Jeff Bingaman: “I have come to the Chamber today to speak about a subject that is of great importance to the people of my State, and I…”

“I have come to the Chamber today to speak about a subject that is of great importance to the people of my State, and I think people throughout the country, and that is the issue of retirement security. We give a lot of speeches in the Senate about security: national security, homeland security--a variety of securities. We are concerned about security. The American people are concerned about security. But there is one aspect of security that has not gotten a whole lot of attention so far in this Congress, and I am here today to call attention to it. That aspect of security is retirement security. The collapse of Enron and the resulting collapse of the retirement plans of many Enron workers and plans across the country that held substantial amounts of Enron stock have underscored the need for changes in our pension laws and our retirement plan laws. Frankly, I am disappointed that the House, in passing a watered-down version of the administration's modest proposals, has failed to increase retirement safety for those American workers who do have pensions, since that is all on which that bill really focuses.”