The sidelined House proposal included the language in the House-passed Butch Lewis Act, a multiemployer pension bailout measure with a nearly $100 billion price tag. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that taxpayers would be responsible for roughly $70 billion over 10 years. The money would be provided to PBGC through a general … Democratic leaders wanted a bill called the Butch Lewis Act to be included in the stimulus bill, and even President Trump said he agreed with that, but McConnell refused. […] We would please like for you to consider including Butch Lewis in our forthcoming relief packages particularly as you are in negotiations with the Senate.”. WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) and Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH-4) sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, and Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, asking for the … The draft bill also includes funding relief for single employer defined benefit plans and multiemployer plan reforms. It’s a bill that lawmakers expect will help stabilize the multiemployer pension plans that are in danger of insolvency. He added: “Now we are one step closer towards fulfilling that promise.”, House Includes Pension Reform Plan in COVID-19 Relief Bill, Time Runs Out for Multiemployer Pension Reform in 2020, Outlook Improves for Multiemployer Reform in 2021, 2022, Tags: Butch Lewis, coronavirus, COVID-19, James Hoffa, multiemployer, Multiemployer plans, PBGC, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, pension reform, relief bill, single employer, Teamsters, « OMERS Reports First Annual Loss Since Financial Crisis, 702 King Farm Boulevard, Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20850 / +1 212-944-4455 /. Stevens: Include Butch Lewis Act in COVID-19 Relief Package. He predicted that the deadlock will continue because of the core constituency involves organized labor. The Democrats in the 117th Congress are pressing the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 in two phases. Press Release. That legislation would, among other features, provide funds for 30-year loans and new forgivable financial assistance, in the form of government grants, aimed at supporting the most financially troubled multiemployer pension plans. “We cannot allow more than a million men and women to lose their hard-earned savings when we have the ability to stabilize these plans,” Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Massachusetts, said in a January statement when he released the bill. The federal stimulus package, which includes $1,400 checks for many Americans and increased funding for vaccines, also holds the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA), an update to the Butch Lewis Act. It’s a bill that lawmakers expect will help stabilize the multiemployer pension plans that are in danger of insolvency. The Act, a multiemployer pension bailout measure with a nearly $100 billion price tag, was included in the House’s recent economic relief package proposal, which ended up being pre-empted by the Senate’s CARES Act. In the meantime, this crisis remains unresolved for the people who are waiting relief. The coronavirus pandemic has created even more uncertainty for retirees who are worried about losing their hard-earned pensions. WASHINGTON – Yesterday, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) and Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH-4) sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, and Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, asking for the House of Representatives to include legislation to secure the pensions of over a million hard-working American families as part of forthcoming coronavirus relief packages. It is painful for these businesses to have lay off or limit work hours for their employees as revenues diminish by more than half. Ways and Means Chair Wants Pension Relief in Next Stimulus Package. Single-employer pension plans would be able to extend amortization periods to 15 years, up from seven years, to stretch the period in which plans can pay for long-term liabilities. The bill would deliver $1,400 checks to most Americans and accelerate distribution of vaccines like the ones made at Pfizer’s IBEW-built and maintained Kalamazoo, Mich., plant visited by … Many businesses, particularly in the restaurant sector, would like the assurance of being able to stay afloat during this hibernation period. But that fight is alive right now, because a new “Phase 4” bill will be considered in late April. It’s a bill that lawmakers expect will help stabilize the multiemployer pension plans that are in danger of insolvency. Yesterday, Congresswoman Haley Stevens (MI-11) and Congressman Chris Pappas (D-NH-4) sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, and Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, asking for the House of Representatives to include legislation to secure the pensions of over a million hard-working American families as part of forthcoming coronavirus relief packages. The relief package includes, Neal said, the Butch Lewis Act that address worsening multiemployer pension crisis that threatens the savings of more than a … Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act Would Save Retirements of 1M+. The legislation would also freeze all cost of living adjustments (COLAs), which are currently tied to inflation. Additionally, the enormous impacts on small businesses and their employees are extensive. (In-person visits by appointment only during COVID-19). The coronavirus pandemic has created even more uncertainty for retirees who are worried about losing their hard-earned pensions. Democrats proposed the Butch Lewis Act in 2019 that would create a fund to make “loans to certain multi-employer defined benefit pension plans” through the Treasury Department. Including a revised version of the Butch Lewis Act pension bailout is even more egregious. We would please like for you to consider including Butch Lewis in our forthcoming relief packages particularly as you are in negotiations with the Senate. In the third stimulus package, Washington, D.C., was severely shortchanged because it was treated as a territory rather than a state. 1319) by a (near) party-line vote of 219-212 (Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR) were the only two Democrats to vote no, and no Republicans supported the measure). The plan included no reforms to the system that would prevent a similar crisis in the … In the face of market volatility and reduced bond yields caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress should consider protecting the pension funds for millions of hardworking Americans. (WASHINGTON) – The Teamsters are applauding the House Ways & Means Committee’s inclusion of a multiemployer pension reform measure in a broader stimulus package introduced by the panel yesterday. Extended amortization for single-employer plans. “Either proposal would involve a cost to taxpayers, with interest groups citing various figures,” Goldowitz says. It would provide funding to enable the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to pay full benefits … Others argued that the bill does not belong in the coronavirus relief package. That legislation would, among other features, provide funds for 30-year loans and new forgivable financial assistance, in the form of government grants, aimed at supporting the most financially troubled multiemployer pension plans. There were discussions to include proposals for multiemployer pensions in previously passed coronavirus relief bills, but efforts fell apart. Under the bill, multiemployer pension plans in danger of insolvency are eligible to receive a single lump sum to make benefit payments for the next 30 years, or through 2051. The Butch Lewis Act, which passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support of July 26th, 2019, is long-overdue legislation to fix the multi-employer pension crisis by creating a Pension Rehabilitation Administration within the Treasury Department and allowing failing pension plans to borrow money from the PRA to remain solvent. On Saturday, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents millions of multiemployer pension retirees and beneficiaries,  applauded the provision. “In the face of market volatility and reduced bond yields caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress should consider protecting the pension funds for millions of hardworking Americans,” the lawmakers wrote. The Department of Labor would convene the appropriate and legal documents for which employers could apply. This section of the bill is under Division T and is cited as the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2020. The letter also calls for the creation of a Bridge Employment Retention program to be administered by the Department of Labor, allowing businesses and employers to enter into contractual arrangements to guarantee a return to work once the COVID-19 social isolation period has concluded. The Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act was approved Feb. 27 as part of the mammoth American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (H.R. The American Rescue Act passed the House Feb.17 on a partline vote. Butch Lewis Act of 2019. Once the employer has initiated and been qualified for BER, they could offer this contractual agreement to their furloughed employees to secure employment similar to an FMLA structure. by Melanie ... full House both passed Neal’s Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act, also known as the Butch Lewis Act. Additionally, Kamp himself was on the team of government and industry professionals that drafted the Butch Lewis Act. Copyright ©2021 Asset International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Brown named the legislation in memory of Butch Lewis, the former retired head of Teamsters Local 100 in southwest Ohio. The multiemployer reforms appear to be based on the so-called Butch-Lewis Act, which passed the House in July 2019. There is no meaningful connection between the pandemic and private pensions. This bill establishes the Pension Rehabilitation Administration within the Department of the Treasury and a related trust fund to make loans to certain multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.