Posted on 12/08/2022 7:55:26 AM PST by chuckee
President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing the infusion of nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan, preventing severe cuts to the retirement incomes of more than 350,000 Teamster workers and retirees across the United States.
The money for the Central States Pension Fund is the largest amount of federal aid provided for a pension plan, the Biden administration said, and comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that he signed into law in 2021.
Many union retirement plans have been under financial pressure because of underfunding and other issues. Without the federal assistance, Teamster members could have seen their benefits reduced by an average of 60% starting within a couple of years.
“Union workers and their families are finally able to breathe a huge sigh of relief, knowing that their hard-earned retirement savings have been rescued from steep cuts,” said Lisa Gomez, assistant labor secretary for employee benefits security.
Multiemployer pension funds are created by agreements between unions and companies and are partially insured by the federal government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The insurance program was on track to become insolvent in 2026, but the pandemic relief money is expected to keep it on firm footing through 2051.
Biden traveled to Ohio in July to highlight the final rules for the pension relief program. Before Thursday, the program had awarded aid to 36 troubled pension plans, but none of those had received more than about $1.2 billion.
The amount going to the Central States Pension Fund represents somewhere between one-third and one-half of the total estimated cost of the federal aid program.
The retirement plan has participants in almost every state, with the largest concentration in the Midwest. There are about 40,000 participants in both Michigan and Ohio, nearly 28,000 in Missouri, 25,000 in Illinois and about 22,000 each in Texas and Wisconsin, according to figures provided by the White House.
Effing Criminal.
The pension execs got reelected and paid fat salaries for making promises they couldn’t keep.
Rather than pay back the salaries they collected based on false promises, they get Uncle Sugar to bail them out
Many union retirement plans have been under financial pressure because of underfunding and other issues.
Perhaps they were underfunded so they could divert $ to top echelon people.
Expect the same for the next two years, minimum.
Oh, from the SPR? Strategic Pension Reserve! 😯🐂💩
Could some lawyer explain the legality of this?
Why should we be responsible for the unions f ups? It’s time.
FJB!
What the Hell!! Why am I supporting union benefits? All they did for me was raise the price of things.
No, this is not from the strategic pension reserve. The SPR can’t handle that amount but the taxpayers can in Biden’s book. Not sure how bailing out union political friends translates as covid relief under the covid relief bill.
This is simple theft of taxpayer funds.
How is this Constitutional?
Oh hell nevermind, this regime does whatever it wants.
Uhmmm.....Congress appropriates money. Not the president.
too big to fail or something...
Those poor teamster retirees were hit really hard by Covid.
That Covid snuck into their pension plan and made all the money disappear.
Hahahahahahahahaha!
We are run by thieves and idiots.
I'm not a lawyer, but I thought Congress held the purse-strings.
I don't think the President can spend money that wasn't allocated by Congress.
Just open bribery now, not even bothering to hide it anymore.
Yes, Congress appropriates money but this President feels he gets to spend it even if the money was not appropriated for that designated purpose. Covid relief and paying off Teamsters union supporters is a match only on the land of the bizarre and corrupt.
“ Why should we be responsible for the unions f ups? It’s time.”
Same reason you gots to pay for children’s overpriced and useless “studies” degrees. They are democrat money laundering cash cows
I think that in this day, in this country the government just does whatever, and cracks down on the citizen.
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