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Part 5 Pension Reform: Legislative History of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 H6476 (2006)

handle is hein.tera/pnsrfm0005 and id is 1 raw text is: CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -HOUSE July 19, 2000 us win the Cold War, and several hot ones. In the process, they have helped open doors for democracy and torn down walls of oppression. We have an obligation to do anything and everything we can to defend our shores and protect our citizens. We must also show the same strength and support for our troops. I have introduced H.R. 4208, the Re- cruiting Retention and Reservist Pro- motion Act. This legislation focuses on three things: one, improvement for re- cruiting through expansion of junior ROTC, sea cadets, young Marines and civil air patrol youth programs; two, retention through enhanced bonus pay for lengthy and numerous deploy- ments; and, three, reservist promotion through tax credits and loans for busi- nesses that employ National Guards- men and reservists who are called to duty. I hope my colleagues will join me in cosponsoring 4208. To our friends who say we cannot agree and we argue over we cannot afford to have the best mili- tary, I would simply say we cannot af- ford not to. COMPREHENSIVE RETIREMENT SE- CURITY AND PENSION REFORM ACT Mr. REYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, by di- rection of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 557 and ask for its immediate consideration. The Clerk read the resolution, as fol- lows: H. RES. 557 Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without inter- vention of any point of order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 1102) to provide for pension reform, and for other purposes. The bill shall be considered as read for amend- ment. In lieu of the amendment rec- ommended by the Committee on Education and the Workforce now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the amendment rec- ommended by the Committee on Ways and Means now printed in H.R. 4843 shall be con- sidered as adopted. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate on the bill, as amended, equally divided and con- trolled by the chairman and ranking minor- ity member of the Committee on Ways and Means; (2) the amendment printed in the re- port of the Committee on Rules accom- panying this resolution, if offered by Rep- resentative Rangel or his designee, which shall be in order without intervention of any point of order, shall be considered as read, and shall be separately debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent; and (3) one mo- tion to recommit with or without instruc- tions. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. OSE). The gentleman from New York (Mr. REYNOLDS) is recognized for 1 hour. Mr. REYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield the cus- tomary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. SLAUGHTER), pend- ing which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of the resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. (Mr. REYNOLDS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks, and include extraneous material.) Mr. REYNOLDS. Mr. Speaker, last night the Committee on Rules met and granted a modified closed rule for H.R. 1102, the Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2000. The rule provides that in lieu of the amendment recommended by the Committee on Education and the Workforce now printed in the bill, the text of H.R. 4843 as reported by the Committee on Ways and Means shall be considered as adopted. Additionally, the rule waives all points of order against the bill and against consider- ation of the amendment printed in this report. The rule also provides 1 hour of de- bate equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means. The rule further provides for consid- eration of the amendment printed in the Committee on Rules report accom- panying the resolution, if offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. RANGEL) or his designee, which shall be considered as read and shall be sepa- rately debatable for 1 hour equally di- vided and controlled by a proponent and an opponent. Finally, the rule provides for one mo- tion to recommit with or without in- structions. Mr. Speaker, this is a completely fair rule for reform of our Nation's pension and retirement security laws. Not only is the underlying bill a completely bal- anced, bipartisan measure, but the rule also makes in order a minority sub- stitute amendment providing for a full hour for debate. In short, the rule al- lows for a comprehensive debate on this very important matter. Mr. Speaker, Americans are invest- ing far less than they should to prepare for their retirement. Half of all pri- vate-sector workers still have no pen- sion coverage. Over a fifth of small businesses with 25 or fewer employees offer a pension plan, and members of the baby boomers generation, 76 mil- lion of whom will retire in the next 15 years, have less than 40 percent of the savings needed to maintain their standard of living. In fact, retirement savings in the United States are at extremely low lev- els, even as our economy is reaching record highs. The reason Americans are saving less than they need for their re- tirement is simple, because the Federal Government has discouraged them from doing so. For too long the Federal Government has been an impediment to American workers planning and preparing for their retirement security. Mr. Speaker, contribution limits on pensions and IRAs have not kept with the times. In fact, they have been stuck at the 1980s level. Worse, over the past 2 decades Congress has actu- ally reduced contribution limits and, as a double hit on working Americans, the Federal Government at the same time introduced burdensome and costly regulatory restrictions on pension plans. The result, in 1987 there were 114,000 of these pension plans across America. Ten years later, there were only 45,000. Since 1990 pension coverage has declined from 40 to 33 percent among workers making less than $20,000; and despite a booming econ- omy, the personal savings rate has dropped every year since 1992 and is at its lowest point in 66years. The underlying bipartisan bill is a historic measure that will strengthen individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans and small business retirement plans, finally bringing retirement sav- ings into the 21st century and helping ensure retirement security of countless Americans. The Comprehensive Retirement Se- curity and Pension Reform Act allows working Americans to set more of their hard-earned money aside in an IRA or 401(k)-type plan, modernizes pension laws, and provides regulatory relief to encourage more small businesses to offer retirement plans. The bill increases the old IRA con- tribution limit from $2,000 to $5,000 over the next 3 years for both tradi- tional and Roth IRAs, and the bill in- cludes an important fairness provision to allow workers over 50years of age to catch up with contributions for 401(k) plans by increasing the contribution level immediately. This bipartisan measure will remove excessive, burdensome and unnecessary Federal regulations, providing relief to American businesses and workers by encouraging small businesses to offer pension plans. By removing these re- strictions, Americans will be allowed the freedom to invest in their future as never before. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1102 is a fair, bal- anced and bipartisan plan that will help millions of Americans. I would like to commend the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. ARCHER), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. RANGEL), for their hard work on this bill. Additionally, I would like to com- mend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. PORTMAN) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. CARDIN), the sponsors of the underlying legislation, for their dedication to pension and retirement reform for America. I urge my colleagues to support this fair rule, the underlying measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me the customary 30 min- utes and yield myself such time as I may consume. (Ms. SLAUGHTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.) H6476

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