James Oberstar: “our long struggle to improve the lot of the Nation's 250,000 railroad workers and 700,000 retirees and to provide relief…”

“our long struggle to improve the lot of the Nation's 250,000 railroad workers and 700,000 retirees and to provide relief for our Nation's financially ailing railroad industry is finally coming to an end. The Senate is to be congratulated for expeditiously considering the railroad retirement reform legislation and for passing it overwhelmingly, 90-9. The Senate-passed bill, H.R. 10, is identical to H.R. 1140, enacted by the House on July 31, 2001, by an equally strong vote of 384-33. This bill is the product of an historic agreement reached by railroad labor and management following two years of often-difficult negotiations. The benefit improvements and tax cuts are made possible by changing the current law that limits the investment of Railroad Retirement Trust Fund assets to government securities. The proposed changes in the law governing how Railroad Retirement Trust Fund assets can be invested will not affect the solvency of the Railroad Retirement system. The Tier I portion of the program, which provides Social Security level benefits, will continue to be invested only in government securities. Only Tier II funds, the part of the system that provides pension plan type benefits above Social Security benefit levels, will be eligible for investment in assets other than government securities.”