Patrick J. Tiberi: “I appreciate the chairman rising to engage me in a colloquy. I would like to thank both you and Chairman Thomas for your…”

“I appreciate the chairman rising to engage me in a colloquy. I would like to thank both you and Chairman Thomas for your work on this bill. As you remember, back during the committee, I spoke about shutdown benefits and appreciate the work that you and Chairman Thomas have done in the last couple of days to deal with stakeholders in that industry. However, the language contained in the bill does not quite go far enough, I believe, in helping everybody in every industry. Mr. Chairman, as I have told you before, my father worked in the manufacturing business as an employee for over 20 years. He was a member of the steel workers, and one day when I was in high school, he came home and was out of a job, which is traumatic enough, but he was also out of a pension. Today, employers and employer groups can work together to provide shutdown benefits to employees and to families, and my hope is that your commitment still stands, as it has, that we will work, particularly with the steel industry as we have done with the auto industry, to make sure that shutdown benefits remain a vital option for employers.”