American families are struggling, and Congress needs to address some structural problems with the economy to avoid another painful recession.  The House, Senate, and Trump administration are embarking on another negotiation to pass a near $1-trillion package in response to the coronavirus while wrapping up appropriations for the year.  They have an opportunity to tackle one issue that impacts many Americans worried that their future retirement is being sabotaged by the federal government.

Several House Republicans are urging leadership to address the multiemployer pension crisis in the end-of-year legislation to prevent a meltdown of these underfunded plans.  Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) signed a letter with several other House Republicans urging assistance to these pension plans in a coronavirus relief package.  "As Congress negotiates a forthcoming COVID-19 relief package, we must prioritize coming together in a bipartisan manner to pass a solution for multiemployer pensions at risk of insolvency.  Many pension plans are facing dire funding shortfalls and the federal backstop that ensures these plans will soon run dry, putting workers' livelihood and retirement at risk in the North Country and nationwide."  The coronavirus has made the problem worse and is accelerating the likelihood that these plans go bankrupt in the not too distant future.

Multiemployer pension plans need aid and structural reforms.  Saul Anuzis wrote in the Washington Times on June 20, 2020, "A multi-employer retirement plan is a retirement plan dependent on investment funds and the ability of a sponsor to contribute.  The Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) defines these plans as 'a collectively bargained plan maintained by more than one employer, usually within the same or related industries, and a labor union.'"  He pointed out that there are 1,400 impacted plans with about 10 million people participating in those pension plans.  These people are the truckers, retail employees, and workers in the service industries who are essential.  Many are working in dangerous circumstances with daily potential exposure to the coronavirus to continue supporting our economy in this time of crisis.  These same workers who are working so hard to keep the economy afloat worry every day that they will not have any retirement plan, because the federal backstop to these plans, the PBGC, is on the brink of bankruptcy.

Thirty-three House Republicans, including Rep. Stefanik, sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) arguing funding shortfalls as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and pre-existing shortfalls dictate that the congressional leadership's need to "prioritize the inclusion of measures that address the short-term crisis faxing retirees and the underling shortfalls of the PBGC."  They argue that failure to address this situation will make the problems worse.  In layman's terms, we should pay now to stave off a future, more expensive crisis.  They cite the work of Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to suggest structural improvements to plans and also reference the bipartisan nature of the issue evidenced by the multiple pieces of legislation passed by the House on the issue.

This is a great opportunity for Republicans in Congress to show the same working-class voters who saved the careers of Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) that they care about working-class voters, and they are putting our interests first.  While many Democrats are obsessing over defunding the police and the Green New Deal, Republicans can show that they care about the real issues and real people — the people who are delivering the food and services that keep the economy running during this time of need.  This effort on the part of the Republicans might make all the difference in Georgia, where the race for the seats of Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue is expected to be close.

Image: Robert M. Lavinsky.