Brown to help lead pension panel
WASHINGTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown will co–chair a bipartisan commission tasked with solving a pension crisis that has put more than 60,000 Ohioans and 1.5 million workers and retirees’ pensions at risk.
The Ohio Democrat, who had unsuccessfully pushed a bill aimed at preserving pensions, made creation of the commission a condition of his support for a Senate budget agreement reached this month.
“This committee will force Congress to finally treat the pension crisis with the seriousness and urgency American workers deserve,” Brown said.
Brown joins Democratic Sens. Tina Smith of Minnesota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota on the panel, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-K.Y., has not announced the Republican members of the committee, nor has he named Brown's Republican co–chair.
At issue are multi– employer pensions created in order to allow employers to pool resources and provide their workers retirement security. The plans, negotiated by a union, are run by trustees selected by the union and employers. For years, most multi–employer plans ran at a surplus.
But market crashes between 2000 and 2009, corporate bankruptcies and new laws have rendered many plans virtually unsalvageable. While some 10 million workers are served by 1,400 multi–employer plans nationwide, some 150 to 200 plans, covering 1.5 million workers and retirees, could run out of money within the next 20 years, according to the Pension Rights Center. Among them: Central States, a pension program that claims some 50,000 members in Ohio.
Under the agreement reached by the Senate this month, the committee will hold at least five public meetings, including one outside of Washington to make it easier for the members to hear from retirees affected by the crisis.
The 16 members of the panel will have until November to craft a plan that would be put before the House and Senate for an up–or–down vote. Under the agreement reached Wednesday, neither the House nor the Senate will be permitted to amend the agreement.
The House has named its eight members of the commission: Republican Reps. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, Phil Roe of Tennessee, Vern Buchanan of Florida and David Schweikert of Arizona as well as Democratic Reps. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, Bobby Scott of Virginia, Donald Norcross of New Jersey and Debbie Dingell of Michigan.