Government affairs

Legislative Updates

Congress announces new members for joint select committee on pensions

Today, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was the final Congressional leader to announce appointments to the recently-formed Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans. The panel is tasked with improving the solvency of multiemployer pension plans and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the independent government agency formed to insure the defined-benefit pensions of working Americans.

The new panel members are listed below:

Republicans

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN)
Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) – Co-chair
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Sen. Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)

Democrats

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA)
Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ)
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI)
Sen.  Sherrod Brown (D-OH) – Co-chair
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN)

It is estimated that multiemployer pensions are underfunded by $65 billion, and the committee has until November 30, 2018 to submit a bipartisan report containing findings, conclusions, and recommendations, as well as proposed legislative changes.

"Millions of workers, families, and retirees are counting on us,” said Rep. Scott, the House Education and the Workforce Committee’s ranking member and new joint committee member, “and the longer Congress waits to act, the more difficult and more expensive the problem will be to solve."

NALC will monitor any updates with the panel and keep its members informed of any recommendations that make their way out of the committee.

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