More than 100 days ago, with the support of 46 House Democrats, the Republican-led House passed legislation to give workers more freedom to diversify their retirement savings; empower workers to hold company insiders accountable for abuses; expand worker access to professional investment advice (with stiff penalties for abuses); and give workers better information about their pensions. But instead of gathering President Bush’s signature, the legislation has been gathering dust in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

     “Senate Democrats are leaving town until after Labor Day - and leaving American workers vulnerable,” said Education & the Workforce Committee Chairman John Boehner (R-OH), author of the House-passed Pension Security Act (H.R. 3762). “If Senate Democrats are truly concerned about protecting American workers, why have they been standing flat-footed on bipartisan pension protection legislation for more than 100 days? And why are they leaving town for another month without sending President Bush a bill to protect workers?”

     “Senate Democrat inaction on pension protection has left worker retirement savings vulnerable to corporate meltdowns, and the Senate Democrat decision to depart today virtually guarantees American workers will remain vulnerable for at least another month,” said Boehner. “That’s some Labor Day present. It should not take another Enron or WorldCom meltdown to get the Senate to act to restore worker confidence in the nation's pension and retirement security system.”

     “One hundred days is too long to stall on pension protection,” said Employer-Employee Relations Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-OH), co-author of the Pension Security Act. “Corporate crooks have made hay while employee retirement accounts have emptied. It’s time the Senate acts on pension protection.”

     All of these reforms were included in the Pension Security Act passed by the House.

     The Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accountability reform law signed by President Bush Monday includes two key pension protections that first passed the House with bipartisan support in April as part of H.R. 3762. These new provisions will:

     Since April, House Republican leaders have twice sent letters to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle asking that he schedule a vote on comprehensive pension protection legislation, but the Senate leader has not responded to either request.

     Senate Appropriations Committee Democrats have also passed appropriations legislation that cuts $3 million in funding for worker pension protection to create a new, vaguely defined federal bureaucracy within the Department. The cuts impact the U.S. Department of Labor agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that safeguard the pensions and retirement savings of millions of American workers.

     “Senate Democrats seem intent on turning the Department of Labor’s employee pension protection division into a toothless watchdog - just months after thousands of honest employees at Enron lost their retirement savings in a corporate meltdown,” Boehner said. “Workers want stronger protections and stronger enforcement of pension laws, and this proposal goes in the opposite direction.”

     To create a new “worker advocacy” bureaucracy at the Department, the Senate Democrat plan would divert $3 million in funding from the DOL’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA), which helps to safeguard the pension assets and retirement security of American workers. The PWBA oversees the enforcement of employee benefit law and currently has open investigations into Enron and WorldCom. The Senate bill also cuts the Bush Administration’s funding request for two other DOL agencies that protect retirement security and ensure the integrity of organizations that manage pension funds, including the DOL’s Office of Labor and Racketeering & Fraud Investigations, which works to keep in check the growth of labor racketeering and organized crime's involvement in labor-related activities, particularly employee benefit plans.