House Democrats working to build a case for saving underfunded corporate pension plans by passing a divisive long-term loan program have latched onto staggering forecasts that suggest failure to act now could cost taxpayers nearly $500 billion.
If Congress doesn’t produce a legislative fix for the underfunded pension plans—a crisis the federal insurer in charge of helping struggling defined benefit programs has warned will bankrupt it by 2025—the government stands to lose between $170 billion to $240 billion over the next 10 years, Mariah Becker, director of research and education at the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans, told lawmakers ...