Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) applauded the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for approving the Central States Pension Fund’s application for financial assistance. The American Rescue Plan included Chairman Neal’s Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 to stabilize troubled plans, protect more than 1 million workers’ and retirees’ hard-earned savings, and prevent tens of thousands of businesses from shuttering. Under this program, Central States is the largest plan covered with pensioners in all 50 states.
“As the largest plan in need, today’s approval of Central States application is a major win for hundreds of thousands of pensioners and workers across the country,” Chairman Neal said. “The Butch Lewis provision of the American Rescue Plan Act saved multiemployer pension plans from insolvency and secured the financial futures of workers and retirees who have always played by the rules and made responsible savings decisions. With PBGC moving expeditiously, thousands of pensions have already been saved, and soon, Central States’ pensioners will have this same relief and peace of mind.
“President Biden is a proud pro-labor President, and I thank him, along with Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien and former Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa, for their leadership in making this bill the law of the land.”
The PBGC estimates that the law’s Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program will distribute between $74 billion to $91 billion to over 200 financially troubled plans that cover more than 3 million participants and beneficiaries. The PBGC has committed to make payments within 60 to 90 days of approving an application.
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