Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. (Photo: AP) Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. (Photo: AP)

After reintroducing S. 2526, the Retirement Enhancement and Savings Act of 2018, on March 9 that includes authorizing multiemployer pension plans, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who co-chairs the Joint Select Committee on the Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans, has scheduled the committee's first meeting for Wednesday.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, the committee's other co-chair who serves as a senior member of the finance committee, said in a Monday joint statement with Hatch that Wednesday's meeting "is the first of many public meetings to come as the committee works toward a bipartisan solution to the multiemployer pension plan crisis."

More than a million workers and retirees, Hatch and Brown said, "are counting on us to protect their retirement security. We're ready to get to work on a bipartisan solution and make sure that those who participate in a retirement plan through their employer can adequately save for their future."

Others Senators on the joint committee are: Mike Crapo, R-Idaho;  Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; Joe Manchin, D-W. Va.; Rob Portman, R-Ohio; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.C.; and Tina Smith, D-Minn. The committee also includes Reps. Richard E. Neal, D-Mass.; Bobby Scott, D-Va.; Virginia Foxx, R-N.C.; Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Phil Roe, R-Tenn.; David Schweikert, R-Ariz.; Donald Norcross, D-N.J.; and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.

The Joint Select Committee was created as part of the overall budget compromise that passed in February.

The committee is to report a bill by the last week of November, and is required to hold at least five public meetings, including a field hearing outside of Washington so lawmakers can hear directly from retirees, workers and businesses affected by the pension crisis.

If at least five members from each party agree on a compromise, the solution will be guaranteed an expedited vote on the Senate floor with no amendments.

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