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<nobr>Oct 23, 2003</nobr>
Harkin Amendment Will Cause Serious Damage to Nation’s Voluntary Pension System
The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) today condemned the passage of an amendment offered by Senator Ton Harkin (D-IA) to the Transportation/Treasury Appropriations bill (H.R.2989) and approved by the Senate on a voice vote. The amendment prohibits Treasury from issuing age discrimination regulations affecting hybrid and other pension plans. The amendment will create further uncertainty regarding the rules surrounding hybrid pans as
well as traditional defined benefit plans.
“Today’s vote on the Harkin amendment is a serious blow to the nation’s pension system,” said Mark Ugoretz, president of ERIC. “If the amendment is allowed to become law, it will discourage all employers from making commitments to retirement security. At the end of the day, it will be employees who will suffer."
More than 400 major companies have adopted cash balance plans and other hybrid pension plans. These plans cover millions of employees and hold 40% of all defined benefit plan assets invested in the U.S. economy. Hybrid pension plans combine some of the best features of 401(k) plans and defined benefit plans.
Media availability for Mark Ugoretz or Janice Gregory will be available today after 4:30 p.m. to discuss the Harkin amendment and the benefit of hybrid plans to American workers.
Media Contact: Doug Baj, Director of Communications, ERISA Industry Committee, (202)789-1400, dbaj@eric.org.
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The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) is a non-profit association committed to the advancement of employee retirement, health, and welfare benefit plans of America's largest employers and represents exclusively the employee benefits interests of major employers. ERIC's members provide comprehensive retirement, health care coverage and other economic security benefits directly to some 25 million active and retired workers and their families. ERIC has a strong interest in proposals affecting its members' ability to deliver those benefits, their cost and their effectiveness, as well as the role of those benefits in the American economy.
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