Biden Announces $36 Billion for Teamster Pension Fund

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced the largest rescue package for a pension plan in U.S. history. Almost $36 billion cash infusion for the Central States Pension Fund will mostly benefit members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Biden announces $36 billion. (Photo: CNN)

Biden expressed his gratitude to the program for the tens of thousands of union retirees and workers who will benefit from it at a ceremony attended by Teamsters President Sean O’Brien and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. Beneficiaries from the states of Ohio, Michigan, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Missouri in particular.

In addition, Biden also stated that the said cash infusion would prevent sudden cuts to workers’ hard-earned pension benefits, cutbacks that are planned to take place in the coming years. Analysts have projected benefit cuts as high as 60% for some beneficiaries.

According to the White House, the projected rescue plan will assist 350,000 union employees and retirees. The Special Financial Assistance Program will provide funding for this rescue operation. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law in 2021, established this initiative.

The program is aimed at financially distressed multiemployer pension plans that have requested assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The PBGC, a federally authorized company that protects pension plans, was on the verge of bankruptcy prior to the adoption of the America Rescue Plan.

Republicans have criticized Biden’s efforts to strengthen union pension systems, stating that Democrats are essentially bailing out their political supporters. Overall, the new program expects to spend between $74 billion and $91 billion, in accordance to an article by the Washington Post.