ICYMI: To Date, Congressional Democrats Saved Pensions of More Than 156,000 Americans, Protected Nearly 800 Businesses

Press Release

To date, the American Rescue Plan has saved the pensions of 156,759 Americans and protected 785 businesses from being at-risk of closing their doors.

The multiemployer pension crisis threatened to strip more than a million retirees of the pensions they earned over a lifetime of work, jeopardized tens of thousands of businesses and endangered tens of thousands of jobs.

In response, the American Rescue Plan Act created a Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program to avert the immediate crisis threatening the retirement security of American workers, retirees, and their families. This solution was supported by a diverse group of stakeholders, including the AFL-CIO, AARP, the United States Chamber of Commerce, UPS and scores of other employers who participate in multiemployer plans.

To date, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has approved 33 applications from plans based in 11 states and the District of Columbia--with more applications to be approved in the coming months--that were either already insolvent or projected to run out of money in the near future.

"For years, workers, retirees, businesses, and taxpayers have been waiting for Congress to enact a solution to the multiemployer pension crisis," said Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03). "Congressional Democrats and President Biden delivered a historic victory that is keeping the promises made to retirees, saving businesses from going under, and shielding taxpayers from the even greater cost of a multiemployer pension collapse."

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