Ditto Dude, can't find my pole.
Pension crisis comes to head with vote Friday
By Marilyn Adams and Sue Kirchhoff, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Thousands of U.S. corporations are in limbo as Congress battles over a bill for pension-plan relief, and an April 15 payment deadline looms.
The House will vote Friday on a bill to reduce pension contributions for companies with traditional plans by $80 billion in the next two years. But senior Senate Democrats vow to kill the measure in that chamber, saying it shortchanges some union plans.
The jockeying comes as the House prepares to adjourn for two weeks and companies face an April 15 deadline for quarterly pension contributions. Payments will be billions of dollars higher if the bill is not passed by then.
"We need to see this pension crisis resolved," says David Castelveter, spokesman for US Airways, which exited bankruptcy court a year ago but is still struggling.
The bill would provide $1.8 billion in extra relief for struggling airlines and steel firms, which have some of the most underfunded plans. Pension plans at seven of the biggest airlines are underfunded by $20 billion.
The Capitol Hill rift comes at a delicate time for UAL, parent of United Airlines, which is in bankruptcy reorganization. Its pending application for a $1.6 billion federally guaranteed loan to exit bankruptcy hinges in part on pension relief. Failure to get relief could force UAL to seek costlier private financing or consider terminating some of its plans.
Union leaders raised alarms. "Employees shouldn't be forced to pay the price of a legislative turf war," said Frank Larkin, spokesman for the International Association of Machinists. The IAM represents 90,000 workers at airlines with traditional pensions.
"We've done all that we can possibly do," says Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. He called it "unfortunate" that Democrats insist on relief for multi-employer plans in unionized industries like trucking.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., says he would block the measure, complaining the White House was helping corporations while ignoring union workers.
The United Auto Workers asked House members to support the bill, however, saying it would help struggling manufacturers. Traditional pension plans are insured by the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. The agency warned last fall that single-employer pension plans were underfunded by $350 billion because of stock market losses and low interest rates, which increase plan shortfalls.
Adams reported from Miami.
