Multiemployer Pension Insolvency: Finding Solutions for Retirees, Workers and Taxpayers

WASHINGTON, March 7 -- Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Michigan, ranking Republican member of the House Education and Labor subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, issued the following news release:

At a subcommittee hearing on multiemployer pensions, members on both sides of the aisle came together to discuss the severe challenges facing the multiemployer pension system and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

"Extreme levels of plan underfunding are an urgent concern. Workers and retirees must have peace of mind when it comes to their hard-earned retirement benefits and employers must have certainty when it comes to their obligations under these plans. It's essential that we work together to stop the hemorrhaging of underfunded plans and minimize losses to plan participants as much as possible," Rep. Walberg, Republican Leader of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, said in his opening statement.

The PBGC, which acts as the insurance backstop for imperiled multiemployer pension plans, currently has a deficit of $54 billion, and the agency is set to be exhausted of all assets by 2025. Solving this problem will require bipartisan cooperation, major reforms, and a commitment to protecting American taxpayers as much as possible.

Dr. James Naughton of Northwestern University testified to members about the need to reform the PBGC in order to "ensure that the current level of underfunding does not deteriorate further and [figure out] how to put the system on a sustainable path going forward. The urgency of this step is evident in the events that have occurred since legislative action was first taken to address the multiemployer pension crisis in 200[6]--since that time, the level of underfunding has increased by approximately $400 billion on a PBGC basis."

Dr. Charles Blahous, Senior Research Strategist at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, stressed the importance of protecting taxpayers from footing the bill of privately negotiated compensation packages.

"The worst policy choice would be to exacerbate the current problem by requiring federal taxpayers to pay tens and potentially hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize competitive advantage for those sponsors who fail to meet their benefit promises, over competitors who have responsibly funded their retirement plans," Blahous said. "Doing so would almost certainly cause multiemployer pension underfunding to soar, as a clear incentive would have been established for plan sponsors to forego adequate pension funding."

There are substantial obstacles ahead when it comes to solving this problem and doing so will take ingenuity and bipartisanship.

"I am hopeful about this committee's ability to work together on this issue. We are on the same side and want to protect workers, taxpayers, retirees, and their families," Rep. Walberg said. "The way forward won't be easy, but millions of Americans are counting on us. We owe it to them to set aside our political differences and come to the table to find a bipartisan solution that secures their future."