WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11), a member of the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, joined with House and Senate Democrats to introduce the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act to help address the pension crisis affecting retirees nationwide. Led by House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Congressman Richard Neal (MA-1), the bill creates a Pension Rehabilitation Trust Fund within the Department of Treasury to make loans to multiemployer defined benefit plans. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced a companion bill in the Senate today.

“I am pleased to join my colleagues today in introducing the Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act.  Millions of hardworking Americans were promised retirement security.  It is time to keep that promise.  Thousands of retired workers in multiemployer pension plans are facing steep, life-altering cuts to their retirement.

“This pension crisis is not new.  I voted against the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) in 2014, and my colleagues and I have been working ever since to find a viable solution that ensures hardworking Americans receive the full pension and security they were promised.  After the financial crisis of 2008, Congress bailed out the banks, financial and auto industries, but we left retirees behind.  The Rehabilitation for Multiemployer Pensions Act rectifies that wrong.  I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move this bill forward.  Every American deserves to retire with dignity and deserves the full pension they were promised.”

Click here to read the text of the bill.

Click here to read a summary of the bill.

Click here to read frequently asked questions about the legislation.

###