H.Res. 117 — Introduced in House

IV 113th CONGRESS 1st Session H. RES. 117 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 14, 2013 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 a huge annual deficit and is rapidly increasing its outstanding debt every year; Whereas the Federal Government, as of December 2012, is carrying more than $16.0 trillion in debt, of which $11.6 trillion is owed to the public and $4.8 trillion is owed to Social Security and other trust funds; Whereas the Federal Government borrowed 31 cents for every dollar it spent in 2012; Whereas foreign governments, individuals, and corporations as of September 2012 own 48 percent of Federal debt owned by the public; Whereas Social Security's unfunded liabilities in 2012 are $8.6 trillion over 75 years and $20.5 trillion over the infinite horizon; Whereas the Federal debt is expected to increase by more than $6 trillion from 2013 to 2022 according to the Congressional Budget Office; Whereas State and local governments are heavily dependent on Federal revenues; Whereas more than 16 percent of the entire Federal budget goes directly to States and local governments; Whereas more than 20 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 up to $4.4 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 That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 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 immediately institute reforms to their employee pension plans, including replacing defined benefit plans with defined contribution plans.