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Email Story to a Friend July 1, 2006 Pension bill eludes Congress By JIM ABRAMS The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Congress falls short once again of achieving one of its prime goals: coming up with a bill to assure 44 million workers who depend on employer-based pension plans that they will get their promised retirement benefits. House and Senate negotiators originally set April 15 as their target for finding a compromise. When it eluded them, the new deadline became Memorial Day, and then Independence Day. But they left Friday on a week-long Fourth of July recess still apart on two big issues: How to make companies that have fallen behind on payments to their pension plans make them up without driving them to terminate the plans or declare bankruptcy. Whether to single out financially struggling airlines for special treatment. The Senate wants to give them up to 20 years to get back to full funding of their pension plans; House negotiators don't. "There's not much left to be resolved," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday after a House-Senate meeting. "The staff is going to work real hard over the Fourth of July break." Advertisement The two chambers passed their respective bills in late 2005, and talks on a compromise have gone on since March. At the prodding of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., negotiators have been meeting almost daily in recent weeks. But progress has been incremental. Lynn Dudley, vice president of the American Benefits Council, which represents companies with pension plans, said her organization was not overly concerned by the missed deadlines. "The truth of the matter is they've got to get this thing right. It's the bedrock of retirement security for millions of people," she said. The toughest issue has been working out a definition of what is an "at risk" company that would be required by the bill to increase contributions to its pension plan. Currently, company pension plans are underfunded by an estimated total of $450 billion. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. — the federal agency that insures private pension plans much like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. insures bank accounts — estimates that $100 billion of that is with companies with serious funding problems. The PBGC, which is self-funded from premiums, is itself burdened by a $22.8 billion deficit because it has had to take over the benefits obligations of companies that go bankrupt and terminate their plans. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations --> online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Entertainment Guide --> Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Casino Reviews Advertisements Advertisement