Rep. Joe Sestak Pushes for Pension Bailout Expansion

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On Wednesday Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Joe Sestak voiced his support for expanding legislation that would expand a federally funded insurance program to cover private pension plans.  Rather than hold the plan sponsors accountable, this legislation would put taxpayers on the hook for underfunded and mismanaged union pensions.

As AWF reported last month, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Penn.) introduced legislation, the "Create Jobs & Save Benefits Act of 2010," that would augment the coverage granted by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation by using taxpayer dollars.  The PBGC is a federal agency heretofore funded by premiums on businesses that opt into the program.  It insures some of the largest multiemployer pension plans in the country, many being unions, which have a combined funding deficit of $165 billion.  The PBGC itself is currently $21 billion in the red.

Mr. Sestak, while supportive of this legislation, amazingly holds that the Casey bill doesn’t go far enough:

“His bill just takes care of one group. I think we need to address this for all of America. We have to approach this in a holistic way where I honestly believe there has to be a shared approach to this from employees, employers, and government.”

This “shared approach,” consisting of yet more private pensions being propped up by public finances, deserves a big “no thanks!” from concerned citizens across the nation.

Mr. Sestak, who is running against Republican Pat Toomey for the Senate seat for Pennsylvania, has styled himself in the past as a pro-small business politician.  If he continues to back bills that punish the American taxpayer for the benefit of unions such as the Teamsters, (who support the bill) Mr. Sestak will have to rethink this appellation.  Alternately, Pennsylvania voters could elect Mr. Toomey, taking away Mr. Sestak’s opportunity to push his big taxes, big union, big government agenda in the U.S. Senate.   

Tags: PENREF, Federal, Pennsylvania