Message sent to:
Senator Dole
Senator Burr

From:

Roger Bullock
Conover, NC 28613

October 27, 2005

I am appalled, shocked and dismayed at the attitude of some legislators
who don't give a damn about the situation America's retirees find
themselves in as the corporations they spent their lifetimes serving
deprive them (legally, much of the time) of their rightful pensions. And
often Congress is right in there to make it easy for corporations to take
away what retirees worked their entire careers for to see them through
their so-called "golden" years. Too often the "gold" from their "golden
years" goes into higher and higher bonuses for top executives who dazzle
Wall Street with their management skills at improving results at the
expense of retirees who depend on their pensions (and health benefits).
They earned these. These are not gifts, and there are so many loopholes in
present laws that corporations can do just about anything they want with
pension funds.

I am writing as your constituent to ask you to contact Majority Leader
Bill Frist and urge him to immediately schedule a Senate floor vote on S.
1783, the Pension Security and Transparency Act of 2005. This bill is of
utmost importance to all retirees who worked for companies with pension
plans.

As I am sure you know, it is far too easy under current law for companies
to sidestep their pension obligations and fail to fully fund the pension
promises they have made to retirees. I am a member of the National Retiree
Legislative Network and that organization, as well as other organizations
representing retirees, has put forth considerable effort on our behalf to
achieve meaningful pension reform this year. Because of an intensive
lobbying effort by some large corporations, the bill is now stalled in the
Senate, with Majority Leader Frist having been quoted in the press as
saying that the Senate is just too busy to take it up.

This bill is the product of several years of work and compromises on all
sides. It would be an outrageous injustice for the Senate to adjourn this
legislative session without putting stronger laws in place to better
protect my pension. American retirees have waited and waited for Congress
to act and we are getting impatient. While we wait, more employers are
pillaging the financial base for our retirement years.

I am amazed that the Senate can make the time to consider all types of
other legislation, but still have no time to protect the pensions of
retirees. Please show me that you do care about our well being by doing
everything in your power to ensure that the Senate brings S. 1783 to a
vote before the end of this year.

I shall look forward to receiving your pledge that you are going to do the
right thing for me and the other retirees in your state by urging Senator
Frist to schedule the bill and then by voting AYE when the bill comes up.

Sincerely,

Roger Bullock