[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 23, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    EFFORTS TO MODERNIZE AND STRENGTHEN MULTIEMPLOYER PENSION PLANS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. SHARICE DAVIDS

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 23, 2021

  Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas. Madam Speaker, I'd like to thank my colleague, 
Chairman Richard Neal for his tireless work on the Butch Lewis 
Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 and for providing retirement 
income security for pension recipients in endangered, critical or 
critical and declining status multiemployer pension plans.
  In Kansas, thousands of retirees currently receive pensions through 
the Central States Plan and they face a crisis--a severe reduction in 
retirement income through no fault of their own.
  Without the direct relief provided in this legislation, the Central 
States Pension Fund would have become insolvent in 2026 and the Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corporation would have to reduce 360,000 participants' 
pensions to pennies. This is unacceptable. As Chairman Neal is all too 
aware, many of the participants of Central States are frontline workers 
who have served our country tirelessly and fearlessly in the face of 
the pandemic.
  The present structure of these plans is unsustainable and in need of 
reform.
  Without modernization of these plans and addressing employer 
liabilities, I am concerned that multiemployer pension plans and their 
retirees will certainly face similar circumstances in the future and 
require additional federal funds. This much needed relief to the plans 
is designed to forestall insolvency leaving important work that must 
follow. I believe we must seize this opportunity to reform these plans 
and take insolvency off the table.
  I understand the Chairman is committed to working with me to 
modernize and strengthen multiemployer pension plans with the intent of 
bringing a reform package to the floor in this Congress. Could the 
Chairman confirm that is the case?

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