§1001a Additional Congressional Findings and Declaration of Policy

Summary

Congress finds that multiemployer pension plans affect interstate commerce and the national interest. They helped grow private pension coverage over the past 30 years and directly affect the financial security of millions of workers, retirees, and their families. When employers leave these plans, the employers who stay often face much higher costs, and that problem gets worse in shrinking industries. Congress wants to change the plan termination insurance rules so people are more likely to keep their benefits. It prefers replacing the old insurance with an insolvency-based program that focuses on keeping plans going, improving plan finances, and limiting costs. The goals are to support interstate commerce, make it easier to keep and grow these plans, protect people in troubled plans, and create a self-sustaining benefit guarantee program.