Murray Provision Addressing Multiemployer Pension Crisis, Protecting Workers and Retirees From Benefit Cuts, Passes In American Rescue Plan

The Senate passed the American Rescue Plan which includes the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act (BLEPPRA)

The legislation provides financial support to struggling multiemployer pension plans to ensure workers and retirees don’t have the benefits they rely on cut

Bill would support at least 185 pension plans, covering millions of people—including at least 180,000 people in Washington state

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement on the inclusion of the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act (BLEPPRA) in the American Rescue Plan.

“The last thing any family needs right now is more uncertainty, which is why support for struggling pension plans is so important. We can’t let the multiemployer pension crisis, which is being accelerated by the economic fallout of this pandemic, pull the rug out from under millions of workers and retirees and leave them without the benefits they earned and planned their futures around. The American Rescue Plan would solve this problem in a way that shores up struggling pension plans, keeps healthy ones intact, puts the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation on stronger financial footing, and—most importantly—ensures people don’t face cuts to the benefits they are depending on.”

Senator Murray has repeatedly pressed for Congress to address the multiemployer pension crisis, particularly in light of the pandemic, and fought to ensure the inclusion of BLEPPRA in the American Relief Plan. The legislation, which will benefit at least 185 pension plans covering millions of people, shores up the multiemployer pension system and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to ensure workers and retirees will be paid the full benefits they earned for decades to come.

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