Ron Kind: “this past winter, thousands of ENRON employees, stockholders, and their families saw their life savings disappear. While…”

“this past winter, thousands of ENRON employees, stockholders, and their families saw their life savings disappear. While their nest eggs were being crushed, top executives were selling stock at top dollar and the auditors were shredding documents. The ENRON debacle shook the foundation of our country's private pension system and caused many people to wonder if the same thing could happen to them. Today, 46 million Americans participate in 401(k) and other pension programs with more than $4 trillion invested in the private pension system. Congress has a responsibility to improve retirement security and restore confidence in the pension system for millions of Americans. In 1974, Congress enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to provide protection of pension benefits for American's private sector employees. While ERISA made great strides, the growth of 401(k) plans and increased participation in the securities markets call for improved safeguards to protect these individually controlled pension accounts. Our Democratic substitute includes important provisions that should be included in the underlying bill.”