A provision in the Republican tax package that would let companies tap surplus pension fund assets over the next five years could become permanent, predicts a key congressional committee staffer.
That change would result in billions of dollars leaking from the private pension system.
``This is the beginning. The right thing to do would be to make it permanent,'' said Ken Kies, chief of staff on the Joint Committee of Taxation, which prepared the cost estimates for the Republican budget package in both chambers.
