Asa Hutchinson: “I rise to engage the majority leader in colloquy related to H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act. Senator Talent has asked…”

“I rise to engage the majority leader in colloquy related to H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act. Senator Talent has asked that I state for the information of our colleagues that he shares my concern in regard to the issue I am raising. I support the efforts being made to reform and update our Nation's outdated pension laws and to protect the taxpayers by reducing the threat of insolvency on the part of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. But there is a section in the bill that is not equitable; it favors two airline companies over two others; and that must be remedied. The bill affects the pension plans of four competing airline companies--American, Continental, Delta and Northwest. Two of these companies, Delta and Northwest, are currently operating in bankruptcy; American and Continental are not. When the Senate passed its version of the pension reform bill these four companies were treated equally. Our bill did not favor one over the other nor include provisions that would tilt the competitive playing field to the advantage of one or more of the companies. But the legislation that has been sent to us by the House of Representatives unfortunately contains that type of unfair provision. The House bill allows Delta and Northwest to use an interest rate of 8.85 percent to calculate returns from pension assets and determine the amount of money that the companies must contribute each year to their pension plans to make up for unfunded liabilities.…”