BROWN MEETS WITH OHIO MINEWORKERS AS HE CONTINUES PUSH TO PROTECT PENSIONS, KEEP PROMISES TO OHIO WORKERS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today met with retired Ohio mineworkers in Washington as he continues his work to address the pension crisis threatening more than 60,000 Ohioans and 1.3 million workers and retirees nationwide. Brown also met with Ohio Mineworkers and Teamsters last month in Cambridge and has met with Ohio retirees throughout the state as he works to protect their pensions.

Miners had to fight for years to get Washington to keep the promises it made to workers. Before it was pensions, it was healthcare. You never gave up. You demanded the people elected to serve you listened to the people who powered this country,” said Brown. “Now, Congress has responsibility to protect the retirement workers earned after a lifetime of hard work. As co-chair of the committee tasked with saving these pensions, you can rest assured. I’m fighting for you, and we will continue this fight together.”

Brown secured the creation of a bipartisan House and Senate Joint Select Committee on Pensions as part of the overall budget compromise that passed earlier this year. Brown serves as committee Co-Chair. The creation of the Select Committee will force both Houses of Congress to consider Brown’s proposal and produce a bipartisan solution that can be voted into law. Earlier this year, Brown and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) hosted a field hearing of the Joint Pensions Committee in Columbus to hear from those affected by the crisis.

Brown has been fighting for a solution to the pension crisis for years and introduced the Butch Lewis Act, named for a retired Ohio Teamster from West Chester, who passed away while fighting against cuts to the retirement he and his fellow workers earned. The creation of the Select Committee will force both Houses of Congress to consider Brown’s proposal and produce a bipartisan solution that can be voted into law by the end of the year.

Numerous Ohio pension plans, including the massive Central States Teamsters Pension Plan, the United Mine Workers Pension Plan, the Ohio Southwest Carpenters Pension Plan and the Bakers and Confectioners Pension Plan are currently on the brink of failure. The Ironworkers Local 17 plan has already had to cut benefits. If nothing is done to the plans, they will fail and retirees will face massive cuts to the benefits they earned over decades of work.

If the plans are allowed to fail, not only will they no longer be able to pay promised benefits, but taxpayers would be at risk of having to pay billions because the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) would be on the hook for billions of dollars it cannot pay. PBGC is the arm of the federal government that insures pension plans. 

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