A bipartisan agreement on addressing the problems facing multiemployer pensions has not yet been reached, but the co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans are pledging that work will continue past Nov. 30. It had been anticipated that a measure would be hammered out and voted on by that date.
In a Nov. 29 joint committee press release, co-chairs Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) reported significant progress and said that a bipartisan solution can be attained, but it will take more time to reach the goal and so the joint committee will continue its work.
The senators said that despite the ”incredibly difficult” and muiltifaceted challenges that the matter entails and “a highly-charged political environment,” they believe that the committee has made “meaningful progress toward a bipartisan proposal to address the shortcomings in the system to improve retirement security for workers and retirees while also providing certainty for small businesses that participate in multiemployer plans.”
Hatch and Brown added, “We understand that the longer that these problems persist, the more burdensome and expensive for taxpayers they become to address, and we are committed to working toward a final agreement as quickly as possible.”
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