Democrats put a spotlight on more than 1 million pensions saved under a 2021 law

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the general election nears, Democrats are keen to remind union voters in Pennsylvania that pensions for many workers have been preserved as part of a coronavirus pandemic-era aid package that keeps on giving.

As of Friday, the White House said, more than 1 million union workers and retirees’ pensions will have been saved by the Butch Lewis Act, which became law in the spring of 2021.

The law, enacted as part of President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, will ultimately stop cuts to the retirement benefits of 2 million workers and retirees across the country.

It is named after a retired Ohio trucker and Teamsters union leader who spent the last years of his life fighting to prevent massive cuts to the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund. It set up a special financial assistance program that allows struggling multi-employer pension plans to apply for assistance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., a federal agency that protects the retirement incomes of workers in defined benefit pension plans.

The Butch Lewis Act is designed to ultimately stall the insolvency of roughly 200 multi-employer pension plans for 30 years. Many workers were facing cuts to their benefits of up to 50%, which would have caused massive economic damage to more than 2 million retired and retiring Americans.

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