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News and Press Releases |
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HEADLINE:
Pension Fund Relief Plan Fails To Clear The Senate
By: Mary Williams Walsh
NYTimes.com. November 26, 2003
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EXCERPT: A measure that would have let the nation's businesses defer tens of billions of dollars in pension contributions over the next two years was beaten back in last-minute Senate maneuvering yesterday evening, disappointing companies that have been pushing all year for help with their depleted pension funds. Earlier in the day, senators from both parties said they thought they had found an acceptable way to give companies a break on their looming pension bills - an arrangement that they thought would be acceptable to members of the House as well. But the measure required unanimous consent in the Senate, and late yesterday, with legislators trying to leave for the Thanksgiving holiday, a small number of senators were still withholding their support.
As a result, the Senate broke for the Thanksgiving recess with no progress on the pension issue and no sign of whether it would be possible to enact legislation by the end of the year. Companies that offer pension plans are now operating under an interim break that will expire at the end of the year. If no new replacement measure is enacted, the companies' mandatory contributions will balloon. The Senate is scheduled to consider the pension issue on Dec. 9. But staff members said that any pension measure would still have to receive unanimous consent then, a difficult standard to achieve on a technically demanding issue with so little time left. The House of Representatives has already passed a pension measure, but it will now have to reconsider any revised language that may be approved by the Senate. Opposition to the Senate's compromise measure appeared to be based, in large part, on concerns that it might allow some companies to neglect their pension funds, putting benefits in peril. One staff member also complained that senators were expected to give their consent right away, even though they were not shown the legislative language until late Tuesday morning. With tens of billions of dollars hanging in the balance, that was asking too much, he said. There were also suggestions that opposition was coming from senators of states where low-cost airlines are based. The large, established airlines are among the companies expected to benefit most from any pension break. Competing airlines that do not offer pensions see pension relief as an indirect subsidy to their larger and older competitors, according to Senate aides who have received calls from airline lobbyists.
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