Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., ranking minority member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, plans to call for hearings on the Bush administration's proposed regulations clearing cash balance pension plans of discriminating against older workers. Mr. Miller intends to ask Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, committee chairman, to include cash balance plans in future hearings on other pension issues.
Mr. Miller noted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had received more than 800 age-discrimination complaints about cash balance plans, and he said the Bush administration's proposed regulations would rescind a 1999 policy prohibiting government approval of cash balance plan conversions that cause older workers to receive lower benefits.