Pension Protection Act: A Missed Opportunity [Rep. Michaud]

[antigop]

http://magic-city-news.com/article_6548.shtml
>>
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 contains many provisions that increase the
costs and the complexity of regulations for companies that maintain defined
benefit programs. This does nothing to overcome the real and growing pension
crisis. Instead, it may cause many more companies to freeze or abandon their
pension plans. The bill also fails to protect older workers during cash-balance
conversions. Instead, the government needs to ensure that the benefits of older
workers - who cannot start over with a new career and retirement plan - are
fully protected.
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OK, Congressman Michaud. Send a copy of this excellent letter to Ted Kennedy and his staff. The Senate Democrats rolled over and sold out American workers with this bill. The House Democrats at least put up a fight.

Ask Ted Kennedy why he and the Senate Democrats sold us out .

House roll call:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll422.xml


Senate roll call:
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00230

[Solo_in_MD]

1. It was really a mixed bag

Substanive good things were in there for same sex and unmarried couples.

It also makes it harder to underfund or loot existing plans.

I have a definded contribution plan...for me its been a much better thing

[antigop]

2. The Senate Dems sold out the American worker

The House Democrats, led by George Miller, fought for older worker protections.
Read his floor speech here:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/statements/statement72006.html

Kennedy sold out -- the older worker protections were not included in the final bill.

Millions of older workers are going to get screwed as a result. Kennedy should have insisted that these protections were in the final bill -- the protections were in the bill passed by the Senate before it went to the conference committee.

The House Dems fought for older workers. The Senate Dems did not -- they sold out American workers.

[Solo_in_MD]

3. As I said, mixed bag

it did improve some things, it hurt in other ways

[antigop]

4. The "improvements" remain to be seen

Press reports have said that the bill will just sound the death-knell for defined benefit pensions, so the bill won't really help at all.

Kennedy and the Senate Dems did not insist on older worker protections. As a result, millions of American workers are going to get screwed.

Kennedy and the Senate Dems could have insisted on older worker protections, but they didn't.

They sold out.

[antigop]

5. The Pension Rights Center questions whether it will fix anything

But the bill DOES legalize cash balance pension plans.

The Pension Rights Center press release questions whether the bill will really fix anything.

http://pensionrights.org/news/press/HR-4-final-passage-...
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“The so-called Pension Protection Act of 2006 represents a huge missed opportunity for Congress to protect the retirement income security of millions of Americans,” said Center director Karen Ferguson. “While the bill contains a handful of positive provisions that help some workers, it also contains harmful provisions that allow plans to break pension promises, and, rather than strengthen the private pension system, are likely to weaken it.”
The Center questions, as an overarching principle, whether the bill’s funding provisions (the heart of the bill) will improve funding in plans or penalize the very companies that are continuing to maintain defined benefit plans for their workers by precipitating the freezing and termination of these plans.
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[sinkingfeeling]

6. It was an awful bill, railroaded through. While the House did spend a lot

of time on it, the negotiation sessions were basically over-run by the GOP. The resulting 900+ page bill was not read by any Senators before they were forced to vote.