Political Quotes

“the motion to recommit deals with the issue of cash balance pension plans, which are a form of defined benefit pension plans that most of my colleagues on the Democrat side want. We have had this huge decline in defined benefit plans and a move toward defined contribution plans. And as a way to save defined benefit plans, they came up with this idea of a cash balance conversion. These are very, very good for younger workers. And I might also add that over 500 of these conversions have taken place. In almost every instance, the employer has in fact made all employees whole in the process. There were some mistakes early on, but they have been corrected. The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews) and I, during the last administration, worked with the Secretary of Labor, worked with the White House, and came to an agreement on this disclosure model contained in this bill. We should be very careful about the specific language in this motion to recommit that allows for choice, so that in the case of a cash balance conversion an employee could choose one or the other. This would require an employer to offer two separate plans. And they will do this: they will have no plan, or there will be no conversion and then no defined benefit plan. It is a very bad and dangerous idea, and we should reject this.”