Pension Rally in Columbus, Ohio Draws Attention to Plans on the Brink of Failing Retirees and workers rallied in Columbus, Ohio yesterday to bring attention to the growing pension crisis. About 130 multiemployer pension plans covering 1.3 million people, are projected to reach insolvency within the next twenty years. Without Congressional action, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) insurance trust fund for multiemployer pension plans will be insolvent by 2025. Numerous pension funds are on the brink of failure, faced with large retiree populations
and are paid in significantly full. The fewer Bipartisan workers Budget Act paying into in February the system. 2018 created Fiesta with AFT retiree and Illinois Alliance member Bea Lumpkin When a plan Left: RichRight: a 16AFT President, Randi Weingarten addresses attendees. faces member insolvency, retirees could see bipartisan panel of Congress to massive cuts to the earned address the solvency of multibenefits they rely on to maintain employer pension plans and the their finances. PBGC, and it must report back Congress has created a special to Congress by November 2018. bipartisan committee tasked The rally preceded the with finding a solution to the committee’s field hearing, pension crisis and ensuring occurring today in Columbus, workers’ hard-earned benefits where members of Congress
will hear direct ly from affected retirees. “It is critical that Congress acts sooner rather than later,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “Retirees have put in a lifetime of hard work and earned these benefits, and it is time for Congress to step up and protect what has been promised.” Take Action! Call 888-9799806 and tell members of the Joint Select Committee on Solvency and Multiemployer Pension Plans that it’s time to protect pensions.
Sen. Rubio Proposes Eroding Social Security by Allowing it to be Used for Family Leave Sen. Marco Rubio (FL) will introduce legislation that would supposedly create national paid parental leave, but in fact would mean cuts in future earned Social Security benefits. While the United States is the only developed nation that does not offer paid leave, Sen. Rubio’s plan forces families to choose between caring for a new child and risking their financial security in retirement. The proposal would allow parents of newborns or newly adopted children to take twelve weeks from their Social Security benefits early, later reducing or delaying that person’s benefits at retirement age to make up the difference. Retirees would have
to delay their Social Security benefits by approximately twenty five weeks per each paid leave, more than twice as long as the initial time off. Carrie Lukas of the Koch brothers’ funded group Independent Women's Forum developed the plan on which Rubio's bill is modeled. Lukas specifically said that the plan will speed the privatization of Social Security by changing public perception of the system from a social insurance program to a system of personal accounts -- and make it easier to raise the retirement age. She wrote, "Once people become used to
the ideal of people opting to push back their retirement age, it may become less difficult to gradually raise the normal retirement age to reflect increases in longevity." The legislation would also harm the long-term financial outlook for Social Security. A recent study by the right-leaning American Action Forum found that Rubio’s legislation would cause the program to face a shortfall at least least six months sooner than it otherwise would. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) has introduced broader legislation gr anting paid leave to new parents and workers
taking time off to care for a sick family member. Sen. Gillibrand’s proposal would have both Joseph Peters, Jr. workers and employers pay into a newly created fund that reaches every worker regardless of their job or industry. “Sen. Rubio’s plan will have a long term negative effect on both workers and retirees,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secr etaryTreasurer of the Alliance. “We must not force workers to choose between their financial security when starting and adding to a family or later in life.”
Center for Medicare Advocacy Statement on the Nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh
The Center for Medicare Advocacy adds our voice to those concerned about the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. As a public interest law organization committed to fair access to quality health care, equal rights for all as we age, and due
process, the Center has serious reservations about this nomination. Judge Kavanaugh’s lengthy record on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals does not bode well for the millions of families who rely on critical health care programs and our Constitutional form of government. For example, in Seven-Sky v. Holder, 661 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2011), Judge Kavanaugh
dissented in a 2-1 decision that affirmed the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, maintaining that the challenge against the Act could not be heard before the individual mandate’s tax penalties took effect. Just as concerning, Judge Kavanaugh stated in his decision, “the President may decline to enforce a statute that regulates private individuals when the President deems the
statute unconstitutional, even if a court has held or would hold the statute constitutional.” 661 F.3d at 50 n.43. This statement raises serious concerns about Judge Kavanaugh’s commitment to ensuring the judiciary continues to serve as an equal branch of government to the executive branch, and as a check and balance to the President. ...Read More
Rhode Island Alliance for Retired Americans, Inc. • 94 Cleveland Street • North Providence, RI • 02904-3525 • 401-480-8381 riarajap@hotmail.com • http://www.facebook.com/groups/354516807278/