The Senate version of the budget bill has a provision to establish a House-Senate Joint Select Committee to propose a solution to the pension crisis for consideration by Congress in December. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) who has been a strong supporter of the pension protection movement, announced it was the best he could do.

Friday, January 19 marks the key date in the fight to save our pensions. Congress plans to vote on a budget spending bill, and the pension protection movement is lobbying to get the Butch Lewis Act attached to that legislation. This gives us a chance to achieve the goal of securing retirement security for Teamsters and other workers.

Today, at a press conference held in Washington D.C., Mike Walden, president of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP), reminded the assembled press and Congressional staffers, Senators and House Representatives, delegations of Teamsters and Mineworker retirees, of Butch Lewis’s remark, “A promise is a promise is a promise.” It’s that promise that this movement has grown to defend. And it’s happening loud and strong as we reach for the new law that will protect that promised retirement security.