Strengthening Pension Security for American Workers |
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| The collapse of Enron late last year brought to light some serious
weaknesses in employee pension systems, securities laws, and accounting
and auditing standards across America. Some 15,000 Enron employees
lost over $1 billion from their 401(k) retirement accounts that had been
invested in company stock. For many of these employees, this stock
represented most, if not all, of the retirement nest egg they had spent
their entire working lives trying to build.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at providing working Americans greater security when it comes to their pension plans. In the case of Enron, company executives were assuring workers that Enron stock was a sound investment while they were dumping their own shares. The bill passed this week takes a positive step toward giving employees greater control over their retirement savings. It prohibits insider sales of company stock during so-called “blackout” periods, when workers cannot sell their company stock in their 401(k). It allows employees to diversify stocks held in their 401(k)’s sooner than current law. It allows workers to seek outside investment advice for their retirement plan, and it requires companies to notify their employees of the value of their retirement accounts. Providing Americans retirement security should not be a partisan issue. It should be about protecting the savings that workers rightly deserve. That is why I crossed party lines to support this pension reform measure and opposed a Democratic plan that was a decent bill, but went too far in over-regulating our businesses. The House-passed plan is a good, common sense compromise toward making our pension system truly reflect the best interests of America’s small businesses and working families. |
