 years? He and his wife 
currently can live on what they earned through his pension, but, with 
its threatened cuts, everything will fall apart for them. They will 
have to rely on the government to cover the difference. And with the 
rising cost of medical expenses, they run the risk of also losing their 
home if his pension is cut. What kind of cruelty is this?
  Or how about Cindy Grimley, who was hired in 1978, and has taken 
pride in being able to take care of herself? Even with the pension she 
earned and lives on, she cannot afford medications her doctor tells her 
she needs, and she can't afford to lose a single dollar of her promised 
pension.
  Or how about Tom Brady, who worked 30 years--30 years--with Roadway 
Express and is a Vietnam veteran? He faced a 50 percent cut under the 
Central States Pension Fund application. They call it MPRA. Any cut to 
his pension won't only impact him. He has six grandchildren and seven 
great-grandchildren whom he and his wife help support.
  I hear countless stories across this country of how retirees are 
caring for children with disabilities, supporting their own ill and 
aged parents, or supporting children and grandchildren with life 
expenses. These cuts impact more than just the individual who earned 
the pension. And, really, don't these workers who retired have a right 
to the money that they put into these plans?
  You know, there were hundreds of companies that walked away from 
their pension promises. They didn't keep their promise to the workers. 
The workers put their money in, and some of the companies walked away. 
Is it the worker's fault?
  Ask any retiree or responsible economist, if we fail to fix this 
pension crisis, we will create a tremendous deficit to our economy both 
locally and nationally. Some retirees already live under the financial 
constraint of us not solving this challenge, and some have already had 
70 percent cuts to their pensions.
  For example, Ironworkers Local 17 in Cleveland. How about the New 
York State Teamsters? How about the United Furniture Workers pension 
and the International Association of Machinists Motor City pension? 
They have all seen that decisions were made forcing cuts upon their 
retirees. And millions more live on that precipice: money that should 
be coming to them because they earned it, they put it away, and then it 
was taken away.
  This House has continued to let these retirees down. There has not 
been a single hearing to fully understand the financial plight 
confronting retirees. How irresponsible is that for the leadership of 
this House? The Senate has only taken a bit of action, but no solution.
  Immediately after the House passed the scam pension bill a few years 
ago--that is the original Multiemployer Pension Reform Act--I set to 
work to correct the unfairness that it allowed, and we introduced the 
Keep Our Pension Promises Act, which, back then, had the number H.R. 
2412. We called it KOPPA. It would have prevented these draconian cuts 
to earned pensions by filling the financial gap of many of these plans, 
such as the Central States Pension Fund, and reinstate the anti-cutback 
provisions that are contained in the ERISA legislation, the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act. The bedrock of that law was that, if 
workers work and they put money aside for their pensions, that pension 
money will be there for them.

  But our bill lacks sufficient bipartisan support. So back last 
December, it was very reassuring for me to stand with my colleagues 
Representative Richie Neal of Massachusetts and, from the other body, 
Senator Sherrod Brown as we introduced the Butch Lewis Act, H.R. 4444 
and S. 2147.
  In the House, this legislation now has two Republican cosponsors, and 
I hope many more of our colleagues' support will follow. But there is 
not time to recruit cosponsors one or two at a time. Retirees across 
our country are waiting for true leadership to push an equitable 
solution so they aren't led to the guillotine on their pensions. It is 
time for real congressional leadership to identify the impact this 
crisis will have and organize an effort here either to create a new 
bipartisan solution or pass the already bipartisan Butch Lewis Act.
  If we fail to act, we can no longer wonder why the middle class is 
angry at Washington and this Congress, for they see this as just 
another broken promise by Washington. We can no longer wonder why they 
believe the system is rigged, because here are more than a million 
honest Americans who worked for a living decade after decade. They 
worked hard. They followed the rules, and now they are getting thrown 
under the bus. The companies they worked for reneged on their promises.
  And you know what? Unless we do something, the promise under ERISA 
will remain unfulfilled, and that is their pension security.
  I would say to my colleagues, if you ever wonder why tens and tens of 
millions of Americans are angry and deeply disappointed or feel 
betrayed by their government and the companies they worked for, look no 
further than this issue.
  I remember one man who didn't come from my State, but I met him here 
in Washington. He said: Congresswoman, I earned and put away $225,000 
in my pension plan, and they told me I had to work 20 years. So I drove 
20 years, drove a truck 20 years.
  And he said: I started to have back problems. And when I got to my 
20th year and I made it through, I said to them: Well, I am ready to 
apply.
  And the company said: You know what? We changed the rules. You have 
to work 2 more years.
  So he said: Two more years? Okay.
  So he made every effort that he could under great pain to work those 
2 years up through his 22nd year of employment as a driver, and then at 
the 22nd year, the company said: You know what? We changed the rules. 
Now you are going to have to work an additional 3 years.
  Imagine having promises broken all the time.
  And now he is disabled. He has difficulty standing, sitting. He has 
pain all the time. And he has not been able to gain access to a penny 
of money that he earned. Surely, if someone at the White House is 
listening to this, if you think about President Trump's travels through 
Ohio when he talked to the miners and he sought their vote, or in 
Chicago with those who drove a

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truck and paid into the Central States Pension Fund, the promises that 
were made, surely we can find a way to help keep the pension promises 
that these workers earned.
  I want to thank all of the Members who cosponsored our former bill, 
the Keep Our Pension Promises Act, and the Butch Lewis Act, and I thank 
Members of both parties for trying to find a solution, a real solution, 
for this crisis. We are moving toward it. We really don't have any time 
to waste because Congress must reach a solution early this year, and we 
should look no further than including that pension relief in the 
upcoming spending deal that is being negotiated between the White House 
and this Congress now.
  Pensions now. Pensions now. These workers have earned their pension. 
Why has the government of the United States made it so difficult and 
made their retirement years so stressful by not reaching a solution to 
date? I make a strong appeal on behalf of over a million workers across 
this country who so justly earned the pension benefits that they 
deserve.
  I thank my colleagues who are listening. I thank the American people 
for writing us and for sharing their personal stories with us. I have 
great hope, in these final negotiations on a spending bill for 2018 
which is currently under negotiation at the highest levels, that this 
pension issue finally will be resolved.
  Keep the letters and emails and phone calls and visits coming. This 
is the time to make your weight felt.
  Mr. Speaker, thank you so very much, and I yield back my remaining 
time.

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