Title: 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.
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the federal government should not bail out state and local government employee pension plans and other post-employment benefit plans; and (2) state and local governments should immediately institute reforms to their employee pension plans, including replacing defined benefit plans with defined contribution plans.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 24 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 24

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 5, 2017

Mr. Chaffetz 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 an annual deficit and is 
        increasing its outstanding debt every year;
Whereas the Federal Government, as of December 29, 2016, is carrying more than 
        $19.879 trillion in debt, of which $14.408 trillion is owed to the 
        public and $5.472 trillion is owed to Social Security and other trust 
        funds;
Whereas the Federal Government borrowed 15 cents for every dollar it spent in 
        2016;
Whereas foreign governments, individuals, and corporations as of October 2016 
        own 43.1 percent of Federal debt held by the public;
Whereas Social Security's unfunded liabilities will be $11.4 trillion by 2090 
        and $32.1 trillion over the infinite horizon;
Whereas the Federal debt held by the public is expected to increase by more than 
        $9 trillion from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2026 according to the 
        Congressional Budget Office;
Whereas State and local governments are heavily dependent on Federal revenues;
Whereas nearly 17 percent of the entire Federal budget goes directly to States 
        and local governments;
Whereas 17 percent of total State and local government general revenue comes 
        from the Federal Government according to Census Bureau's latest Annual 
        Survey of State and Local Government Finance;
Whereas numerous State and local government employee pension plans have offered 
        overly generous retirement benefits to its employees and are in dire 
        financial situations with combined unfunded liabilities of nearly $4 
        trillion;
Whereas many State and local government pension plans have understated 
        liabilities and overstated asset growth rates and have employed 
        methodologies that private sector 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, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the Federal Government should not bail out State and 
        local government employee pension plans and other post-
        employment benefit plans; and
            (2) State and local governments should immediately 
        institute reforms to their employee pension plans, including 
        replacing defined benefit plans with defined contribution 
        plans.
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