Good News: The American Rescue Plan, including the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021, was enacted by the U.S. House of Representatives today and will be signed into law this week — a victory that will protect the pensions of thousands of AFM members.

For more than five years, the AFM Legislative Office and AFM International Executive Board have been lobbying our representatives on Capitol Hill for a solution to address the dire solvency issues faced by hundreds of multiemployer pension plans across the U.S. The COVID-19 economic catastrophe only increased the urgency for legislative multiemployer pension relief.

Thanks are in order to Federation staff, Local officers, Player Conference officers, and the AFM-EP Fund, who collectively organized an all-out lobbying effort to mobilize thousands of members and Fund participants to contact Capitol Hill over the past month. Our voices have been heard!

The American Rescue Plan will provide the AFM-EP Fund and other struggling multiemployer pension plans with funding needed to pay earned benefits for the next 30 years. While Fund actuaries are currently studying the precise impact of this bill, it appears to help address the Fund’s financial challenges for decades without the need for benefit reductions.

With President Biden’s signature, the American Rescue Plan (also known as the COVID-19 Relief Bill) will protect our pension plan and help members across the country retire with dignity.