BY
January 21, 2021
Efforts to address the funding crisis facing multiemployer pension plans, as well as provide single employer funding relief, just got a big boost from a key member of Congress.
House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) on Jan. 21 introduced the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA), which is an updated version of the Butch Lewis Act and the first piece of legislation Neal introduced in the new 117
th Congress, signaling the importance of the issue to him.
“The workers and retirees enrolled in these failing plans did everything right they put away money year after year to save for their futures, even forgoing pay raises to do so,” Chairman Neal said in a statement announcing the introduction of the legislation.
Pension plans would no longer be able to seek a reduction in benefits under MPRA.
PBGC would begin receiving federal funding and double its maximum guaranteed benefit.
Four Democratic US representatives are introducing legislation they say will protect workers, retirees, employers, and taxpayers from the multiemployer pension crisis and beef up the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
The Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA), sponsored by Rep. Robert Scott, D-Virginia; Rep. Donald Norcross, D-New Jersey; Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Michigan; and Rep. Joe Morelle, D-New York, would create a special partition program that would expand PBGC’s authority, increase the number of eligible plans, and simplify the application process.
/PRNewswire/ The Teamsters today are hailing the introduction of the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act (EPPRA) by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman.
Norcross, House Democrats to Introduce Legislation to Protect Retirees’ Pensions Amid COVID-19 Crisis January 21, 2021, 11:50 am | in
Norcross, House Democrats to Introduce Legislation to Protect Retirees’ Pensions Amid COVID-19 Crisis
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-1) will join House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) and Congressman Joe Morelle (NY-25) to introduce legislation to shield workers, retirees, employers and taxpayers from the devastating consequences of the multiemployer pension crisis. The Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA) would prevent the imminent collapse of failing multiemployer plans and fully protect the hard-earned retirement benefits of more than one million Americans.
The Teamsters on Tuesday launched a public policy campaign that will press Congress and the incoming Biden administration to pass legislation to avert a forecast pension crisis, strengthen unions and swiftly adopt federal rules for protecting workers from COVID-19.