U.S. Senate Hearing Will Focus on Multiemployer Pension Cuts

A U.S. Senate hearing, scheduled for Tuesday at 9 a.m. CST, will focus on recent reforms aimed at multiemployer pension plans.

A 2014 federal law allows multiemployer plans to cut benefits in order to “right ship”.

More from the Kansas City Star:

The Senate Finance Committee will take up “The Multi-employer Pension Plan System: Recent Reforms and Current Challenges” at 9 a.m. Central.

Central States, which covers 400,000 workers and retirees, has said it needs $11 billion to avoid collapse in the next 10 years. It has proposed cutting the benefits of current retirees, many by half or more, under a controversial 2014 law.

[…]

Presenters scheduled for the Washington hearing include Rita Lewis, an Ohio woman who receives benefits from Central States as the widow of a driver who died late last year.

The U.S. Treasury has tapped mediator Kenneth Feinberg to decide whether the Central States proposal meets the requirements of the 2014 law.

Others scheduled Tuesady are Joshua Gotbaum at the Brookings Institute, Andrew G. Biggs at the American Enterprise Institute and Cecil E. Roberts Jr. with the United Mine Workers of America.

Watch the hearing live here.

Photo by  Bob Jagendorf via Flickr CC License