WASHINGTON BUREAU — The American Benefits Council is asking lawmakers to put pension funding flexibility provisions back in the Senate jobs bill.
Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the highest ranking Republican on the committee, last week released a jobs bill draft, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, that would have eased pension funding requirements.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., then came up with a shorter version of the proposal that left out the pension provisions.
The American Benefits Council, Washington, a group that represents large employers, benefits vendors and benefit plan administrators, is displeased.
Elimination of the pension provisions "from the latest version of jobs legislation is particularly troubling," James Klein, the president of the council, says in a statement. "We urge lawmakers to include pension funding relief as part of jobs legislation as soon as possible."
