Congressional negotiators are making progress in combining conflicting House-Senate pension benefit reform bills, according to members of Congress and industry lobbyists, raising hopes that work on the bills can be completed before the summer recess begins July 27.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and a chief negotiator on the bill, said July 11 that drafters only have "loose ends" to tie up on major issues involved in the bill, and parts of it already are being drafted into legislative language.
"There are still some loose ends to be finalized on the major issues, but they are really loose ends," Grassley said.
But those "loose ends" include defined contribution provisions in the legislation critical to the life insurance industry that remain to be negotiated, said Michael Kerley, senior vice president, federal government relations, at the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
