Political Quotes

“The issue here that Members need to understand is that our pension system is a voluntary system on behalf of employers for their employees. And while we will have much more debate on this when we get into the substitute, we walk a very fine line when we bring pension issues to this floor. The retirement security for American workers in most cases is one of their largest assets. It has to be treated with great respect. And all of us who have served in a legislative body, and especially here in Congress, know that we always have to deal with the law of unintended consequences. If we make one mistake, we could cost millions of Americans the right to their own retirement. So we have to be very careful. That is why, if we look at the bill that we have before us, we make modest reforms to correct problems that we found in the wake of Enron and WorldCom, and others. We do not do a wholesale overhaul of our pension security laws, because, in honesty, it is not needed. Now, the most substantive part of this bill would allow employers to offer to their employees real investment advice.”