By: Russ Kamp, CEO, Ryan ALM, Inc.

At hearings yesterday, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, faced questions from members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. During the questioning, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer did state that she was supportive of the Butch Lewis Act (BLA).

NO candidate for Secretary of Labor should ever be considered who isn’t in favor of the BLA. To date, $70.9 billion in Special Financial Assistance (SFA) and interest has been awarded to 109 multiemployer pension plans. Oh, and roughly 1.53 MILLION American workers and retirees have seen their promised pensions secured. This legislation has been a HUGE success, and there are more than 90 plans still going through the process.

Just think about all of the economic activity that will be produced by these retirees who can remain active participants in our economy. Without BLA, they were doomed to become reliant on state and federal social safety nets. Who wants to be forced to live like that, especially when you’ve been a productive member of society for an entire career? You don’t believe that they were doomed to economic hardship? Please read about those pensioners impacted by the passage of the Multiemployer Pension Relief Act of 2014 (MPRA) (eventually 18 plans received DOL support to slash benefits) that saw benefits, which were already being collected, slashed by more than 50% in some cases. Talk about lives being turned upside down!

Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, if you have any questions about why BLA is so critical, may I encourage you to go to my blog at kampconsultingblog.com and read about Carol. All you must do is put her name in my search bar (upper right corner). I believe that you’ll be as shocked as I was that our government sanctioned the action that came from MPRA. We can’t allow BLA to become a political football at this time. There are too many American workers and retirees counting on the benefits that they worked hard for and those that were promised. If you support BLA – great. If you do not – please step aside! The Labor Department and American workers need someone else!