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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 126
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Pension Protection Act
15 December 2005
2005 Ron Paul 126:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, while H.R. 2830, the Pension Protection Act of 2005, is not perfect,
it does decrease the risk that employees
will be deprived of pension benefits they were
promised as part of their employment contracts.
H.R. 2830 also decreases the likelihood
that American taxpayers will be forced to bailout
private pensions, and reduces the tax burden
on American workers to provide them with
greater incentives and opportunities to save
for their own retirements. Therefore, I will vote
for this bill on final passage.
2005 Ron Paul 126:2
However, I oppose this rule, because I do not like the process under which this bill is
being brought to the floor. The rule before us
today does not allow any member to offer, or
vote on, amendments that may improve this
bill. In particular, I was hoping to vote on an
amendment protecting United Airline retirees
from having their pension benefits reduced or
terminated even though United expects to
make $1 billion in profit within 1 year of being
discharged from bankruptcy. The Senate
version of the bill does address same problems
of the airline industry. However it fails to
protect United Airlines retirees. The Federal
Government should not facilitate a large companies
getting out of its contractual obligations
to their retired workers. I, therefore, urge my
colleagues to protect the pensions of retired
United Airline employees by rejecting this rule
and voting for a rule that allows us to consider
adding, language helping the United Airline retirees
to the bill. If this rule does pass, I urge
my colleagues to move the process foreword
by voting for the bill and working to add language
protecting the United Airline pilots to
the bill when it goes to conference with the
Senate.
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