mr. chairman , i thank my friend and colleague from california for yielding me this time . 
mr. chairman , i rise in strong support of the miller-schakowsky-crowley amendment and urge all our members here in the house to support it . 
is this amendment a cure to our nation 's employee pension problems ? 
no . 
the problem is pbgc jumped too easily at a deal to put taxpayers on the hook for pensions , while allowing united to walk away from its responsibilities to its employees . 
representing the district that houses laguardia airport and serving many delta employees , i have real concerns about the bad precedent set by pbgc and worry that other airlines , and soon other industries , will follow united 's lead . 
as we know , delta recently stated that it must pay $ 2.6 billion over the next 3 years to meet the obligations of its defined benefit pension plan . 
the carrier has warned in the past that its growing obligation poses a threat to restructure and avoid a bankruptcy filing . 
at the same time , ual chief executive gerald grinstein has said that united would gain a competitive advantage on rivals by dumping its employee pension obligation . 
this is bad precedent . 
real pension reform is needed , and this amendment is to serve as a wake-up call to that fact . 
