ACTION ALERT
March 13, 2006
Action Requested: Contact retirement bill conferees (see list below) and urge a comprehensive, design-based approach to validating cash balance and other hybrid pension plans without mandates or litigation carve-outs.
Background: The retirement bill conference is underway and conferees will meet today and tomorrow to begin resolving certain sections of the House-passed Pension Protection Act (H.R. 2830) and the Senate-passed Pension Security and Transparency Act (S. 1783). A Council side-by-side chart illustrates the bills’ differences with regard to hybrid plans.
The Council continues to support a comprehensive, design-based solution — without mandates or litigation carve-outs — applicable to existing and future plans. Hybrid plans are essential to the continued viability of the employer-sponsored defined benefit pension system.
The inclusion of onerous mandates or arbitrary litigation carve-outs would discourage employers from maintaining these plans and set dangerous precedents for all voluntary employer-sponsored benefit programs.
The Council has prepared an updated set of talking points to help you understand and communicate the urgency of the situation to the conferees.
For more information, contact Lynn Dudley, Council vice president, retirement policy, at (202) 289-6700.
Please help: Contact the conferees listed below, even if you do not have an existing relationship with the Congressperson or their district. Additional contacts to your own district’s representatives are also helpful, but communications to the conferees are of primary importance.
The conferees are as follows:
Senate Republicans
Mike DeWine (OH )
Michael Enzi (WY)
Charles Grassley (IA)
Judd Gregg (NH)
Orrin Hatch (UT)
Johnny Isakson (GA)
Trent Lott (MS)
Rick Santorum (PA)
Olympia Snowe (ME)
Senate Democrats
Max Baucus (MT)
Jeff Bingaman (NM)
Kent Conrad (ND)
Tom Harkin (IA)
Edward Kennedy (MA)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
John Rockefeller (WV)
House Republicans
John Boehner (OH)
Dave Camp (MI)
Sam Johnson (TX)
John Kline (MN)
Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (CA)
William Thomas (CA)
Patrick Tiberi (OH)
House Democrats
George Miller (CA)
Donald Payne (NJ)
Charles Rangel (NY)
AA 06–02
Contact retirement bill conferees, ask their support for a comprehensive, design-based approach to hybrid plans
Solution must avoid mandates, litigation carve-outs
(202) 224-2315
(HELP Committee Chairman)
(202) 224-3424
(Finance Committee Chairman)
(202) 224-3744
(202) 224-3324
(202) 224-5251
(202) 224-3643
(202) 224-6253
(202) 224-6324
(202) 224-5344
(Finance Committee Ranking Minority Member)
(202) 224-2651
(202) 224-5521
(202) 224-2043
(202) 224-3254
(HELP Committee Ranking Minority Member)
(202) 224-4543
(202) 224-4654
(202) 224-6472
(House Majority Leader)
(202) 225-6205
(202) 225-3561
(202) 225-4201
(202) 225-2271
(Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman)
(202) 225-1956
(Ways and Means Committee Chairman)
(202) 225-2915
(202) 225-5355
Robert Andrews (NJ)
(202) 225-6501
(Education and the Workforce Ranking Minority Member)
(202) 225-2095
(202) 225-3436
(Ways and Means Ranking Minority Member)
(202) 225-4365
The American Benefits Council is the national trade association for companies concerned about federal legislation and regulations affecting all aspects of the employee benefits system. The Council’s members represent the entire spectrum of the private employee benefits community and either sponsor directly or administer retirement and health plans covering more than 100 million Americans.