ATR Urges Opposition to Sen. Isakson Pension Bailout

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Americans for Tax Reform today objected strongly to a pension bailout plan offered by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA).

The plan as written merely extends the time that pensions have to become fully funded under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).

While this may make sense in the context of comprehensive pension reform, as a stand-alone measure, this is merely a regulatory bailout.

Real pension reform must include the following provisions:

• Any plan which is severely underfunded must allow individual employees the option of rolling their accrued pension benefit into a defined contribution account such as an IRA or 401(k)-style plan
• Any plan covered under pension reform legislation such as this must mandate plan administrators/employers disclose the full status of their pension from their latest IRS Form 5500 on their websites
• No taxpayer dollars should be used to bail out a pension without even deeper fundamental pension reform

ATR urges all Senators to strongly object to this proposal as introduced. At the very least, a plan this comprehensive deserves a full and open debate, and an up or down vote.

For more information, please contact federal affairs manager Brian Johnson at bjohnson@atr.org or 202.785.0266.

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