Lynn C. Woolsey: “if this bill is so great, why are executives not being treated the same way as the rank-and-file workers? It is hard to…”

“if this bill is so great, why are executives not being treated the same way as the rank-and-file workers? It is hard to believe that in the face of all of the corporate scandals that we have been experiencing over the last few years, that this legislation still allows for executives to receive a golden parachute. Unbelievably, executives who have run their companies into the ground can continue to receive large lump sum payments from their underfunded pension plans at the same time that the rank-and-file employees' benefits have been frozen. You heard me right. If a company's plan is underfunded by 80 percent, rank-and-file workers cannot receive new benefits or lump sum payments. Meanwhile, the restrictions for executives do not start until the plan is underfunded by 60 percent. That difference adds up to billions and billions of dollars. Whatever happened to the captain going down with the ship? The way this bill reads the only boat the Republican majority is familiar with is the Titanic, because they are giving lifeboats to the first class passengers only. Mr. Speaker, we live in a country that values equality. Why oh why in the world would we allow this pension bill to pass the House treating executive pension benefits differently from their workers? What happened to what is good for the goose is good for the gander? If workers' pensions are underfunded, then so are executives. It is time to end the golden parachute or, as the gander goes, the golden egg.…”