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To declare the State of Ohio's support of its | 1 |
steelworkers in urging the President and the | 2 |
Congress of the United States to ensure that the | 3 |
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is fully | 4 |
funded and properly administered to pay pension | 5 |
benefits to retired steelworkers and their | 6 |
spouses. | 7 |
WHEREAS, Steelworkers are vital to industry in the Midwest | 8 |
and play an essential role in constructing and reinforcing | 9 |
buildings, bridges, and other structures and in producing products | 10 |
used by other manufacturing industries; and | 11 |
WHEREAS, Over the last thirty years the steel industry has | 12 |
fallen on hard times, causing thousands of job losses and numerous | 13 |
plant closings across the Midwest; and | 14 |
WHEREAS, Steelworkers have negotiated contracts that | 15 |
sacrificed higher wages and other benefits in exchange for secure | 16 |
pension benefits; and | 17 |
WHEREAS, Steelworkers were promised solvent pension plans | 18 |
with funds adequate to pay all benefits promised to them; and | 19 |
WHEREAS, The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is a | 20 |
federal pension insurance program that pays pension benefits to | 21 |
retired workers, including steelworkers, whose employers are | 22 |
bankrupt and pension plans are underfunded; and | 23 |
WHEREAS, There is a sense of urgency concerning the financial | 24 |
security of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation because the | 25 |
economic downturn in 2008 caused an increased number of companies | 26 |
to go bankrupt, and as a result, the Pension Benefit Guaranty | 27 |
Corporation is paying pension benefits to more workers; and | 28 |
WHEREAS, In 2009, the Government Accountability Office | 29 |
conducted a performance audit of the Pension Benefit Guaranty | 30 |
Corporation and recommended that the Corporation improve | 31 |
strategies on determining pension benefits in complex pension | 32 |
plans, minimize overpayments, improve communication with | 33 |
participants, and increase accessibility to the appeals process; | 34 |
now therefore be it | 35 |
RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 130th General Assembly | 36 |
of the State of Ohio, on behalf of all citizens of this state, | 37 |
support Ohio's steelworkers in urging the President and the | 38 |
Congress of the United States to ensure that the Pension Benefit | 39 |
Guaranty Corporation is fully funded to pay pension benefits to | 40 |
retired steelworkers and their spouses and to ensure that the | 41 |
Corporation implements recommendations made by the Government | 42 |
Accountability Office on procedures for paying benefits to retired | 43 |
workers; and be it further | 44 |
RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives | 45 |
transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the | 46 |
President of the United States, the President Pro Tempore and | 47 |
Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and Clerk of | 48 |
the United States House of Representatives, each member of the | 49 |
Ohio Congressional delegation, and the news media of Ohio. | 50 |