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5500 Preparer's Manual for 2012 Plan Years
The premier resource in the field of Form 5500 preparation, 5500 Preparer's Manual will help you handle the required annual Form 5500 filings for both pension benefits and welfare benefit plans.
from Spencer’s Benefits Reports: Noting that the regular order in Congress will not be able to deal with the increasing federal debt load, which is driven largely by entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, Senate Budget Committee chair Kent Conrad (N.D.) concluded in a committee hearing on November 10 that a “special process” is needed to compel legislators to fix the nation’s fiscal problems.
For more than two years, Mr. Conrad and Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) have pushed a “special process” proposal that would create a commission made up of members of Congress and possibly the White House that would send legislative proposals to Congress for an up or down vote with no amendments considered.
According to Mr. Conrad, “The health care reform effort currently underway has the potential to improve our long-term debt outlook. But it will not be enough. We must also address the demographic challenge we face in Social Security and the revenue challenge we face from an outdated and inefficient revenue system.”
Mr. Conrad continued, “Ideally, these problems would be addressed through the regular order. The regular order would mean that House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over health, retirement, and revenue issues would individually take up legislation to address the imbalances in their particular areas of legislative responsibility, and then move that legislation through Congress. The simple reality is that will never happen.”
The Conrad-Gregg special process proposal, called the Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action, likely would require a supermajority (three-fifths) vote in the commission and Congress to pass legislation.
A bipartisan commission appointed in 1983 succeeded in extending the Social Security trust fund’s solvency for several generations by raising the retirement age from 65 to 67, imposing a six-month delay in a cost-of-living adjustment, and requiring government employees to pay into Social Security for the first time.
According to Mr. Conrad, the task force would be focused on the debt, “every issue would be on the table,” the task force’s legislative proposal would get fast-track consideration, and Congress would have to vote on the proposal without amendments.
For more information, visit http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/hearingstate.html.
For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide, CCH Employee Benefits Management, and Spencer's Benefits Reports.
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