[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 146 (Tuesday, September 4, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1192-E1193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       REAFFIRMING DOUGLAS RUMSEY'S RIGHT TO HARD-EARNED PENSION

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 4, 2018

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise to share the powerful story of 
Douglas Rumsey, a retiree of Teamsters Local 707 Pension Fund. For 
years, Douglas paid into his pension fund. Time and again, he gave up 
pay raises, deferring those raises be invested in his pension to make 
sure his retirement would be secure with one.

[[Page E1193]]

  Tragically, millions of hard working Americans like him now face a 
grim prospect, a retirement without economic security as their hard-
earned pensions is pulled out from under them. Due to no fault of his 
own, Douglas's pension was cut from $2,800 per month to $900 per month. 
Today, everything is a financial struggle. He can no longer support his 
family He can no longer pay his property tax, or his medical insurance. 
Even purchasing everyday items basic to daily life is a dilemma of true 
necessity. After 23 years of trucking service, after he put his life on 
the line for this country in his service in the Army, Douglas should be 
able to enjoy the golden years of his life, with his friends and 
family, without daily financial worry. Instead, he now lives in 
poverty, struggling to make ends meet. A robust member of his 
community, his distress is felt throughout his community.
  I include in the Record the full testimony of Douglas Rumsey. Douglas 
Rumsey is not alone in his plight. This Congress turned its back on 
more than 40 years of pension promises, rolling back anti-cutback 
provisions. It turned its back on hundreds of thousands of hard working 
Americans. Telling these personal experiences is critical to understand 
why immediate action is required to buoy hope, retirement security, and 
the livelihoods of millions of American workers.
  It is why I introduced the ``Keep Our Pension Promises Act,'' along 
with Senator Bernie Sanders for the last several years, which would 
establish a legacy fund within the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 
to ensure solvency for multi-employer pension plans, but really to 
ensure the solvency of so many hard working American's retirements.
  Additionally, it is why I joined my colleagues to introduce the 
``Butch Lewis Pension Protection Act'' in honor of an Ohio Teamster. 
Without congressional action, nearly 50,000 Ohio retirees in the 
Central States Pensions Fund and thousands more Ohioans in the nearly 
100 other troubled multi-employer plans pensions are in jeopardy. I 
have led the charge to push for a legislative fix to the multi-employer 
pension crisis year after year. The multi-employer pension crisis is 
just the tip of a looming pension crisis. It is time for Congress and 
this nation to come to terms with this economic threat in our own 
backyards.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a commonsense issue. Congress must act now. 
That's why I rise in strong support of this measure, and urge my 
colleagues to do the same.


                          LETTER TO COMMITTEE

       I am a retiree of Teamsters Local 707 Pension Fund. I have 
     lost 70% of my pension to date. I was promised this pension 
     and paid into it by taking pay cuts that were part of my wage 
     package and by giving up pay raises to make sure my pension 
     was secure. I'm asking that the Select Joint Committee for 
     Pension to please select the Butch Lewis Act (S-2147) as the 
     solution for the pension crisis. The 4,500 members of my 
     pension fund have been suffering for two plus years with 
     drastic cuts. In February 2016 my pension was reduced 50% and 
     then in February 2017 it was cut another 20% for a total of 
     70%. Please get the Butch Lewis Act passed as written. The 
     Butch Lewis Act is not a government bailout; it helps all 
     multi-employer pension funds including the Coal Miners, Iron 
     Workers, and Carpenters.
       Many of the retirees from my pension fund are losing their 
     homes and can't afford food and health care insurance. Many 
     of the retirees, including myself, are veterans and many are 
     disabled and are 70 and 80 years of age. Please don't turn 
     your back on the workers and veterans who have help build 
     this country by working all their lives.
       I am going to have to sell my home that I have work for all 
     my life and I'm not able to support my wife or live my 
     retirement years as a self-supporting member of my community. 
     Without my pension I'm living below poverty. My pension has 
     already been cut from $2,800 per month to $900 per month. I 
     cannot afford to pay my property taxes pay, my medical 
     insurance, and my medications, heat my home and buy food. No 
     one can live on $900 from PBGC after they had made plans to 
     have their full pensions that were earned and promised. 
     Please include Road Carriers Local 707 in the solution to the 
     pension crisis solution.
       I was drafted into the Army and then worked my entire life 
     so that I could retire with dignity and enjoy my retirement. 
     I am now disabled and cannot work to make up the 70% of my 
     pension that I have lost. I cannot enjoy my retirement years 
     and spend time with family and friends because of the pension 
     cuts I have taken. My wife and I have worked and planned all 
     our lives to live near family so that in our retirement years 
     we could enjoy and have family nearby if needed for health 
     issues but this too is threatened with these cuts. The stress 
     caused by these cuts is unbearable to us at a time we should 
     be enjoying the fruits of our long labor.
       Above are just some of the things impacting the lives and 
     health of myself and many of the families of Local 707--we 
     are a prime example of how devastating this pension crisis 
     has been to us and will be to others if all our pensions are 
     not saved.
           Thank you
     Douglas Rumsey.

                          ____________________