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EBSA Testimony on Retirement Security Issues Before U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Excerpt: The Department believes it is important to educate participants about saving for a secure retirement and has a dedicated education campaign that uses publications, online tools, videos, public service announcements, and outreach as methods to provide the information to both workers and employers.

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Letter from Chairman of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee to Stakeholders on the Future of Health Insurance Costs (PDF)

"Given Democrats' attitude, I know of nothing that Republicans and Democrats can agree on to stabilize the individual health insurance market.... So now efforts to help Americans paying skyrocketing premiums will turn to the Trump Administration and the states. And our committee's efforts will turn to other pressing health care issues including opioids, overall health care costs, electronic health care records, [and] prescription drug prices[.]."  MORE >>

Coalition Letter to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Hybrid DB Plans (PDF)

2 pages. Excerpt: The undersigned organizations ...believe that the best way to protect pensions for future retirees and working Americans is for Congress to address the status of hybrid defined benefit plans (cash balance and pension equity plans). In order to preserve the retirementsecurity of millions of Americans and the solvency of the Pension BenefitGuaranty Corporation, it is essential that Congress comprehensively clarify that the design of hybrid plans is not age discriminatory.

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Senate HELP Committee Votes to Approve Nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Secretary of Labor

"Today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted to favorably report the nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor by a vote of 14 to 9. Her nomination will now move to the Senate floor for a final vote at a later date."  MORE >>

Testimony of Phyllis C. Borzi, Asst Secretary of Labor, EBSA, before House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, July 26, 2011

[A]s we further develop our thinking in this rulemaking, we are paying special attention to the two primary exceptions to fiduciary status under the proposed rule: (1) clarifying the difference between investment education that does not give rise to fiduciary status and fiduciary investment advice; and (2) clarifying the scope of the so-called 'sellers' exception' under which sales activity is not fiduciary advice.

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U.S. Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Restricting Advice and Education: DOL's Unworkable Investment Proposal for American Families and Retirees

Hearing held July 21, 2015. Includes video and links to written testimony by [1] Thomas Perez, Secretary of Labor; [2] Robert Litan, Non-resident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution; [3] Peter Schneider, President, Primerica Inc.; [4] Darlene Miller, President and CEO, PERMAC Industries; and [5] Scott Puritz, Managing Director, Rebalance IRA.

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Senate Committee Confirms Secretary of Labor Nominee

"R. Alexander Acosta was confirmed as Secretary of Labor by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on [March 30]. The committee voted 12-11 along party lines; a full Senate vote is expected soon."  MORE >>

U.S. Senate HELP Committee Hearing to Address Retirement Crisis

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, will convene a hearing on July 12 at 2:30 p.m. to examine the role pensions play in building a strong and vibrant middle class as well as stimulating the economy and fueling job creation.

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Education and Labor Committee Health Information Technology Amendment to H.R. 3200 (PDF)

2 pages. SEC. 156. Increasing Meaningful Use Of Electronic Health Records.

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Education and Labor Committee Report of the 401(k) Fair Disclosure and Pension Security Act, H.R. 2989 (PDF)

104 pages. Excerpt: The Committee on Education and Labor, to whom was referred the bill (H.R. 2989) to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide special reporting and disclosure rules for individual account plans and to provide a minimum investment option requirement for such plans, to amend such Act to provide for independent investment advice for participants and beneficiaries under individual account plans, and to amend such Act and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide transitional relief under certain pension funding rules added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do pass.

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Video and Transcript of Senate HELP Committee's Roundtable Discussion: 'Pension Modernization for a 21st Century Workforce'

2 hours, 34 minutes. Witnesses included Aliya Wong, Executive Director of Retirement Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Susan L. Breen-Held, Consulting Actuary, Principal Financial; Richard Hudson, Consulting Actuary, Cheiron; Karen Friedman, Retirement USA; John Adler, Retirement Security Campaign Director, SEIU; Andrew G. Biggs, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute; and David Madland, Director of the American Worker Project, Center for American Progress.

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Senate HELP Committee Hearing on Making Health Care Affordable Again: Healing a Broken System

December 3 hearing.  Video and testimony from witnesses [1] Joel White, Council for Affordable Health Coverage; [2] Marcie Strouse, Capitol Benefits Group; and [3] Claudia M. Fegan, MD, Physicians for a National Health Program.  MORE >>

Senate HELP Committee to Hold Hearing on Retirement Crisis Facing Working Class Americans

"The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee ... will hold a hearing on Wednesday, February 28 at 10:00 a.m. ET titled, 'Taking a Serious Look at the Retirement Crisis in America: What can we do to expand defined benefit pension plans for workers?' " [The hearing will be livestreamed on the Committee's website.]  MORE >>

House Education & Labor Committee Releases Tracker of ARPA Special Financial Assistance Applications

"[T]he House Committee on Education and Labor unveiled a new Multiemployer Pension Rescue Tracker to highlight the hard-earned pensions saved and businesses protected under [ARPA] ... To date, the [PBGC] has approved five applications from plans based in New York, New Jersey, and Oregon that were either already insolvent or projected to run out of money this year. As of today, the SFA program has saved 8,088 pensions and protected an estimated 170 businesses[.]"  MORE >>

Multiemployer Pension Reform Bill Approved by House Education and Labor Committee

"Also known as the Butch Lewis Act, H.R. 397 would establish the Pension Rehabilitation Administration and a related trust fund within the Treasury Department to make loans to multiemployer plans in critical and declining status that are approved by Treasury to reduce benefits, or to plans that are already insolvent but not terminated."  MORE >>

Group Letter to House Education and Labor Committee on Needed Pension Funding Reform (PDF)

3 pages. Excerpt: On behalf of the thousands of employers that we represent and their millions of employees, the undersigned organizations urge you to consider legislation that would help companies navigate the current economic crisis while minimizing adverse impacts on the pension benefit plans they sponsor.  MORE >>

Text of Senate HELP Committee Report on 30-Year Treasury Rate Replacement Legislation (PDF)

18 pages; 1/9/04. Excerpt: The Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, reported an original bill (S. 2005) to temporarily replace the use by pension plans of the 30-year treasury bond rate with a composite corporate rate, and to establish a commission on defined benefit plans, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.  MORE >>

Senate Health Committee Republicans Request Details on FDA's Promotion of ACA

"The senators wrote: 'We are writing to ask why and under what authority the [FDA] is using its time and resources to enroll Americans in health insurance marketplaces created by the new health care law.... The e-mail alerts your agency sends to the public should reflect your agency's actual statutory mission to assure the safety of food, drugs, and medical devices. The upcoming enrollment period and insurance coverage availability under the new law appear to be outside of your agency's mission to approve and regulate lifesaving medical products in a timely manner and keeping our food supply safe."  MORE >>

Senate HELP Committee Hearing: Lower Health Care Costs Act

June 18 hearing on Draft Bill. Page includes video of hearing along with links to testimony by: [1] Sean Cavanaugh, Aledade; [2] Benedic N. Ippolito, American Enterprise Institute; [3] Elizabeth Mitchell, Pacific Business Group on Health; [4] Tom Nickels, American Hospital Association; [5] Frederick Isasi, Families USA; [6] Marilyn Bartlett, Office of the Montana State Auditor.

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Senate Committee Hearing: How Primary Care Affects Health Care Costs and Outcomes

Feb. 5, 2019. Includes video and written testimony by: [1] Joshua J. Umbehr, M.D., Atlas MD; [2] Sapna Kripalani, M.D., Vanderbilt University Medical Center; [3] Katherine Bennett, M.D., University of Washington School of Medicine; [4] Tracy Watts, Mercer.

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