|
|
House Leader Says Pension Bill Stalled
By Richard Cowan, Reuters
March 30, 2006
A final version of a U.S. pension reform bill is stalled and unlikely to be completed before Congress leaves for a two-week spring recess, U.S. House Majority Leader John Boehner said on Thursday.
"I do expect that when we return after the Easter recess we'll probably have a better shot," Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters.
Boehner did not say what the disagreements were between House and Senate negotiators who are trying to prepare a final bill to bolster the creaking U.S. pension system that will not add to the problems of troubled old-line industries such as autos, steel and airlines.
As recently as Tuesday, Boehner had said he hoped the pension bill would be completed before the congressional recess, which begins at the end of next week.
However, a private meeting of key Republican negotiators late Tuesday failed to resolve whether to make companies with poor credit ratings -- such as two of the Big Three U.S. automakers -- put more money in their pension plans.
General Motors (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research), both of which have had their debt ratings cut to "junk status," would be hurt by the stricter treatment of companies with poor credit ratings that was in the pension bill passed by the Senate.
A third of the Senate last week urged negotiators to scrap the credit rating provision, saying it could "further push troubled companies toward bankruptcy."
"Congress has put this off far too long," Boehner said. "Having spent the last six or seven years trying to bring about responsible pension reform legislation, I now know why Congress put it off so long. It is very, very difficult."
The White House favors making companies put considerably more money into traditional pension plans once they get a bad credit rating.
With traditional "defined benefit" pensions as a group underfunded by some $450 billion, the Bush administration considers a bad credit rating a sign that the company may be on the road to bankruptcy. Some bankrupt companies have shifted their underfunded pension plans into the deficit-laden federal agency that insures them.
|
|
