Legislative Alert

Legislative Alert - August 3, 2006

Dear All:

We have been asked to support S. 3726, which corrects a provision added in 2001, at the last minute, to the Railroad Retirement Improvement Act of 2001. Please contact your Senators to ask them to support this bill which will keep down the cost of administering the retirement fund.

Thank you for your help.

Becky

Railroad Retirement bill introduced in Senate

CLEVELAND, August 3 -- The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen is asking its members to contact their Senators in support of S. 3726, the Railroad Retirement Technical Improvement Act of 2006.

The purpose of the bill, which was introduced on July 26, is to help reduce Railroad Retirement fund expenditures by amending the Railroad Retirement Act to provide for continued payment of railroad retirement annuities by the Department of the Treasury instead of by an outside party.

S. 3726 is the companion bill to H.R. 5074, which would reverse provisions in the amendments to the Railroad Retirement and Survivors Act of 2001. The 2001 amendments require the Railroad Retirement Board to contract with an outside entity to issue payments to our beneficiaries, adding an unnecessary drain on the fund.

This provision was added to the 2001 bill at the last minute in order to make the Railroad Retirement system appear more like a private plan, even though the BLET and Rail Labor lobbied against it. The amendment forces the Railroad Retirement Trust Fund to take money from the fund to pay the outside entity, which reduces the amount of money available for beneficiaries.

“Passage of this Railroad Retirement legislation would benefit our members,” Vice President & National Legislative Representative John Tolman said. “It saves money for the fund and deserves our support.”

During the last week, BLET members have also received phone calls from Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa urging members to call their members of Congress to ask them to vote no on a pension bill. This legislation, H.R. 4, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, is unrelated to the Railroad Retirement.

Thursday, August 03, 2006
bentley@ble.org

http://www.ble.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=4338

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