Gilbert Gutknecht: “I hate to rise and oppose two of my good friends, but I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), who has just…”

“I hate to rise and oppose two of my good friends, but I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson), who has just given a speech; and I just want to contradict a couple of things he said. First of all, if the IBM company had given IBMers all they wanted, they would not be in court; and if there were not age discrimination, they would not have won; and if it were not for the IRS and the Department of Treasury wanting to get involved in this case, we would not have to offer this amendment. This is wrong. As my friend said, this is not a matter of right versus left. It is right versus wrong. It is wrong for employers to steal from pension funds. It is that simple. The reason we are here today is to try and keep this administration from doing something incredibly stupid, and that is, getting involved in this case which the workers have already won, and they are right, because it is the age discrimination. Cash balance plans are not intrinsically evil. I said that earlier; but when you do it in such a way so that you shave off the end where people really accrue benefits, the courts have correctly ruled.”