REP ANDREWS CALLS FOR AIRLINE PENSION RELIEF

For more than three months, there has been little, if any, progress made in reconciling the differences between the House and Senate pension reform bills, which would strengthen pension plans for millions of Americans. Unfortunately, these delays are causing real problems for Americans close to retirement age. Recently, with the pension bill still stuck in Congress, Delta Airlines announced that it would terminate its pilot pension plans. In response, I renewed my call for Congressional Republicans to cease their delay tactics, and include all Democratic conferees in the negotiations to pass a meaningful pension reform bill.

Delta is the third airline in the past few years to have dumped its pilots’ pension plans, following United Airlines and U.S. Airways before.  The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the federal corporation that protects the pensions of participants covered by private sector, defined benefit plans, will now likely be saddled with massive new liabilities.  This could result in painful cuts to over 10,000 active and retired pilots’ retirement nest eggs. Without meaningful pension reform, like that contained in this bill, many hundreds of thousands more Americans could find their retirement security threatened.

We must correct the dangerous situation with our nation’s pension plans.  Republicans in Congress must come together with Democrats so that we can correct this situation.  The retirement security of millions of Americans hangs in the balance. 

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