Portman stands with Ohio retirees, continues push to reform pension system
On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) continued to push for the Senate to pass his Pension Accountability Act. At a Finance Hearing on “The Multiemployer Pension Plan System: Recent Reforms and Current Challenges,” Portman spoke with Ohio pensioners who face pension cuts.
Portman’s legislation will protect 48,000 Ohioans from having their hard-earned pensions cut with no say in the process. His bill aims to give workers and retirees a voice when a looming multi-employer pension bankruptcy requires major pension reforms.
[[In-content Ad]]
“If there were hundreds of thousands of Social Security beneficiaries getting their retirement benefits cut by as much as 70 percent there would be a national outrage,” Portman said. “These teamsters played by the rules … did exactly what they were told to do and worked long hours and many years with the expectation [their pensions] would be there … We need to work together and figure this out.”
The Pension Accountability Act improves the Multi-employer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) in two ways:
· First, for struggling pension plans seeking cuts, it will make the participant vote binding in all situations. This will give the workers and retirees a seat at the table to influence the solvency reforms. Their majority vote will be required for any pension cuts to occur.
· Second, it will make this vote fair by counting only the ballots that are returned. Unreturned ballots will no longer be counted as a “yes” vote.