Bureau of National Affairs, January 15, 2009

Mike Wyand reports on Rep Earl Pomeroy’s remarks on what needs to be done to address defined benefit pension plan funding. He added that he is looking for opportunities to do so in the economic stimulus package currently under consideration in Congress.

“If not the stimulus package, then something else in the months ahead,” Pomeroy, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a central figure on pension legislation issues, said at a National Institute on Retirement Security teleconference.

NIRS released its survey study, Pensions and Retirement Security: A Roadmap for Policy Makers, which found widespread retirement insecurity among Americans and strong support for government action to ease the way for employers to offer pensions. Defined benefit pension funding continues to be a “compelling issue that Congress cannot back away from,” Pomeroy said.