§ 1001a. Additional Congressional findings and declaration of policy

• (a) The Congress finds that—
  • (1) multiemployer pension plans have a substantial impact on interstate commerce and are affected with a national public interest;
  • (2) multiemployer pension plans have accounted for a substantial portion of the increase in private pension plan coverage over the past three decades;
  • (3) the continued well-being and security of millions of employees, retirees, and their dependents are directly affected by multiemployer pension plans; and
  • (4)
    • (A) withdrawals of contributing employers from a multiemployer pension plan frequently result in substantially increased funding obligations for employers who continue to contribute to the plan, adversely affecting the plan, its participants and beneficiaries, and labor-management relations, and
    • (B) in a declining industry, the incidence of employer withdrawals is higher and the adverse effects described in subparagraph (A) are exacerbated.
• (b) The Congress further finds that—
  • (1) it is desirable to modify the current multiemployer plan termination insurance provisions in order to increase the likelihood of protecting plan participants against benefit losses; and
  • (2) it is desirable to replace the termination insurance program for multiemployer pension plans with an insolvency-based benefit protection program that will enhance the financial soundness of such plans, place primary emphasis on plan continuation, and contain program costs within reasonable limits.
• (c) It is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act—
  • (1) to foster and facilitate interstate commerce,
  • (2) to alleviate certain problems which tend to discourage the maintenance and growth of multiemployer pension plans,
  • (3) to provide reasonable protection for the interests of participants and beneficiaries of financially distressed multiemployer pension plans, and
  • (4) to provide a financially self-sufficient program for the guarantee of employee benefits under multiemployer plans.