WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a speech before the International Foundation Of Employee Benefit Plans, House Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH) today faulted Senate Democrat leaders for failing to take action on bipartisan pension reforms passed by the House and backed by President Bush that would help to protect workers' retirement savings from future Enron-style collapses. In April, the House passed the Pension Security Act to give workers new freedoms to diversify their company stock, hold company insiders accountable, enhance worker notice of blackout periods, and expand worker access to quality investment advice. To date, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has refused to consider the legislation.

     “The House has responded quickly and decisively to restore worker confidence in the nation’s pension system,” Boehner said in the speech today. “In early April, after an ambitious schedule of hearings in my own committee and other congressional panels to investigate Enron’s 401(k) plan and the actions of it executives, the House passed the Pension Security Act, bipartisan legislation that could have made a real difference for Enron’s workers. These are not cosmetic changes, but rather long overdue reforms that result from outdated pension laws that don’t protect or empower today’s workers.”

     “President Bush is eager to sign this legislation into law. But instead of going to the White House and gathering the President’s signature, it’s sitting over in the Senate gathering dust,” Boehner said. “Instead of supporting bipartisan legislation that will provide new protections to millions of U.S. workers, the Democrat leadership in the Senate has chosen to put political interests ahead of the needs of working Americans.”

     Last November, the House passed the Retirement Security Advice Act with significant bipartisan support on a stand-alone basis. It also passed as part of the Pension Security Act in April.

     “Even though employers want to provide investment advice, and even though workers critically need it, the Senate is standing in the way of giving workers new investment tools that can make a world of difference for their retirement security,” Boehner said.

     Boehner said alternative legislation backed by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) offers false hope to workers. The bill would not encourage employers to offer their workers access to investment advice and would actually significantly increase the cost and administrative burden on employers who provide such benefits voluntarily for their workers.

     “This will leave millions of workers in the same situation they’re in now -- left to fend for themselves with no advice at all,” Boehner said.

     “The Retirement Security Advice Act will give investors more choices, and more information to choose wisely so they are better able to navigate their way through volatile markets and maximize the potential of their hard-earned retirement savings,” Boehner said.

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