IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 23 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Federal Gov-
ernment should not bail out State and local government employee pension 
plans or other plans that provide post-employment benefits to State 
and local government retirees. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 6, 2011 
Mr. CHAFFETZ (for himself, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. 
NUNES, and Mr. FLAKE) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the Federal Government should not bail out State and 
local government employee pension plans or other plans 
that provide post-employment benefits to State and local 
government retirees. 
Whereas the Federal Government is operating at a huge an-
nual deficit and is rapidly increasing its outstanding debt 
every year; 
Whereas the Federal Government, as of January 2011, is 
carrying more than $14.0 trillion in debt, of which $9.4 
trillion is owed to the public and $4.6 trillion is owed to 
Social Security and other trust funds; 
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•HRES 23 IH 
Whereas the Federal Government borrowed 37 cents for 
every dollar it spent in 2010; 
Whereas foreign governments, individuals, and corporations 
as of October 2010 own 47 percent of Federal debt 
owned by the public; 
Whereas Social Security’s unfunded liabilities in 2010 are 
$5.4 trillion over 75 years and $16.1 trillion over the infi-
nite horizon; 
Whereas the Federal debt is expected to increase by more 
than $8 trillion from 2011 to 2020 according to the Of-
fice of Management and Budget; 
Whereas State and local governments are heavily dependent 
on Federal revenues; 
Whereas more than 15 percent of the entire Federal budget 
goes directly to States and local governments; 
Whereas 20 percent of total State and local government gen-
eral revenue comes from the Federal Government accord-
ing to Census Bureau’s latest Annual Survey of State 
and Local Government Finance; 
Whereas numerous State and local government employee pen-
sion plans have offered overly generous retirement bene-
fits to its employees and are in dire financial situations 
with combined unfunded liabilities up to $3 trillion; 
Whereas many State and local government pension plans 
have understated liabilities and overstated asset growth 
rates and have employed methodologies that private sec-
tor plans are prohibited from using by Federal law; and 
Whereas several State and local pension plans are expected 
to fully exhaust their funds within ten years: Now, there-
fore, be it 
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•HRES 23 IH 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the Federal Government should not bailout 
State and local government employee pension plans 
and other post-employment benefit plans; and 
(2) State and local governments should imme-
diately institute reforms to their employee pensions 
plans, including replacing defined benefit plans with 
defined contribution plans. 
Æ 
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