RAILROAD RETIREMENT ANNUITY INCREASE-1972 HEARING BEFORE THE 4- NOV 27 1972 SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROAD RETIREMENT. Wnited States. Congress. OF THE Senate. COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE UNITED STATES SENATE NINETY-SECOND CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON S. 3852 TO AMEND THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT OF 1937 TO H.R. 15922 TO AMEND THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT OF 1937 TO H.R. 15927 TO AMEND THE RAILROAD RETIREMENT ACT OF 1937 TO AUGUST 10, 1972 Printed for the use of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare 82-813 O U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1972 COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE HARRISON A. WILLIAMS, JR., New Jersey, Chairman JENNINGS RANDOLPH, West Virginia ADLAI E. STEVENSON III, Illinois JACOB K. JAVITS, New York J. GLENN BEALL, JR., Maryland CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1972 Quarles, Wythe D., management member, Railroad Retirement Board, and Neill P. Speirs, labor member, Railroad Retirement Board; accom- panied by James L. Cowen, chief actuary, and David B. Schreiber, asso- Ymtema, Theodore O., chairman, Commission on Railroad Retirement, ac- companied by Michael S. March, executive director___ Dennis, C. L., Commission on Railroad Retirement; accompanied by James Kennedy, legislative chairman; Ed Unger, economist, and Ned Davis, Schoene, Lester P., Congress of Railway Unions and the Railway Labor Executives' Association, accompanied by J. Taylor Soop, executive secre- tary, Railway Labor Executives Association; and Donald S. Beattie, secretary and treasurer, Congress of Railway Unions--- Behling, Burton N., transportation consultant, on behalf of the Association Dennis, C. L., Commission on Railroad Retirement; accompanied by James 85 Prepared statement_ 92 Mondale, Hon. Walter F., a U.S. Senator from the State of Minnesota, pre- 28 National Retired Teachers Association and the American Association of Retired Persons, prepared sttaement_. Quarles, Wythe D., management member, Railroad Retirement Board, and Neill P. Speirs, labor member, Railroad Retirement Board; accompanied by James L. Cowen, chief actuary, and David B. Schreiber, associate Schoene, Lester P., Congress of Railway Unions and the Railway Labor Executives' Association, accompanied by J. Taylor Soop, executive sec- retary, Railway Labor Executives Association; and Donald S. Beattie, Ymtema, Theodore O., chairman, Commission on Railroad Retirement, ac- 63 Prepared statement_ 73 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Charts: Page 83 84 Williams, Hon. Harrison A., a U.S. Senator from the State of New Butler, R. F., Secretary, United States of America Railroad Re- Report on S. 3852, August 4, 1972. 46 Report on H.R. 15922, August 4, 1972_. 51 Habermeyer, Howard W., Chairman, United States of America Appendix-The Railroad Retirement System: Its Coming Crisis-Excerpts from the Report to the President and the Congress by the Commission on Railroad Retirement, June 30, 1972____ 14 127 RAILROAD RETIREMENT ANNUITY INCREASE-1972 THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1972 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROAD RETIREMENT, COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 p.m. in room 4232, New Senate Office Building, Senator Alan Cranston, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Cranston, Schweiker and Taft. Committee staff present: Jonathan R. Steinberg, counsel to the subcommittee; Gene Mittelman, minority general counsel. Senator CRANSTON. The hearing will please come to order. This afternoon we meet to hear public testimony on three bills regarding the railroad retirement system: S. 3852 and H.R. 15927, bills to increase railroad retirement benefits temporarily by 20 percent effective September 1, 1973, through June 30, 1973, and H.R. 15922 making certain technical amendments to the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937. I think all present are aware that the House overwhelmingly passed H.R. 15927 yesterday; H.R. 15922 is scheduled for House action in the next few days. S. 3852 is a bill which I introduced along with the distinguished ranking minority member of this subcommittee, the Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Schweiker; the distinguished chairman of the full Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, Mr. Williams; as well as two other distinguished members of this committee, the ranking majority member, Senator Randolph, and Senator Mondale. Because we have many witnesses this afternoon and because of the time pressures involved in this question, I will not extend this statement any further except to say that we all fully recognize the vital importance of the issue of the 20-percent increase, the great concern which is felt by railroad workers and retirement beneficiaries for prompt action on the part of the Congress, as well as the serious questions and objections raised regarding such an increase by the Commission on Railroad Retirement and the management member of the Railroad Retirement Board. We will set forth in the record at this point the text of the three bills and the administration's transmittal letter and section-by-section analysis of the technical amendments (H.R. 15922). (The information referred to follows:) |