Is Congress Currently Considering Changes to the Minimum Funding Requirements?
Yes. In response to a number of large defined benefit plan failures in recent years, particularly at United Airlines, several bills have been introduced in Congress. Perhaps most importantly, on June 8, 2005, Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio) introduced the Pension Protection Act (H.R. 2830) which would, among other things, modify defined benefit pension plan funding requirements. The bill was referred to both the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the House Ways and Means Committee for their consideration. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce approved a mark-up of the bill on June 30, 2005. To date, the House Ways and Means Committee has taken no action with respect to the bill. While this legislation, if enacted, would overhaul a number of key funding requirements for defined benefit plans, at this time it is unclear what provisions, if any, of the proposed bill will ultimately become law. Related to these reforms, on June 24, 2005, the House approved
