Omnibus Budget deal to cut retirees benefits for millions

On a personal note, I am far to angry and upset to do a decent post on this topic as I am about to see my 30 year worked for pension go down the drain with this obscene Boehner budget fiasco. I have taken liberally from Always on Watch, and I thank her.

Excerpt from the Washington Post article Congressional leaders hammer out deal to allow pension plans to cut retiree benefits:

A measure that would for the first time allow the benefits of current retirees to be severely cut is set to be attached to a massive spending bill, part of an effort to save some of the nation’s most distressed pension plans.

The rule would alter 40 years of federal law and could affect millions of workers, many of them part of a shrinking corps of middle-income employees in businesses such as trucking, construction and supermarkets….

Note the example cited below the fold.

Whitlow Wyatt, 70, retired with a $3,300-a-month pension in 2000 after working more than 33 years as a long-haul driver. He could face pension reductions of 30 percent or more if Congress permits trustees of the hard-pressed pension fund to slash benefits.

Read the entire article HERE.

Just imagine what havoc these cuts would work upon the personal budgets of many already-retired, elderly retirees under the age of seventy-five!  Retirees who are over age seventy-five or disabled are exempt from the cuts.

Thanks to Always on Watch – wander over. My comment:

Millions of Healthcare workers will lose their benefits. The majority of Hospitals were late in ending defined pension plans as part of contracts with workers. These are not government workers who retired after 25 years with 80 percent salaries as pensions. The problem is not with the ERISA, but rather the ability of Companies to borrow against the set aside funding for pensions, and then merge or sell, divesting themselves of these obligations and leaving ERISA stuck with the bill.
Looks like I will be enjoying food stamps shortly. Thanks John Boehner.

Filed under: Government Tagged: boehner, Budget, John Boehner, Omnibus, pension plans, Pensions