Political Quotes

“Mr. President, yesterday we got another reminder of the urgency in the pension crisis facing more than 1 million workers and retirees with the news that Dean Foods is filing for bankruptcy. The company is part of the Central States Pension Fund. The bankruptcy puts the pension fund that much closer to insolvency, that much closer to having to turn to the PBGC for help, and that much closer to knocking down the dominoes that could bring down our whole multiemployer pension system and potentially and even likely trigger a recession. We have to act now for the sake of our economy, for the sake of thousands of small businesses, and for the sake of a million Americans who are on the verge of facing massive cuts to the pensions they earned. This crisis affects thousands of Ohioans. It affects the massive Central States Pension Plan, the United Workers Pension Plan, the Ironworkers Local 17 Pension Plan, the Southwest Ohio carpenters, the bakers and confectioners, and many others. It touches every State in this Nation. If the system collapses, it won't be just retirees who will feel the pain. Current workers will be stuck paying into pensions they will never receive. Small businesses will be left drowning in pension liability they can't afford to pay. That will have ripple effects throughout the economy. If we do nothing, this can trigger a recession on par with the housing crisis. We know who gets hurt the worst.…”