Excerpt:
Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a massive taxpayer bailout of private sector multiemployer defined benefit pension plans, or MEPs, as part of a budget reconciliation package that is purportedly meant to deal with COVID-19. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders claims MEPs are underfunded because “of the greed on Wall Street.” But MEPs are troubled because of mismanagement, not because of COVID-19 or Wall Street.
MEPs are jointly sponsored by a union and companies employing members of that union. It is not clear why taxpayers, who had no role in making these pension promises, should be funding them.
The proposal would saddle taxpayers with unfunded pension promises made by eligible MEPs, which are underfunded by more than $100 billion, while providing perverse incentives for other MEPs to subsequently qualify. This would be extremely expensive as MEPs are already underfunded by $673 billion as of 2017 (a funding ratio of 42%).
Author(s): Aharon Friedman
Publication Date: 15 February 2021
Publication Site: Washington Examiner