Last Friday, members of the team behind the Butch Lewis Act had their first opportunity to present the “numbers” to House staff members.  We were very pleased with the extremely positive reaction to the presentation.  Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 17th, the same team will present the analysis to Senate staff members, and we are hoping for an equally successful result.

It was very important for this information to have been presented when it was, as the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans will meet on Wednesday, April 18, 2018, at 2:00 p.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on “The History and Structure of the Multiemployer Pension System.”

As you may recall from previous blog posts, this Joint Select Committee is tasked with developing a plan to address the unfolding retirement crisis within multi-employer plans before year-end. How broad is this issue? There are 114 multi-employer plans that have been designated “Critical and Declining”, meaning that they are <65% funded and will likely face insolvency within 20 years.  These 114 plans have promised benefits to roughly 3.5 million participants, and those benefits are unfortunately very much at risk.