Last night, the U.S. House delivered a bipartisan vote to pass the Butch Lewis Act (H.R. 397), 264-169. This is a major step forward in our union’s multi-year effort to find a solution to the issues facing financially-distressed multiemployer pension plans. Cheers rang out from those watching in the House Gallery as the vote was announced. Impacted members and retirees from a number of unions, including our own, were part of the crowd.
Out of our three main local representatives, Lamb and Doyle both voted Yes. Reschenthaler voted No.
Thanks to all who called, emailed, or found some way to contact our representatives on this matter. No matter how your representative voted, your voice still matters.
From here, the bill moves to the Senate, where a new fight will unfold. Yesterday, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio reintroduced similar legislation (S. 2254), gaining the support of 26 other Senators who have cosponsored.
Update #1
As of 7/26/2019 - Senate Support for S.2254 - Click here for the official site.
There are 25 Democrats, 1 Independent, and 0 Republicans that are supporting this bill. Out of Pennsylvania's two Senators, Casey has already supported our cause. Toomey has not supported yet as of this date. If you live in the state of Pennsylvania, email Senator Pat Toomey and request his support ASAP. CLICK HERE FOR HIS EMAIL PAGE. Thanks you for doing your part. He has to act on this by our many contacts to his office.
Update #2
I wanted to share my email to our Senator that has not supported this bill yet. I will post his reply when available.
My email to Sen. Pat Toomey on 7/26/2019:
Help is needed and we look to your leadership to provide this help.
As a proud steelworker in the city of Pittsburgh, I'm asking that you'd support S.2254 - Rehabilitation for Multi-Employer Pensions.
We, the middle class workers that pay taxes, have seen our tax money bail out various organizations throughout the years.
By no fault of our own, we need assistance. Not as a bailout, but as a backstop to protect our pensions.
As this measure was being debated in the Ways and Means committee, I was there in person to hear the different sides. Something needs to be done. If you are inclined to vote no on this, as a responsible leader, please present an alternative measure ASAP. This is a very important issue that faces many hard working Americans. No effort on this matter from your office is not what we deserve. Something needs to be done.
Please be aware that the response will be shared with my coworkers at my steel mill and published on our website.
We all are looking forward to your response.
Thanks for your time.
Update #3
Senator Toomey's Reply:
Dear Derick,
Thank you for contacting me about multiemployer pension plans. I appreciate knowing your thoughts on this issue.
There are many serious issues facing multiemployer benefit plans and pension plans in general. I understand your concerns about the future of these programs. As you may know, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (Public Law No: 115-123) established a 16-person bicameral, bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans to produce legislative recommendations on this topic by November 30, 2018. Even though the deadline has passed, members of the committee have stated they will continue their work to address these important issues.
On a related matter, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's Multiemployer Insurance Program as currently structured faces insolvency by the end of 2025, which would adversely affect nearly ten million multiemployer defined benefit plan participants. Moving forward, I will be working with my colleagues both on the Senate Finance Committee and in the Senate as a whole to find ways to address these serious challenges.
Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator, Pennsylvania
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THE HOUSE VOTE
| AYES | NOES | PRES | NV | |
| DEMOCRATIC | 235 | |||
| REPUBLICAN | 29 | 168 | ||
| INDEPENDENT | 1 | |||
| TOTALS | 264 | 169 | |
---- AYES 264 ---
| Adams Aguilar Allred Axne Bacon Barragán Bass Beatty Bera Bergman Beyer Bishop (GA) Blumenauer Blunt Rochester Bonamici Bost Boyle, Brendan F. Brindisi Brooks (IN) Brown (MD) Brownley (CA) Burchett Bustos Butterfield Carbajal Cárdenas Carson (IN) Cartwright Case Casten (IL) Castor (FL) Castro (TX) Chu, Judy Cicilline Cisneros Clark (MA) Clarke (NY) Clay Cleaver Clyburn Cohen Collins (NY) Connolly Cook Cooper Correa Costa Courtney Cox (CA) Craig Crist Crow Cuellar Cummings Cunningham Davids (KS) Davis (CA) Davis, Danny K. Davis, Rodney Dean DeFazio DeGette DeLauro DelBene Delgado Demings DeSaulnier Deutch Dingell Doggett Doyle, Michael F. Duffy Engel Escobar Eshoo Espaillat Evans Finkenauer Fitzpatrick Fletcher Fortenberry Foster Frankel Fudge Gabbard Gallego Garamendi García (IL) | Garcia (TX) Gibbs Golden Gomez Gonzalez (TX) Gottheimer Green, Al (TX) Griffith Grijalva Haaland Harder (CA) Hartzler Hastings Hayes Heck Higgins (NY) Hill (CA) Himes Horn, Kendra S. Horsford Houlahan Hoyer Huffman Huizenga Hurd (TX) Jackson Lee Jayapal Jeffries Johnson (GA) Johnson (TX) Joyce (OH) Kaptur Katko Keating Kelly (IL) Kennedy Khanna Kildee Kilmer Kim Kind King (NY) Kinzinger Kirkpatrick Krishnamoorthi Kuster (NH) Lamb Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Lawrence Lawson (FL) Lee (CA) Lee (NV) Levin (CA) Levin (MI) Lewis Lieu, Ted Lipinski Loebsack Lofgren Lowenthal Lowey Luján Luria Lynch Malinowski Maloney, Carolyn B. Maloney, Sean Matsui McAdams McBath McCollum McEachin McGovern McKinley McNerney Meeks Meng Moore Morelle Moulton Mucarsel-Powell Murphy Nadler Napolitano Neal Neguse | Norcross O'Halleran Ocasio-Cortez Omar Pallone Panetta Pappas Pascrell Payne Pelosi Perlmutter Peters Peterson Phillips Pingree Pocan Porter Pressley Price (NC) Quigley Raskin Rice (NY) Richmond Rose (NY) Rouda Roybal-Allard Ruiz Ruppersberger Rush Ryan Sánchez Sarbanes Scanlon Schakowsky Schiff Schneider Schrader Schrier Scott (VA) Scott, David Serrano Sewell (AL) Shalala Sherman Sherrill Sires Slotkin Smith (NJ) Smith (WA) Soto Spanberger Speier Stanton Stauber Stevens Stivers Suozzi Swalwell (CA) Takano Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Titus Tlaib Tonko Torres (CA) Torres Small (NM) Trahan Trone Turner Underwood Van Drew Vargas Veasey Vela Velázquez Visclosky Walberg Wasserman Schultz Waters Watson Coleman Welch Wexton Wild Wilson (FL) Yarmuth Yoho Young Zeldin |
---- NOES 169 ---
| Abraham Aderholt Allen Amash Amodei Armstrong Arrington Babin Baird Balderson Banks Barr Biggs Bilirakis Bishop (UT) Brady Brooks (AL) Buchanan Buck Bucshon Budd Burgess Byrne Calvert Carter (GA) Carter (TX) Chabot Cheney Cline Cloud Cole Collins (GA) Comer Conaway Crawford Crenshaw Curtis Davidson (OH) DesJarlais Diaz-Balart Duncan Dunn Emmer Estes Ferguson Fleischmann Flores Foxx (NC) Fulcher Gaetz Gallagher Gianforte Gohmert Gonzalez (OH) Gooden Gosar Granger | Graves (GA) Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Green (TN) Grothman Guest Guthrie Hagedorn Harris Hern, Kevin Herrera Beutler Hice (GA) Higgins (LA) Hill (AR) Holding Hollingsworth Hudson Hunter Johnson (LA) Johnson (OH) Johnson (SD) Jordan Joyce (PA) Keller Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) King (IA) Kustoff (TN) LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Latta Lesko Long Loudermilk Lucas Luetkemeyer Marchant Marshall Massie Mast McCarthy McCaul McClintock McHenry Meadows Meuser Miller Mitchell Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Mullin Newhouse Norman Nunes Olson Palazzo | Palmer Pence Perry Posey Ratcliffe Reed Reschenthaler Rice (SC) Riggleman Roby Rodgers (WA) Roe, David P. Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rooney (FL) Rose, John W. Rouzer Roy Rutherford Scalise Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Shimkus Simpson Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smucker Spano Stefanik Steil Steube Stewart Taylor Thompson (PA) Thornberry Timmons Tipton Upton Wagner Walden Walker Walorski Waltz Watkins Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Williams Wilson (SC) Wittman Womack Woodall Wright |
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