A provision in the big bill relating to financially failing multi – employer pension plans would allow cuts for current retirees, and supporters said it was part of an effort to prevent a slow – motion collapse of a system that provides retirement income to millions.
“The multi – employer pension system is a ticking time bomb,: said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who negotiated the agreement privately with Democratic Rep. George Miller of California, who is retiring after 40 years in Congress.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. estimates that the fund that backs multi – employer plans is about $42.4 billion short of the money needed to cover benefits for plans the have failed or will fail.
Miller said the legislation would give retirees the right to vote in advance whether to enter a restructuring that could cut their benefits. He, Kline and others said the alternative to the legislation might be an even deeper reduction in benefits.
The legislation drew a mixed reaction from unions and the opposition of the AARP. But the White House written statement on the legislation did not mention it as a concern.
The White House did raise objections to a provision that would roll back one of the regulations imposed on the financial industry after the economic near – collapse of 2008, and to a separate element of the bill that would permit wealthy contributors to increase the size of their donations to political parties for national conventions, election recounts of the construction of a headquarters building.
Democrats cited the same issues, but Boehner on Wednesday rejected their request to jettison either or both of the provisions. Republicans noted that 70 members of the Democratic rank and file supported easing the bank regulations on a stand – alone vote in October of last year.
Remarkably, there was relatively little controversy about the spending levels themselves that form the heart of the bill.