The Butch Lewis Act has already set to be passed by Democrats in the House, so why would Rep. Hagedorn be working on a compromise? The act is intended to bail out underfunded pension plans that were left orphan by bankrupt businesses and underfunded union plans. The estimated cost of the bailout is $34 billion. That’s a lot of money, but nothing compared to the estimated $638 billion of underfunded plans that could yet go bankrupt. Does passing this bailout set the stage for other plans to continue to be underfunded with the expectation that the government will bail them out also? Let’s hope people like Rep. Hagedorn continue to look at the unintended consequences of government bailouts.

John Forman

Albert Lea