US Senate's Frist wants pension bill this week
Reuters, 04.05.04, 4:06 PM ET By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, April 5 (Reuters) - The majority leader of the U.S. Senate wants to pass pension legislation this week that would save U.S. companies more than $80 billion over two years and has already cleared the House of Representatives.

"I want to act on the pension bill this week," Sen. Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, told the Senate on Monday. He said he would talk to Democrats about scheduling a vote.

Thousands of U.S. companies with traditional pension plans, such as the Big Three automakers and the major airlines, would be affected by the proposal. Those that make quarterly payments to their pension plans want Congress to act before April 15, when they must make their first pension contributions of 2004.

"There is urgency for us to act quickly and indeed to act this week," Frist said on the Senate floor.

Once approved by the Senate, the measure that would ease the formula for determining pension payments could go to President Bush for his signature into law.

But an influential Senate Democrat, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, has vowed to oppose the bill, saying it does not do enough for plans sponsored by more than one employer, which cover mostly unionized workers.

A spokesman for Kennedy said on Monday that "he still opposes the legislation and intends to do all he can to try to stop it on the Senate floor."

Kennedy will talk to his fellow Democratic senators about the pension measure at a party caucus on Wednesday, the earliest day a vote might be called on the bill.

Most of the aid in the bill would go to about 31,000 single-employer plans covering 35 million workers. Some help would go to a small fraction of multi-employer plans, which are common in industries like trucking and construction and are often managed by unions and employers together. They cover over 9 million workers.

Republicans think Kennedy would have trouble rallying the votes he needs to defeat the measure. Many senators of both parties have companies in their states who want the billions of dollars of aid in the bill.

The measure includes a special $1.3 billion break for major airlines, whose lobbyists are pleading for a "yes" vote. Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said last week that airlines had called him "scared to death about this."

In addition, some unions who represent workers at companies with single-employer plans, such as the United Auto Workers, favor the measure.

Building trades unions whose members are covered by multi-employer plans oppose the bill.

A trade association representing major employers said on Monday it was "cautiously optimistic" the bill would pass the Senate after the House voted for it 336 to 69.

"We were very encouraged by the strong vote in the House," said American Benefits Council president James Klein.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service