Bloomberg Law
March 16, 2023, 7:03 PM

Pausing Pension Bailouts: Special Financial Assistance Explained

Austin R. Ramsey
Austin R. Ramsey
Reporter

Amid several high-profile bank failures this week, the Biden administration is hitting the pause button on another, lesser-known rescue program targeting the nation’s most underfunded union-brokered pension plans.

The federal government’s private-sector pension insurer March 13 temporarily closed the web portal it uses to process special financial assistance applications for multiemployer plans.

It’s a key moment for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation as the independent agency prepares to shift its attention from big priority cases to the remaining set of aging group retirement plans in need of a cash influx.

Mega plans such as the Central States for which the ...