Groups representing the nation’s largest pension sponsors are looking at an alternative to the 30-year Treasury bond. They are asking Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to include a provision in the Senate’s economic stimulus package to substitute, for the next three years, the interest rate on high investment-grade corporate bonds in calculating pension liabilities, contributions and PBGC insurance premiums. The 30-year T-bond, which the administration plans to eliminate, is the current benchmark.
"Because this proposal would remedy truly anomalous and inaccurate interest rates, it can provide an effective economic stimulus while preserving pension security for workers and retirees,” the American Benefits Council, the ERISA Industry Committee, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in a joint statement last week.
