Earl Pomeroy: “I am pleased to follow the preceding speaker, who like me is on the Ways and Means Committee. He knows darn well the…”

“I am pleased to follow the preceding speaker, who like me is on the Ways and Means Committee. He knows darn well the Ways and Means Committee had nothing to do with this bill. This bill has been marked up in a nontransparent conference committee, and then last night, on the eve of the vote, the Republicans walked and didn't vote. It is utter nonsense the gamesmanship that has been played. But there have been deals cut. A lot of deals have been cut. So some unions cut their deal and they are for it; some companies are for it; some industries are for it. And I don't have any problem with any of them. What I have a problem with, with this bill, is the great majority of plans, covering 20 million workers in the workforce today, with pension protection, pensions that they are counting on to pay that monthly payment in old age. We have seen this argument before. Remember last year, when the President wanted to privatize Social Security? Suddenly, we heard about how Social Security was on the rocks; we had to end Social Security as we knew it to save it. We had to privatize it to protect it. This is the same thing that is going on now. They are saying pensions are on the rocks. We have to pass this bill to save pensions. Baloney. Don't believe a word of it. Jane Bryant Quinn, noted commentator on financial matters, writes in a recent column about the recovering health of pension funding.…”