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Congressional Quarterly Chronology Report for Pension Bills in the 109th Congress

Target page provides listing of pension bills introduced in the 109th Congress and a link to a chart showing the progress of the bills.

Congressional Budget Office Estimates Retirement Plan Losses of $1 Trillion, or 10 Percent of Assets, Over Four Quarters

Excerpt: It notes that Federal Reserve data suggest the decline in the value of financial assets cost pension funds roughly $1 trillion -- almost 10 percent of their assets -- from the second quarter of 2007 to the second quarter of 2008, the latest period for which data are available. Given the significant further drop in asset prices since the end of the second quarter, 'it is plausible that the cumulative decline in pension assets over the past year and a half amounts to about $2 trillion,' says CBO director Peter Orszag in a blog detailing his Tuesday testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Senators Propose Health Insurance Premium Costs Disclosure Bill

Excerpt: A group of bipartisan senators proposed legislation Tuesday that would compel employers to tell employees what their health insurance costs -- a step, the senators said, toward getting a handle on the spiraling cost of medical care. The senators said in a statement that they were seeking public comment on the proposal. With Congress adjourned and unlikely to return for any significant amount of time this year, the legislation won't be seriously debated until next year.

Study Shows Health Insurance Sales Across State Lines Would Reduce Uninsured

Excerpt: A study evaluating different scenarios that would allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines found that 12 million previously uninsured people would be able to get insurance if there were competition between states. The study was presented during an American Enterprise Institute panel discussion on interstate competition for individual insurance as a way to increase access to the uninsured.

Surprising Lessons on Health Care Reform from Small Island of Taiwan

Excerpt: In the middle of May, two Taiwanese officials, Hou Sheng-Mou and Michael S. Chen, came to Washington facing a tough assignment: promote single payer health care in a city where it's widely regarded as a non-starter in the debate over revamping the U.S. system. Their visit didn't command much attention from reporters covering that debate; countries like the Netherlands or Switzerland that have universal coverage based on strong private health care systems loom larger as potential models for a U.S. overhaul.

Senate Aviation Policy Debate Begins With Scrap Over Airline Pension Benefits

Excerpt: Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., and Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison were trying to delete a provision in the Senate bill that would prohibit airlines from continuing to count past contributions when calculating compliance with a requirement to fund defined-benefit plans at 80 percent of their future payout obligations.

States' Employee Benefit Liabilities Continue to Outpace Revenue Growth

Excerpt: Clearly, we need to adjust the normal retirement age for increased life expectancy. Then public employees and employers will both have more years to contribute to their retirement plans, thus increasing the plans' assets and reducing their liabilities.

The President's Budget and The Challenge of Universal Coverage

Excerpt: President Obama's budget demonstrates how difficult it will be to build a sustainable, effective, and safe health care program for all Americans. His ten-year $634-billion plan for funding health care reform depends on 'asking the wealthy to pitch in a bit more' (budget director Peter Orszag's happy phrase), wringing some of the waste out of Medicare and Medicaid (cuts that are needed, but that will not be popular ); and strong-arming drug makers to raise discounts on Medicare drugs from 15 percent to 21 percent. About half of the money will come from changes in government programs, half from tax increases. As the Congressional Quarterly reports, 'the new proposals for tax hikes on couples earning over $250,000 'will immediately test the limits of the new political dynamic on Capitol Hill in the midst of a recession.' And even then, the budget provides only a 'down payment' on health care reform-- roughly half to two-thirds of what is likely to be needed to cover everyone.

About Those April 15 Quarterlies

Excerpt: Congressional conferees working toward compromise pension reform legislation had originally aimed toward having a bill ready before the end of this month, hoping to have House and Senate votes within the first week of April, the idea being that enactment could come in time to settle some uncertainty over quarterly contributions due for pension plans on April 15.

CRS Report: No Surprises Act Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) Process Data Analysis for the First Half of 2023 (PDF)

20 pages. "On February 15, 2024, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury released the first two public-use files (PUFs), which contain data from the first two quarters of IDR operations in calendar year 2023. The Departments also published certain federal IDR supplemental tables that summarize the relevant data to provide additional transparency. This report provides an overview and analysis of the data contained in the PUFs and supplemental tables." [R48058 May 2, 2024]