Democrats Use Taxpayer-Funded Pension Bailout To Rally Union Voters
If Democrats really want to maximize the union pension bailout’s campaign usefulness before the fall elections, the PBGC needs to hand out another $30.7 billion before November.
By Peter List, Editor | June 21, 2024
Not unexpectedly, Democrats have begun to use the $91 billion union pension bailout—financed by all American taxpayers—as a campaign rallying point for the upcoming November elections.
“As the general election nears, Democrats are keen to remind union voters in Pennsylvania that pensions for many workers have been preserved as part of a coronavirus pandemic-era aid package that keeps on giving,” reported The Hill on Friday1.
On Friday, the same day the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) announced it would be giving $3.4 billion to the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union’s (BCTGM) underfunded pension plan, the White House issued the following statement:
Today in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Senator Bob Casey and Senior Advisor to the President and White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling were joined by Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) President Anthony Shelton and workers and retirees from BCTGM Locals 464 and 6 to announce American Rescue Plan (ARP) assistance that will prevent benefit cuts for the roughly 103,000 workers and retirees—including over 6,700 in Pennsylvania—who earned these pension benefits over years or even decades, and faced cuts through no fault of their own. This is the second largest award to date through the American Rescue Plan’s Butch Lewis Act. This announcement brings the total number of pensions protected by the American Rescue Plan to over 1 million, including over 52,000 Pennsylvanians, 71,000 Illinoisans, 71,000 New Yorkers, 62,000 Ohioans, 61,000 Michiganders, 39,000 Missourians, 33,000 Wisconsinites and many more.
The White House went on to remind readers that “the Biden Harris Administration has…[d]elivered assistance to 83 pension plans covering over one million workers and retirees.”
The union pension plan bailout was built into the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Act, which was passed by Congress without any Republican support and signed into law in early 2021 and partly contributed to the inflation felt by many Americans.
Though the PBGC was given up to $91 billion of taxpayer monies to dole out to underfunded union pensions, as of Friday, the PBGC has spent $60.3 billion.
This means that, if the Democrats really want to maximize the union pension bailout’s usefulness before the November elections, the PBGC needs to hand out another $30.7 billion before then.
The Hill’s article, Democrats put a spotlight on more than 1 million pensions saved under a 2021 law, was included “below the fold” (for paid subscribers) in LaborUnionNews.com’s New Digest on Friday morning.