Maurice Hinchey: “beginning in 1995, this Congress began a process of reducing regulations and freeing up the activities of corporations…”

“beginning in 1995, this Congress began a process of reducing regulations and freeing up the activities of corporations across America. They also, during the beginning of that period of time, weakened the IRS. The result of that is the kind of corporate scandals, the kind of corporate crime wave we see sweeping across the country today. One of the less noticed aspects of that corporate crime wave includes the way in which corporations have been robbing the pension systems of American workers. They have been doing that by shifting from a so-called defined benefit program, where the benefits are clear and well stated, to a cash balance program, which enables them to manipulate the pension program and, in fact, provide lesser benefits to the employees, to the workers, over periods of time as they retire. That has got to stop. The only way it can be stopped is by requiring the IRS, which has been weakened by the leadership of this House, to step forward and enforce the laws as they were intended to be enforced. That is what this amendment would do. It would require the IRS to enforce the laws, and it would stop the pension abuse that is going on by corporations across this country that are costing American workers and their families hundreds of millions of dollars. We have the obligation and the responsibility to stop it. The only way we can stop it is by passing this amendment.”