Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has sent a letter, along with a group of her Republican colleagues, to House and Senate leadership requesting assistance to at-risk multiemployer pension plans in any upcoming COVID relief package. The letter outlines that multiemployer pension plans across the nation are facing significant and debilitating funding shortfalls, putting the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on the path towards insolvency within the decade. The letter goes on to urge leadership to find common ground on a bipartisan solution to this crisis and prevent retirees’ from losing their hard-earned pensions, while making structural improvements to shore up the multiemployer pension system.
“As Congress negotiates a forthcoming COVID-19 relief package, we must prioritize coming together in a bipartisan manner to pass a solution for multiemployer pensions at risk of insolvency,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “Many pension plans are facing dire funding shortfalls and the federal backstop that insures these plans will soon run dry, putting workers’ livelihood and retirement at risk in the North Country and nationwide. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to exacerbate these shortfalls, so a failure to address this issue now will only create deeper problems in the years to come. I am proud to join my colleagues in urging our leaders in the House and Senate to come together and prioritize the inclusion of measures that will address this looming crisis.”
