Jane Harman: “the collapse of Enron and its impact on employees' retirement plans underscores the need to enact additional federal…”

“the collapse of Enron and its impact on employees' retirement plans underscores the need to enact additional federal protections. The bill before us is a step in that direction. It is far from perfect--but perfection is not an option. Forward progress is. Similarly, the substitute amendment offered by my colleagues, George Miller and Charles Rangel, is not perfect either. While making some improvements over the committee bill, it too has some features that may have the effect of discouraging employers from providing retirement benefits to employees. Striking the right balance is often a difficult task. But it is especially difficult in an area like defined contribution pension plans where a poor investment or management decision may cause untold financial hardship on individuals in or near their retirement years. We clearly need to move the process of reform forward--hopefully combining the best features of both the bill and substitute and more thoroughly vetting the more problematic features of each. Mr. Speaker, we don't have the luxury of doing nothing. We have long recognized the outdated nature of many of our pension laws. Enron's collapse has provided the impetus for action. Protecting workers' retirement benefits and encouraging the expansion of pension plans to more companies and workers are positive goals in the abstract. But writing the rules is always more difficult. We should proceed carefully.”