Political Quotes

“when the Senate considers the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act, I will offer a bipartisan amendment to strike section 808 of the substitute to this bill. The section I wish to strike would impose a significant competitive disadvantage on airlines that have done the most to protect their employees and provide for the secure retirement of those employees and current retirees. It would increase the pension obligations of these airlines above what is required of the airlines they compete with. It is fundamentally unfair. Such a move would undermine the ability of these airlines to maintain their commitments to their workers, particularly in today's struggling economy. In 2006, with several airlines facing the prospect of bankruptcy, the Pension Protection Act adjusted how struggling airlines that had frozen their defined benefit pension plans could calculate their pension obligations. Those airlines were allowed to devote significantly less funding than their competitors toward payments to their pension plans. Understand, airlines facing bankruptcy that were on the cusp of losing defined benefit retirement plans were given better treatment under the Tax Code than those that didn't file bankruptcy and tried to keep their word to their employees under their defined benefit plans. Airlines that maintained their pension plans weren't given this benefit.”