NYT: Lawmakers (Dems Miller and Markey) Seek Inquiry on Pensions

[DeepModem Mom]

Lawmakers Seek Inquiry on Pensions
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
Published: December 1, 2005


Two members of the House of Representatives asked the research arm of Congress yesterday to investigate whether the federal agencies that enforce pension law have failed to police a crucial part of the pension business: the consultants and money managers who help decide how money is invested.

The request by Representatives George Miller, a California Democrat, and Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, underscores a flaw in the pension law.

The law divides the authority for pension plans among three federal agencies, which look at such issues as whether companies are putting enough money into pension funds and whether they are keeping employees informed about the plans. But the money managers are regulated by a fourth agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has no authority over pension law.

This regulatory problem is as old as the pension law, 31 years. But it has become apparent only recently, as a series of record-size corporate pension failures has put new burdens on the federal agency that insures pensions. Even now, with Congress trying to close loopholes in the pension law, the focus has been on how to make sure companies put enough money into their pension funds, not how the money is invested after that.

In a letter to David M. Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office, Congress's investigative arm, the congressmen pointed to the collapse this year of the employee pension plans at United Airlines....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/01/business/retirement/01pensions.html