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By Susan J. White, Legislative Counsel

As voters prepare for another election cycle, Congress will begin to slow down and so that members can return to their states and districts to campaign. This year’s election year politics have already begun with the Democrats feeling that they have a legitimate chance to take over at least one, if not both, chambers of Congress. This has led to a general slowdown in Congress as many members are fighting for there jobs and are concerned about being held accountable for anything that may or may not pass in this session of Congress.

HR 2830
The pension bill has been in conference since March 8 with no end in site. Last week Majority Leader John Boehner set a final deadline of the July 4 recess for finishing the conference. However he declined to say what the penalty might be for missing this self-imposed deadline. Previous self-imposed deadlines, including April 15 and Memorial Day, did not carry any threats with them; there was just hope that a bill would pass by those dates. In the Senate, Majority Leader Frist has set an even tighter schedule and has called for the conference report to be passed by June 30. This would require that the Conference end by June 20 to allow the staffers to draft the final conference report. In order to achieve this goal Senator Frist is having daily meetings with the Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate to encourage the conferees to meet the deadline.

Other members of the Conference have made their displeasure known as well. Members and staffers have complained about how often meetings are rescheduled and about the general lack of organization. Senator Enzi (R-WY), Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension stated that the reason the Conference has been moving at such a slow pace; is due to the complexity of the bill. As long as people keep talking, Enzi claims, the bill is moving forward.

Both the Senate and House versions of the bill contain provisions that would force companies to better fund pension plans, change the way plan liabilities are measured by their sponsors, and give the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) more stability. Key sticking points have included whether to force “at-risk” companies to increase funding to their plans, the treatment of cash-balance plans, and rules for multi-employer pension plans. An unrelated package of tax break extensions that is expected to be attached to the legislation has further complicated matters.

National Retirement Savings Week
NAGDCA has proposed a Senate Resolution to endorse a National Retirement Savings Week focusing nationwide on all workers saving for retirement and is working with key Senators’ offices to ensure passage of such a resolution before the August congressional recess. (See NAGDCA website for copies of NAGDCA letter on a National Retirement Savings Week).

NAGDCA, in conjunction with its industry members is making the case that, while people are saving less for retirement, individual responsibility for retirement is taking on a growing importance. Participation rates in state and local government defined contribution plans, which are available in all fifty states, average between 30 and 40 percent of eligible employees. At the same time that employees are not taking part in these plans, they are playing a larger role than they have in the past.

The goal is to increase awareness and ensure events throughout the country aimed at workers and retirees, that are sponsored by both the public and private sector; including, public relations spots; classes focusing on specific populations, such as women and sessions on retirement and budgeting—with all of the events taking place in a single week.

Summary
Although the pension legislation appears to be bottled up at this point in the congressional session, there is still time for the bill to get completed before the end of the year. There is talk in Washington that Congress will come back in a “Lame Duck Session”—after the election and that the legislation could be finalized at that point.

If Congress does decide to take up a resolution to authorize a Savings for Retirement, it could pass this summer, as it would not be required to go through the complicated legislative process that the pension bill has been subjected to.