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NDEA Executive Director Greg Burns listens as Pomeroy explains his new legislation to protect pensions and jobs in North Dakota.

Representatives from the REC's, Girl Scouts, NDEA, Super Value and Unisys were present for Pomeroy's news conference.

Pomeroy Introduces Bill to Protect Pensions and Jobs

Congressman Earl Pomeroy held a press conference in Bismarck on Monday, November 2, 2009, to announce the introduction of new legislation to help defined benefit pension plans weather the historic economic downturn.

"This will keep employers from having to lay off workers in order to fully fund their pension plans," he said, and help employers keep workers' pension plans active."

Pomeroy said a wide range of employers in North Dakota offer defined benefit pension plans for their employees, from businesses to rural electric cooperatives, the Girl Scouts and the North Dakota Education Association, all of whom will benefit from this legislation.

According to Pomeroy without help from Congress many employers face pension costs that are double, or more, of those in 2008, and will be forced to freeze their pensions or cut their workforce as a result.  The bipartisan bill recently introduced by Congressman Pomeroy will provide the relief necessary to restore pension plans to soundness over time and keep employers across North Dakota from having to make this untenable choice.

Representatives of Unisys Corporation, the Girl Scouts, and Super Valu also spoke and praised Pomeroy for his efforts on getting this legislation passed before the end of this year.

When introducing NDEA Executive Director Greg Burns, Pomeroy said Burns was an expert on pension plans in the NEA family, and that he was instrumental in the bill's longer, steady level amortization.  "Fifteen years of amortization might be the most important part of this bill," Pomeroy said.

Burns praised Pomeroy's legislation, known as the Pomeroy-Tiberi  (R-OH) Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act.  "Allowing these pension funds to go belly-up because of a once-in-a-century economic crash would further hamper, if not completely derail the economic recovery," he said.

According to Burns the legislation is an ingenious approach to maintaining these funds because:  the act calls for no additional funding; it provides defined benefit pensions without undoing any of the provisions of the PPA; and it allows these pension funds to recover simply by giving them the time to recover.

"Passage of this bill will mean that jobs will be saved, the fledgling economic recovery will continue, and that defined benefit pensions will continue to be a viable benefit for millions of American workers and their families, said Burns.