NH Senators and the White House announce historic pension protection

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From left, U.S Sen. Maggie Hassan, American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen in Manchester. Photo/Dan Splaine Photography

MANCHESTER, NH –  U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) joined with White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator (ARP) Gene Sperling and members of Teamsters Local 633 Monday to announce actions by the Biden-Harris Administration to protect union pensions in New England. 

This  ARP assistance prevents benefit cuts for about 72,100 workers and retirees who earned New England Teamsters Pension Fund pension benefits. 6,100 retired teamsters in New Hampshire will benefit from this plan. This announcement brings the total number of Teamster pensions protected by the American Rescue Plan to over 610,000.

This ARP program is the most significant effort to protect the solvency of the Special Financial Assistance Program multi-employer pension system in nearly 50 years. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is the federal agency that provides partial protection of the benefits of approximately 11.2 million workers and retirees in approximately 1,400 private-sector multiemployer, union-connected plans. Before the ARP, the PBGC’s multiemployer pension insurance program was projected to become insolvent in 2026

Sperling began his remarks by crediting the New Hampshire Senators for supporting the ARP legislation and this program specifically.

“I have to thank these senators not for what they did here, they were both original sponsors of the Butch Lewis Act in 2019. They were there before, early. They helped make sure that not only did it pass, but each one of their votes was necessary for all of this to happen,” Sperling said. “They made sure the Butch-Lewis Act was included and without that, we would not be having  this announcement today.”

Speaking on behalf of the White House he continued, “The President considers this one of the crown jewels of the American Rescue Plan because, for him and Vice President Kamala Harris, everything is about the dignity of work, and part of the dignity of work is having a dignified retirement,” he said.

Shaheen commented on the overall impact of the ARP and its effect on restoring the economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to helping businesses and state-local governments, she commented on the benefit to retirees and workers at risk from failing retirement funds.

“The Butch-Lewis Act represents a long-fought victory for over 72,000 New England Teamsters, 6,100 of them are right here in New Hampshire. Before the American Rescue Plan was enacted workers and retirees across New England faced unacceptable steep cuts to their hard-earned pension benefits,” Shaheen said.

“Together we have worked on the challenges facing working families, union members, and retirees. I am so thrilled that this announcement happened and we are going to see people getting the payments they deserve,” she added.  

Hassan added her observation about the announcement and its significance for workers. She described the importance of the union pension her late father-in-law received after his career as a meat cutter. With that pension, he maintained a good quality of life in retirement.

“At the center of our country’s economic promise is if you work hard you should be able to get ahead and you should be able to stay ahead and that includes being able to retire with dignity,” Hassan said.

“That’s the difference that a pension makes and that is why it is so critically important that we have been able to get to this day with the Butch-Lewis Act,” she added. “Teamsters and workers all across the country spend their lives paying into their pensions, they have spent their lives paying into their pensions believing their pensions would be there as they age and move into retirement.”