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Supporter, 

Late last year just before Congress adjourned, a bill called the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 was snuck into legislation that had to be passed to prevent a U.S. government shutdown. Enacted without hearings or public debate, MPRA overturned 40 years of established law by allowing retirees’ benefits in certain underfunded pension plans to be cut by as much as 60% or more!

With you by our side, the Pension Rights Center has been helping retirees around the country fight back. Together we have been lobbying Congress and government officials to stop these unprecedented cuts. Thanks to these efforts, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Marcy Kaptur introduced the Keep Our Pension Promises Act of 2015 to repeal the cutbacks and save underfunded multiemployer plans. We also delivered thousands of comments from retirees opposed to the cuts to the Department of the Treasury, which was given authority to implement the law.

Now we’re fighting back with our biggest push yet.

On Thursday, September 10th, the Treasury Department will hold a public hearing on the rules that will allow certain underfunded pension plans to reduce the pensions of retired construction workers, truck drivers, food service workers and hundreds of thousands of other retirees. If we don’t act fast, their pensions could be slashed in the coming months.

Can you help? Please, donate today to support the Pension Rights Center’s all-out effort to help retirees protect their pensions.

The Pension Rights Center is organizing a day of action to protest these cuts. Hundreds of retirees from across the country will join us here in Washington, DC at next week’s Treasury Department hearing. Many of these retirees will testify about how cuts to their pensions would affect their ability to meet their basic needs, while the Pension Rights Center will testify about steps that the Treasury Department can take to better protect retiree benefits. We’re helping retirees organize meetings on Capitol Hill with their members of Congress and with government officials. We’re also helping to organize a press event where retirees will tell their stories and say why the Keep Our Pension Promises Act should become law.

The cuts authorized in the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 could devastate the retirement security of hundreds of thousands of retired construction workers, truck drivers, food service workers, other retirees and their widows and widowers. But this isn’t only about them.

This law could set a dangerous precedent, emboldening lawmakers to make cuts in state, city and company pension plans, and even Social Security. In 1974, the federal private pension law ERISA recognized that retirees’ earned pensions deserve the most protection. Now Congress has betrayed that principle. This is not just about multiemployer plans – this is about protecting retirement promises.

Please, donate to the Pension Rights Center today to help us organize retirees from across the country for this critical day of action. Let policymakers and elected officials know that you won’t stand for cuts to hard-earned retirement benefits.

Thank you for everything you do to fight for a secure retirement for all Americans.


Sincerely,

Karen Friedman
Executive Vice President and Policy Director

P.S. We only win when we fight together. Please give a donation to help us protect the retirement benefits of current and future retirees




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Pension Rights Center
1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 206 | Washington, DC 20036 | (202) 296-3776