Via Cantonrep.com

By Edd Pritchard, GateHouse Media Ohio

AKRON U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown hopes Congress will resolve the crisis involving multiemployer pension plans before the year ends.

On Thursday morning, Brown and Mike Walden, president of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions, reviewed Congressional efforts to resolve pension problems during a meeting at United Steelworkers Local 2 offices. More than 100 retirees representing a half-dozen unions attended.

Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland who is co-chairman along with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah of a newly created a bi-partisan committee, is optimistic Congress can devise a plan to protect the pensions and keep them funded.

Congress has been debating bills aimed at protecting multiemployer pensions for several years. Last year, Brown introduced the Butch Lewis Act, named for the former leader of Teamsters Local 100 who lived in West Chester, with the hope of establishing a plan to help fund struggling pensions.

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