Bloomberg News
December 24, 2008
WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday signed into law legislation providing businesses and the elderly with short-term relief to help counteract effects of the recession.
The new law eases pension funding requirements by eliminating some penalties on companies whose funding falls below federal guidelines.
Pfizer Inc., International Business Machines Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., and dozens of other companies said the 40 percent drop in the stock market this year would have forced them to make larger-than-normal contributions to the plans to meet federal guidelines.
Bush was reluctant to support the measure, spokesman Tony Fratto said, because it will increase the costs of near-term claims on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. It also could lead to some benefit losses to workers over the long term, he said at a White House briefing.
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